American Civil Wars: A Continental History, 1850–1873

This sweeping account from Pulitzer winner Taylor (American Republics) examines the Civil War in a wider North American context. America’s conflict forms the backbone of Taylor’s narrative—he moves through the war’s epochal events with striking conciseness—while his explorations of developments in Canada and Mexico reveal how the fates of all three nations were intertwined. After Mexico’s defeat in the 1846–1848 Mexican-American War, the country was “bitterly divided” between conservative and liberal factions and defenseless against regular incursions by American raiders. Meanwhile, Canadian leaders worked to bridge divisions between Francophone and Anglophone states in hopes of forming a confederation—eventually established in 1867—that would be “better prepared to resist American invasion,” a perceived likelihood at the time. Strife on the continent heightened further with the French invasion of Mexico in 1862 and the 1864 elections, which were riven with tension in all three countries, especially in Mexico, where the French held votes structured to prove that Mexicans welcomed French rule. Taylor trenchantly observes that the situation in Mexico further spurred America’s Unionists, who feared similar European incursion into their own divided country. He also provides fresh analysis of Mexican and Canadian leaders Benito Juárez and John A. Macdonald, liberals whom he credits with holding their countries together in the face of out of control conservative revanchism. This penetrating study is a must for Civil War history buffs. (May)