Empire by Default: The Spanish-American War and the Dawn of the American Century

Rating:
Summary: wonderful book, lacks some clarity
Review: A wonderful military book. This book details the Spanish America war and its environs. it details the important figures like Mahan, Dewey, Roosevelt. It details the rise of guerrilla warfare in Cuba and the Phillipines. Nevertheless I felt it did not eleborate on the importance of the conflict internationally. It iverestimated the Americans as showsing the war to be won before it was fought. The reality of the conflict, the first defeat of a European power by a non-european power(the Russo-Japanese war was in 1905). Although one passage relates the newspaper jingoism detailing the first shots of the rugged americans against the sparkling halmets of the Spanish soldiers, it underestimates the impact of this war in which the Americans whiped european colonism off the face of the American continent.

Rating:
Summary: wonderful book, lacks some clarity
Review: A wonderful military book. This book details the Spanish America war and its environs. it details the important figures like Mahan, Dewey, Roosevelt. It details the rise of guerrilla warfare in Cuba and the Phillipines. Nevertheless I felt it did not eleborate on the importance of the conflict internationally. It iverestimated the Americans as showsing the war to be won before it was fought. The reality of the conflict, the first defeat of a European power by a non-european power(the Russo-Japanese war was in 1905). Although one passage relates the newspaper jingoism detailing the first shots of the rugged americans against the sparkling halmets of the Spanish soldiers, it underestimates the impact of this war in which the Americans whiped european colonism off the face of the American continent.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Narrative Account of "The Splendid Little War"
Review: Being a Civil War buff and author who is considering doing a work on the Indian Wars, I have always been fascinated by that period between the Civil War and the turn of the century.

Especially on its effect on the U.S. Army as it fought both the Indian Wars and the Spanish American War under the leadership of former Civil War Generals, and Musicant does not disappoint.

Some of the names are familiar - Nelson Miles, Wesley Merritt, Admiral (George) Dewey,and of course, the Confederate Cavalry great "Fighting Joe" Joseph Wheeler. And the not-so-well known - men such as William Rufus Shafter, the corpulent former Union officer and presumed model for "Pecos Bill", who was named commander of the expeditionary forces in Cuba and who often clashed with both his superiors in Washington, and with one certain volunteer colonel by the name of Theodore Roosevelt.

To be fair, I haven't gotten to the military operations nor the logistical problems experienced by the U.S. Army - poisoned (embalmed) beef, lack of smokeless cartridges (the antiqudated Spanish Army was more "modern" in this respect), as Musicant's account is an excellent read. But he does effectively score the two Presidents who bungled into the Cuban morass - Cleveland, definitely the Bill Clinton of his time, and William McKinley, a man of great character and virtue but hamstrung by a senile Secretary of State (William Tecumseh Sherman's brother) and politico appointees as well as his own desire to please all.
The account of the destruction of the USS Maine which finally provoked McKinley is the finest that I have read.

Musicant shows great knowledge of the Cuban situation and of the Spanish predicament. I only wish that he had covered the infamous "Virginius" affair, when the American Captain Joseph Fry, a former Confederate hero, and a score of American sailors were brutally executed by Spanish authorities after trying to smuggle guns to Cuban insurgents. This happened during the time of Grant's Presidency, and it nearly then led to war with Spain...Who knows - it might have been George Armstrong Custer leading the charge up San Juan Hill instead of Teddy.

The US wasn't spoiling for a fight with Spain in 1873 - 25 years later, it was.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent and informative read
Review: Despite its length, "Empire by Default," is a very well written book that is worth reading. Musicant's account is a straightforward narrative history, but his talent as a writer keeps it from being draggy or boring. Particularly good are his accounts of the battles which have narrative excitement and give a good overall view of tactics and strategy. Musicant covers all aspects of the war, both geographically and politically. Knowing only what I had learned in school about this episode in history, I appreciated this thorough account.

Rating:
Summary: A Recount of the Spanish-American War
Review: In 1898 the United States went to war with Spain under the slogan "Remember the Maine". While most history textbooks tell us that it was over the Maine that we went to war, in "Empire by Default: The Spanish-American War and the Dawn of the American Century", Ivan Musicant contends that war with Spain was in actuality a fait accompli.

This is the most significant aspect of Musicant's work. He positions the war as being fought, not because of geopolitical concerns or souring foreign relations, but because of domestic political considerations in both Spain and the United States. Neither side could back down from what was an avoidable war because, which ever government blinked first would have been brought down in its turn.

Beyond this though there isn't much to recommend "Empire by Default" relating to new scholarship on the war. Musicant spouts the consensus line that the war brought America out of its isolationist shell and into the world of international politics. This actually may be true for the post-Civil War period; but, excepting this period and that following World War I, the United States was not an isolationist country. We were as involved in international affairs then as we are now. The prime difference between then and now is that now we typically control the international stage whereas before we were just a member of the cast.

Musicant also is a bit misleading with his title. A book called "Empire by Default" leads me to believe that it will have quite a bit to do with the effects of the war, primarily our acquisition of Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Instead Musicant only briefly mentions the struggles we faced following the immediate acquisition of the Philippines and this only in relation to the scandals that the War Department faced in early 1899. On Puerto Rico Musicant is entirely silent.

The majority of the book deals with the operations on the battlefield and the preparations the United States government made for the war. This is interesting history but not very informative. History for history's sake is fine; but, I like to at least try to glean some important information from everything that I read. In this, "Empire by Default" comes up short.

Rating:
Summary: A Recount of the Spanish-American War
Review: In 1898 the United States went to war with Spain under the slogan "Remember the Maine". While most history textbooks tell us that it was over the Maine that we went to war, in "Empire by Default: The Spanish-American War and the Dawn of the American Century", Ivan Musicant contends that war with Spain was in actuality a fait accompli.

This is the most significant aspect of Musicant's work. He positions the war as being fought, not because of geopolitical concerns or souring foreign relations, but because of domestic political considerations in both Spain and the United States. Neither side could back down from what was an avoidable war because, which ever government blinked first would have been brought down in its turn.

Beyond this though there isn't much to recommend "Empire by Default" relating to new scholarship on the war. Musicant spouts the consensus line that the war brought America out of its isolationist shell and into the world of international politics. This actually may be true for the post-Civil War period; but, excepting this period and that following World War I, the United States was not an isolationist country. We were as involved in international affairs then as we are now. The prime difference between then and now is that now we typically control the international stage whereas before we were just a member of the cast.

Musicant also is a bit misleading with his title. A book called "Empire by Default" leads me to believe that it will have quite a bit to do with the effects of the war, primarily our acquisition of Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Instead Musicant only briefly mentions the struggles we faced following the immediate acquisition of the Philippines and this only in relation to the scandals that the War Department faced in early 1899. On Puerto Rico Musicant is entirely silent.

The majority of the book deals with the operations on the battlefield and the preparations the United States government made for the war. This is interesting history but not very informative. History for history's sake is fine; but, I like to at least try to glean some important information from everything that I read. In this, "Empire by Default" comes up short.

Rating:
Summary: A lively history of a largely forgotten event
Review: It takes some skill to hold a reader's attention for 658 pages. Musicant generally succeeds in his narrative of the Spanish-American war. A specialist in naval history, Musicant gives particularly close attention to the naval battles at Manila and Santiago de Cuba. His description of the gallant but hopeless attempt by the Spanish fleet to escape from Santiago is gripping. Other striking sections describe the chaos of the American embarkation at Tampa and the suffering of American troops investing Santiago. In other parts of the book, the detailed accounts of military politics and preparations may lead many readers to skip ahead. The most disappointing part of the book is the last chapter titled "Empire," a very abbreviated commentary on "the dawn of the American century." The book is reasonably well served by its few maps and its black and white photographs.

Rating:
Summary: A lively history of a largely forgotten event
Review: It takes some skill to hold a reader's attention for 658 pages. Musicant generally succeeds in his narrative of the Spanish-American war. A specialist in naval history, Musicant gives particularly close attention to the naval battles at Manila and Santiago de Cuba. His description of the gallant but hopeless attempt by the Spanish fleet to escape from Santiago is gripping. Other striking sections describe the chaos of the American embarkation at Tampa and the suffering of American troops investing Santiago. In other parts of the book, the detailed accounts of military politics and preparations may lead many readers to skip ahead. The most disappointing part of the book is the last chapter titled "Empire," a very abbreviated commentary on "the dawn of the American century." The book is reasonably well served by its few maps and its black and white photographs.

Rating:
Summary: Yes, it's long, but is it any good?
Review: Oddly enough, I came across this book in a joint review (it may have been the New Yorker) of it & Elmore Leonard's Cuba Libre. The latter was poor, like cardboard cut-outs marching across the stage. The former, the book under review here, really brought things to life in a way you usually encounter in fiction & rarely in history. The New Yorker complained about the excessive detail ... but it was not. An understanding of the details (like the Spanish reclassifying their 50 year old ships as new Class I battleships) is critical to understanding the war. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Gack. A boring, difficult, unrewarding read.
Review: This thing...this book of Musicant's...isn't hitting on all of its cylinders. Musicant is incapable of maintaining a coherent chronology. His source material is limited. The work is not difficult intellecutally -- in fact, the opposite -- but is made difficult by Musicant's consistently poor use of English; he so often puts adjectives in the wrong place that the reader frequently has to stop and try to figure out (or guess) what he means...the difference between