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The Great Pursuit: Pershing's Expedition to Destroy Pancho Villa
Book by Mason, Herbert Molloy
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
About the author
Herbert Molloy Mason Jr.
19 books3 followersHerbert M. Mason, Jr was a WWII veteran of the United States Marine Corp, journalist and military historian. During his lifetime he wrote fourteen books on topics as varied as the rise of the German Luftwaffe to Ants.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 25, 2023
A comprehensive account of the United States Mexican Expedition (March 1916 - February 1917). The history of relations between the United States and Mexico is tumultuous (wars, economic exploitation, crime, human trafficking etc.) to put it mildly. The Expedition is definitely one of the more violent episodes in the two nations shared history. It was also a failure (though the main body of Villa's command was located and destroyed) since the stated purpose of the expedition was to capture Pancho Villa and this objective was not accomplished.
Herbert Mason was a professional writer - mostly of military history. His writing was both professional and very accessible. Though Mason preferred to focus on military aviation he was not exclusive; as is evident by the fact that he wrote this book about an Army expedition into Mexico. His work on the "Great Pursuit" is balanced.
On the one hand he wrote a clear eyed account of a peacetime military expedition ,gun boat diplomacy, into Mexico. There is acknowledgment that there was a history of economic exploitation by Americans of Mexico and that Villa had legitimate grievances against the United States. Mason also addresses the fact that the United States government can shoulder some of the blame for Villa's raid on Columbus New Mexico (March 9, 1916) which resulted in the death of nine U.S. soldiers and fourteen U.S. civilians. By the time the raid occurred Mexico had been embroiled in a civil war for several years and, despite its declared neutrality, the U.S. was involved. It was probably inevitable that the raid occurred, but at the time it sparked a large amount of righteous indignation. It wouldn't be wrong to call it hypocrisy and Mason does just that. The "Great Pursuit" is not an exercise in jingoism and flag waving. Now, having addressed the issue of simplistic reactionary patriotism, I feel that it should be pointed out that the book is not a piece of leftist historical revisionism either. While the focus of the book is on the military aspects of the expedition, he is not unaware of the plight of the Mexican people. They were caught between a rock and a hard place and none of the main players are given a free ride for their actions or behavior. It is shown that in the end it was the common people who were the losers.
As I stated earlier the book is very accessible. It has numerous photographs, maps, comprehensive bibliography and notes. There is no sugar coating of the many problems that General Pershing (commander of the expedition) had to deal with, and the United States Army is shown to have been rather inadequate. The book moves along at a brisk pace and when it ended, I felt like I had learned a few things that I was unaware of before I opened it.
Herbert Mason was a professional writer - mostly of military history. His writing was both professional and very accessible. Though Mason preferred to focus on military aviation he was not exclusive; as is evident by the fact that he wrote this book about an Army expedition into Mexico. His work on the "Great Pursuit" is balanced.
On the one hand he wrote a clear eyed account of a peacetime military expedition ,gun boat diplomacy, into Mexico. There is acknowledgment that there was a history of economic exploitation by Americans of Mexico and that Villa had legitimate grievances against the United States. Mason also addresses the fact that the United States government can shoulder some of the blame for Villa's raid on Columbus New Mexico (March 9, 1916) which resulted in the death of nine U.S. soldiers and fourteen U.S. civilians. By the time the raid occurred Mexico had been embroiled in a civil war for several years and, despite its declared neutrality, the U.S. was involved. It was probably inevitable that the raid occurred, but at the time it sparked a large amount of righteous indignation. It wouldn't be wrong to call it hypocrisy and Mason does just that. The "Great Pursuit" is not an exercise in jingoism and flag waving. Now, having addressed the issue of simplistic reactionary patriotism, I feel that it should be pointed out that the book is not a piece of leftist historical revisionism either. While the focus of the book is on the military aspects of the expedition, he is not unaware of the plight of the Mexican people. They were caught between a rock and a hard place and none of the main players are given a free ride for their actions or behavior. It is shown that in the end it was the common people who were the losers.
As I stated earlier the book is very accessible. It has numerous photographs, maps, comprehensive bibliography and notes. There is no sugar coating of the many problems that General Pershing (commander of the expedition) had to deal with, and the United States Army is shown to have been rather inadequate. The book moves along at a brisk pace and when it ended, I felt like I had learned a few things that I was unaware of before I opened it.
March 26, 2011
A readable and complete narrative of the Punitive Expedition to Mexico in the years immediately preceding the First World War. The book provides a very good explanation of the personalities and events that lead to this military intervention in our neighbor to the south. Well worth reading!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews