The War with Mexico (Summarized Edition)
Enriched edition. A Thorough Account of the Mexican-American Conflict: Military Strategy, Political Maneuvering, Cultural Dynamics, and American Expansionism
Published on 10. January 2026
408 pages
8596547882589 (EAN)
Description
Across two capacious volumes, The War with Mexico reconstructs the 1846-1848 conflict from its tangled diplomatic origins to the fall of Mexico City, balancing battlefield narrative with scrutiny of policy and ideology. Justin Harvey Smith traces the Taylor and Scott campaigns, the boundary dispute, Santa Anna's shifting ascendancy, and the fractious Mexican polity, while unpacking Polk's expansionist calculus. Lucid, dispassionate prose is paired with exhaustive documentation-maps, appendices, and copious notes-typical of Progressive-era synthesis yet unusually binational, drawing deeply on Mexican archives to correct triumphalist or partisan accounts. Smith, a meticulous independent scholar with years of experience in scholarly publishing, had honed his archival craft in earlier studies of the Revolutionary invasion of Canada. For this project-crowned with the 1920 Pulitzer Prize in History-he walked Mexican battlefields, mined the Archivo General de la Nación and U.S. state papers, and corresponded across borders, investments that ground his comparative judgments and his sensitivity to Mexican political and social contexts. Indispensable for students of U.S.-Mexican relations, military strategy, and Manifest Destiny's ideology, this work rewards both specialists and general readers. For seminar or personal study, Smith offers a judicious synthesis-morally alert, empirically rich-that remains a reliable guide to North America's most consequential interstate war.
Quickie Classics summarizes timeless works with precision, preserving the author's voice and keeping the prose clear, fast, and readable-distilled, never diluted. Enriched Edition extras: Introduction · Synopsis · Historical Context · Brief Analysis · 4 Reflection Q&As · Editorial Footnotes.
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Persons
Justin Harvey Smith (1857-1930) was an eminent American historian and author, renowned predominantly for his comprehensive work on the Mexican-American War. Born on May 20, 1857, in Washington, D.C., Smith invested a significant part of his life in the academic pursuit of history. His magnum opus, 'The War with Mexico' (Vol.1&2), is considered a cornerstone in the historiography of the nineteenth-century conflict. Published in 1919, these volumes won him the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1920, a testament to his meticulous research and profound understanding of the geopolitical and military complexities of the time. Smith's narrative is marked by a balanced and scholarly treatment of both American and Mexican perspectives, avoiding the jingoism that characterized many earlier accounts and leveraging an extensive array of primary sources, which made his work a vital resource for historians and scholars. He focused not just on the political and military events but also examined the societal intricacies and the war's aftermath, reflecting his keen insight into the forces shaping historical events. Smith's literary style was both precise and engaging, making his historical writing accessible to both scholars and general readers. His contribution to the field of American history is significant, and 'The War with Mexico' remains a defining analysis of the conflict, offering invaluable insights into a transformative period for both the United States and Mexico.
