So Far From God The U.S. War With Mexico, 1846-1848 by John S.D. Eisenhower Free Essay Example, 750 words

While the occupation of Mexico City was a significant event, probably the most interesting fact highlighted by Eisenhower was the act that amongst the invading forces were Stonewall Jackson, Ulysses Grant, Robert E. Lee and George Meade who would later come to be known as very significant players in the American Civil war. Where the whole conflict actually becomes interesting is after the ending of serious hostilities, insofar as it led to such a major annexation of land (Larger than most of Europe) Americans from the Mexicans as a result of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Again, I feel I should highlight that although this conflict is largely looked over by historians, I believe it is fantastic that the author highlights that the long-term consequences of this were that it helped increase partisanship in the U. S. and was a pivotal feature in leading the Civil War. Moreover had the conflict not taken place the physical geography of the Continental United States and its long-term h istory would be completely different. From one perspective I found the book to be exceedingly interesting. We will write a custom essay sample on So Far From God: The U.S. War With Mexico, 1846-1848 by John S.D. Eisenhower or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now Eisenhower managed to take aspects of a serious conflict which I normally find mundane and make it seem extremely interesting. Normally I glaze over the statistics of numbers of people involved etc. but the author managed to put such an interesting human spin on the situation that I took a personal interest in the outcome. For example, I never would have considered the effect of Yellow fever on the actual size of the fighting force but as Eisenhower points out, it was exceedingly important. Moreover, the second strength of this book was the attention to detail. One would never really consider the fact that sixteen American soldiers being killed by Mexican cavalry during the Thornton Affair could be such a significant tipping point to the declaration of all-out war. Although from another perspective one can say that the writing style of Eisenhower was a little longwinded at times sometimes it needed to be, because of the sheer number of stats that ne eded to be covered to be put into perspective.