The Story of the Mexican War

When I buy history books I prefer the "old" books. Books that were written as close to the event as possible or by people that lived through it. I find it much more interesting and the insight you get is from that time, not how we view things now. That said, Henry did not write this book until 1950, but he was born in 1889, and I am sure he had heard a lot about the war when he was growing up. I had read his "Confederacy" and found it very interesting as he likes to point out facts that most other books will overlook. Robert Selph Henry is to the point. He does not elaborate for pages but provides enough detail that is pertinent. One of the things I especially liked was the fact that he would add comments pertaining to all the participants that would later either take part in the Civil War or had been in the war of 1812 or were to hold high offices in the government or if they went on to accomplish something else that might be interesting. I was reading about the Mexican War because I wanted to know who from the Civil War had what role in the Mexican War. My next step is working my way back to 1812 and find out who the players were back then. When you look at all the connections, it all seems to have been a very, very small world back then. He certainly did not try to embellish anything about the Mexican War and he certainly gave both sides a fair shakedown. He details the important battles as well as the pertinent difficulties that accompanied the soldiers on both sides through this war. There are a few maps from some of the battlefields. What I would have liked is an overview map of Mexico at that time with all the different theaters so I could keep a better bearing on where exactly they are. If you just want a basic lesson, to the point without embellishment, what the Mexican War was about, you will like Henry's book. He will also give you enough material to discuss and study further if you are interested in even more information.