The Landing at Veracruz: 1914. The First Complete Chronicle of a Strange Encounter in April, 1914, When the United States Navy Captured and Occupied the City of Veracruz, Mexico

Whether this is the “First Complete Chronicle” of the American landing at Veracruz in 1914, as the author proclaims, is a moot question. Not much is added to the reviewer’s own account in An Affair of Honor. Perhaps the chief new contribution is the inclusion of material based on extensive interviews with survivors of the landing. But there are no Mexican or Spanish-language sources, so that “complete” is hardly the adjective to describe the book. For good or for bad, it is amateur history writing—the author’s father was a participant in the events at Veracruz, and the younger Sweetman followed his father’s footsteps in a military career. There is a fine map of the water front which I wish I had had for my own book. All in all, it is a useful book, if not the last word on the subject.