The border between the United States and Mexico isn't just a boundary between nations; it's a chasm that separates a wealthy global superpower from a poverty-stricken Third World Country. To millions of Mexicans desperate for a better life, it's a finish line-to cross it undetected means to seek prosperity in America. In 1844 the United States annexed Texas and over the next few years took most of the current Southwest United States. Today, the Mexican people south-of-the-border see the benefits of life in the good-old U.S. of A. and according to polls, they're willing to finish things up and give us the rest. Columnist Erik Rush proposes that we take them up on the offer. Erik Rush say, '40% of Mexicans claim that they would move here if they could. Let's save them the effort and bring the U.S. to them.'

The definitive history of the often forgotten U.S.-Mexican War paints an intimate portrait of the major players and their world—from Indian fights and Manifest Destiny, to secret military maneuvers, gunshot wounds, and political spin. “If one can read only a single book about the Mexican-American War, this is the one to read.” —The New York Review of Books Often overlooked, the U.S.-Mexican War featured false starts, atrocities, and daring back-channel negotiations as it divided the nation, paved the way for the Civil War a generation later, and launched the career of Abraham Lincoln. Amy S. Greenberg’s skilled storytelling and rigorous scholarship bring this American war for empire to life with memorable characters, plotlines, and legacies. Along the way it captures a young Lincoln mismatching his clothes, the lasting influence of the Founding Fathers, the birth of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and America’s first national antiwar movement. A key chapter in the creation of the United States, it is the story of a burgeoning nation and an unforgettable conflict that has shaped American history.

The U.S. war with Mexico was a pivotal event in American history, it set crucial wartime precedents and served as a precursor for the impending Civil War. With a powerful introduction and rich collection of documents, Ernesto Ch‡vez makes a convincing case that as an expansionist war, the U.S.-Mexico conflict set a new standard for the acquisition of foreign territory through war. Equally important, the war racialized the enemy, and in so doing accentuated the nature of whiteness and white male citizenship in the U.S., especially as it related to conquered Mexicans, Indians, slaves, and even women. The war, along with ongoing westward expansion, heightened public debates in the North and South about slavery and its place in newly-acquired territories. In addition, Ch‡vez shows how the political, economic and social development of each nation played a critical role in the path to war and its ultimate outcome. Both official and popular documents offer the events leading up to the war, the politics surrounding it, popular sentiment in both countries about it, and the war’s long-term impact on the future development and direction of these two nations. Headnotes, a chronology, maps and a selected bibliography enrich student understanding of this important historical moment.

This two-volume edition was written by an American historian Justin Harvey Smith, specialist on the Mexican-American War. For his exceptional work Smith was awarded with Pulitzer Prize for History.Aseveryone understands, the conflict with Mexico has been almost entirely eclipsed by the greater wars following it. But in the field of thought mere size does not count for much; and while the number of troops and the lists of casualties give the present subject little comparative importance, it has ample grounds for claiming attention. Contents: Mexico and the Mexicans The Political Education of Mexico The Relations between the United States and Mexico, 1825–1843 The Relations between the United States and Mexico, 1843–1846 The Mexican Attitude on the Eve of War The American Attitude on the Eve of War The Preliminaries of the Conflict Palo Alto and Resaca de Guerrero The United States Meets the Crisis The Chosen Leaders Advance Taylor Sets out for Saltillo Monterey Saltillo, Parras, and Tampico Santa Fe Chihuahua The California Question The Conquest of California The Genesis of Two Campaigns Santa Anna Prepares to Strike Buena Vista Behind the Scenes at Mexico Vera Cruz Cerro Gordo Puebla On to the Capital Contreras and Churubusco Negotiations Molino del Rey, Chapultepec and Mexico Final Military Operations The Naval Operations The Americans as Conquerors Peace The Finances of the War The War in American Politics The Foreign Relations of the War

Written through the lens of annexation, John Ross traces an unbroken band of conquest through the centuries and shows how World War II, the Cold War, and now the Drug War have bound Mexico tightly as a U.S. client state.

Timothy J. Henderson's A Glorious Defeat provide a short, accessible account of the US-Mexican War. The war that was fought between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 was a major event in the history of both countries: it cost Mexico half of its national territory, opened western North America to U.S. expansion, and brought to the surface a host of tensions that led to devastating civil wars in both countries. Among generations of Latin Americans, it helped to cement the image of the United States as an arrogant, aggressive, and imperialist nation, poisoning relations between a young America and its southern neighbors. In contrast with many current books that treat the war as a fundamentally American experience, Timothy J. Henderson's A Glorious Defeat offers a fresh perspective on the Mexican side of the equation. Examining the manner in which Mexico gained independence, Henderson brings to light a greater understanding of that country's intense factionalism and political paralysis leading up to and through the war. Also touching on a range of topics from culture, ethnicity, religion, and geography, this comprehensive yet concise narrative humanizes the conflict and serves as the perfect introduction for new readers of Mexican history.