Leading personalities, civilian and military, Mexican and American, are given incisive and fair evaluations. The coming of war is seen as unavoidable, given American expansion and Mexican resistance to loss of territory, compounded by the fact that neither side understood the other. This book deals with this topic.

This story tells of the Mexican war, and shows a fair side to both the Mexicans and the Americans. This is an outstanding contribution to military history and model of writing which will be admired and emulated.