Robinson has selected and translated for presentation the writings of twelve distinguished Mexicans who analyze the U.S.-Mexican War from various perspectives. Five of the authors held political offices during the period, and their writings reflect their desire to explain why the war occurred, how it was lost, and what might be its effect. Another witnessed the war as a youth, and decades later supplemented his recollections of the war. Still another, a científico, subjected the war to a geopolitical analysis. Two twentieth-century philosophers seek the broader cultural meanings of the conflict. Finally, three modern historians analyze various aspects of the war from a late twentieth-century perspective. A long general introduction and generous editor’s introductions on each writer further enhance the work’s usefulness. The translations are polished and highly readable.
Unfortunately, Robinson’s inadequate grasp of Mexican history, sloppy source citation, and the publisher’s inattention to copy editing result in an excessive number of flaws. The frequent use of “America” and “American” to refer to the United States and its inhabitants reveals an insensitivity to feelings of Mexicans and other Latin Americans on this matter. Those familiar with Mexico’s history and geography will find several troubling statements of fact and generalizations in the introductory sections. Less serious, but still troubling, are the many errors in source citations and bibliography which competent copy editing would have caught.
But, in the final analysis, the work rises above its many flaws to give the English-language reader an insight into the other side’s views of this war between neighbors. In so doing, it will take its place on a small shelf containing such works as Gene Brack’s Mexico Views Manifest Destiny (1975) and José Fernando Ramírez’s Mexico During the War with the United States, edited by Walter V. Scholes (1950).
