false 4 689 500 true 5626179 read 2 true 1347985 currently-reading 187 true 1347984 to-read 11 false 5177437 military-history 10 false 5220389 world-war-ii 6 false 5091250 fantasy 5 false 5220388 historical-fiction 2 false 5220390 science-fiction http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73782519 El caballero del jubón amarillo (Adventures of Captain Alatriste #5) by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
bookshelves: currently-reading, historical-fiction
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79886483 to: Alligators in the Sewer & 222 Other Urban Legends: And 222 Other Urban Legends (Hardcover) by Thomas J. Craughwell
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73782641 to: Eagles and Empire: The United States, Mexico, and the Struggle for a Continent (Hardcover) by David A. Clary
bookshelves: military-history
This took a long time to read, but it was worth it. The author spent a considerable time with the "messy" elements of the war, which are usually missing. Stuff like the fighting among classes in Mexican states, fighting with the tribes in New Mexico were some of them. One of the greater themes was the ill-discipline of the (North) American volunteer troops, "behavior... matched that of the mercenary armies of the late Middle Ages more than what was expected of a modern army in the 1840s." Confusion over fighting with irregulars led to some of this, but a lot starts with the Volunteers. I think one of the reasons I took so long to read it, taking breaks with other things, was the continual appearance of murders and pillage.

American and Mexican domestic politics appear, too, so that was a plus for me.

There's a really fat bibliography, so this would seem a good starting place for a serious study of the war. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79582638 to: The Jolly Mon: Book and Musical CD (Hardcover) by Jimmy Buffett
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79582622 to: Tales from Margaritaville (Paperback) by Jimmy Buffett
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79581951 Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth (Paperback) by John Garth
bookshelves: military-history, to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79433651 Semper Fi in the Sky: the Marine Air Battles of World War II (Paperback) by Gerald Astor
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79433648 Wings of Gold: The U.S. Naval Air Campaign in World War II (Hardcover) by Gerald Astor
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79433621 to: Terrible Terry Allen: Combat General of World War II - The Life of an American Soldier (Hardcover) by Gerald Astor
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79433484 to: Bright Star (Hardcover) by Harold Coyle
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