From a wide variety of sources, McAfee and Robinson have selected 110 documents that, in their judgment, help explain the coming of the war between Mexico and the United States. The editors have arranged these documents in groups that address such issues as President James K. Polk’s alleged sabotage of John Slidell’s mission and the role of John Frémont in California. Professing to adhere to Carl Becker’s dictum that the facts do not speak for themselves, the editors offer brief, balanced, and carefully considered introductions to each group of documents. Often, however, the editors raise more questions than they answer and urge the readers to evaluate the sources themselves.
It is convenient to have these documents in one place; a few are published or translated here for the first time. Nevertheless, Origins of the Mexican War seems of marginal utility. Professional historians have access to nearly all of the sources in their original published form, and will want to see them in the context of accompanying documents. The general reader, on the other hand, would probably prefer to avoid analyzing documents and to read, instead, engaging narratives by historians who have already done that arduous work. If these volumes are designed for students, as McAfee’s and Robinson’s prose style suggests, they will be used only in the library. The books are too detailed for general courses and too expensive even for upper division courses and seminars.
