The book doesn’t fully deliver on its ostensible purpose, however. Although engagingly written, it is a largely unoriginal, thinly researched work that, judging by the author’s notes, relies heavily on secondary sources and on interviews with modern historians. The result is a story that concentrates as much on the endless intriguing among the parade of Mexican strongmen and idealists who wrestled for control of Revolutionary Mexico, and on nearly a century of American-Mexican relations prior to 1916, as it does on the professed topic of the book.

... [a] skillfully written history.

... [a] galloping new narrative.

... an excellent history of a defining moment in U.S.–Mexico relations, especially as the author explains the complexities of the Mexican Revolution (1910–24) in engaging detail.

Guinn brings the U.S.-Mexico conflicts of the early 20th century to vibrant life in this superior history.

... tightly focused.