Book Review: A Wicked War - Polk, Clay, Lincoln and the 1846 US Invasion of Mexico

[kensmind]

At the outset of A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln and the 1846 US Invasion of Mexico, historian Amy Greenberg takes it as a foregone conclusion that the Mexican-American War was an act of unjust aggression, formulated by an expansionist president who was beholden to the proponents of slavery. While it would have been preferable for the author to

Comments

[seaivy]

Thank you for this.
The Mexican War was generally ignored in my history classes.

This brought to mind a novel I read as a teenager. I have forgotten most of it but one character remains in my mind. An older man who was haunted by the possibility his ancestor had been dishonorable in the Mexican War. I don't remember why he thought that. Something about looting. But I never did know that there was that much dissent against the war until my recent reading.

[kensmind]

Reading this book made me realize how many histories of this war focus on the battles and overlook the ugly side of war. Your recollection of the novel you read reminds me that in the book, the author also looked at literary protests against the war. Many of them were quite sympathetic to Mexican civilians.