Dueling Eagles: Reinterpreting the Mexican-American War, 1846-1848

For a hundred and fifty years, historians have debated contradictory claims about the origins of the Mexican War and ignored the impact of the social, historical, and geographical features of both the United States and Mexico on that war. Instead, scholars have focused primarily on military strategy and campaigns. North American historiography, claims El Colegio de Mexico historian Josefina Zoraida Vazquez, has elucidated all aspects of the war: battles, strategy, weapons, casualties, desertions, background of the soldiers, finances, and regional variations. Mexican scholars, until recently, have preferred not only to avoid the war, but also the thankless period of national life that proceeds from independence to the end of the conflict.

Dueling Eagles brings together essays by respected American and Mexican scholars to reveal unparalleled views of the war, including the influence of Great Britain, the role of the first war correspondents and how their dispatches were perceived in Mexico and America, and the reasons for the collaboration by many Mexicans with United States troops. The portrayals of the two countries’ viewpoints create a better understanding of the war’s significance, not only on each nation’s history but also on the international relationship that remains despite the demarcation of the greatly disputed U.S.-Mexican border.