The text of this book represents not a catalogue of names, dates, and statistics of the war between the United States and Mexico but an attempt to tell the story of that conflict and to depict its color, drama, tragedy, and meaning mainly through the use of ten principal characters who participated in the war and who left behind written accounts.
Some men in government during the administration of James K. Polk used a four-word maxim to describe the goal of the United States in the war against Mexico, which resulted from years of bickering and bitterness between the two nations. A...

When the U.S.S. battleship "Maine" mysteriously exploded in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898, it set off the Spanish-American War, that "splendid little war" which forever changed the United States' position among nations. "Remember the "Maine" " was the outraged public's call for battle, but here it is a call to remember the seemingly star-crossed ship and the more than 260 young men who perished with it.
Author John Edward Weems tells the story of the ship from beginning to explosive end, with the help of the "Maine"'s survivors, whom he interviewed in 1957. The text of this edition...