The Spanish War: An American Epic--1898

Rating:
Summary: Well written showing different perspectives
Review: A pretty good book on a "Splendid Little War."
* Events leading up to the war are explained clearly and thoroughly.
* A varied cast of characters are described with enough detail to make them interesting - without being overly indulgent.
* The different perspectives of these characters are represented in a clear manner.
* The different theaters of the war are clearly explained, but still tied to the big picture.
* Implications for the future are made clear during the reading of this book.
* Maps of the fighting in Cuba would have made things a bit more understandable and the book more readable.
* Teddy Roosevelt is neither lionized nor bedeviled, which is a difficult balancing act given his role in the war.

A good book with no major flaws.

Rating:
Summary: Well written showing different perspectives
Review: A pretty good book on a "Splendid Little War."
* Events leading up to the war are explained clearly and thoroughly.
* A varied cast of characters are described with enough detail to make them interesting - without being overly indulgent.
* The different perspectives of these characters are represented in a clear manner.
* The different theaters of the war are clearly explained, but still tied to the big picture.
* Implications for the future are made clear during the reading of this book.
* Maps of the fighting in Cuba would have made things a bit more understandable and the book more readable.
* Teddy Roosevelt is neither lionized nor bedeviled, which is a difficult balancing act given his role in the war.

A good book with no major flaws.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book!
Review: John Hay called it a "splendid little war". One would be hard pressed to find very many average Americans who could recall even the most basic facts of that war, much less any of the major events or issues. G. J. A. O'Toole, in his book The Spanish War: An American Epic 1898 brings the war, at least from the American point of view, to life in vivid detail.

In his acknowledgements O'Toole states that for decades the war was "no more than a colorful episode of the Ragtime Era" and a "matter of little historical consequence". He then declares that the intention of his work is to correct this notion. With The Spanish War, O'Toole clearly achieves his objective. For O'Toole the war was much more than John Hay's "splendid little war", it was a "national rite of passage, transforming a former colony into a world power". Drawing from a rich foundation of documents, letters, memoirs and other works, including primary sources from most of the major participants O'Toole provides a detailed and very readable narrative that succeeds in raising the reader's level of understanding of this truly momentous event.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book!
Review: John Hay called it a "splendid little war". One would be hard pressed to find very many average Americans who could recall even the most basic facts of that war, much less any of the major events or issues. G. J. A. O'Toole, in his book The Spanish War: An American Epic 1898 brings the war, at least from the American point of view, to life in vivid detail.

In his acknowledgements O'Toole states that for decades the war was "no more than a colorful episode of the Ragtime Era" and a "matter of little historical consequence". He then declares that the intention of his work is to correct this notion. With The Spanish War, O'Toole clearly achieves his objective. For O'Toole the war was much more than John Hay's "splendid little war", it was a "national rite of passage, transforming a former colony into a world power". Drawing from a rich foundation of documents, letters, memoirs and other works, including primary sources from most of the major participants O'Toole provides a detailed and very readable narrative that succeeds in raising the reader's level of understanding of this truly momentous event.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent study in history
Review: Mr. O'Toole goes into almost excruciating detail about the events leading up to the war--but he retains overall a readable epic that one, chronicles the Spanish War--a splendid little war by some accounts--and two, shows how history is most often a mix of good and bad intentions, well laid plans and chance, dunderheads and geniuses. Highly recommended to somone beginning to study American history who wants to be engaged in a book that gives its reader more than one calorie, and no caffine.

Rating:
Summary: Another 17 thumbs up
Review: Now if you ask me, and plenty of history buff do now and again, the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana harbor (107 years ago to the day... if you consider the day on which I am writing) and the questionable circumstances surrounding the blast (i.e. the hull of the ship exploding outward rather than inward, suggesting the bomb was planted inside the boat... possibly by crewmen) then the while escapade of the second American war outside of America (the Tripolitan War, 1801 - 1805 was the first) was all a mysterious debacle that could have been avoided.

However, if it weren't for the blast that sank the Maine, then the Philippines wouldn't have been a US possession for 48 years, and Manila wouldn't have a Taft Avenue. Taft Avenue in manila is the location of the best greasy spoon in the archipelago and every time I am in that fair (sweltering) city I go there to get my fill of boiled offal and tripe. Filipino food is not the best in Southeast Asia, but it is the best in the Philippines and when you are there and hungry, then local fare is usually the way to go.

Me and Mama took us a tour of that islands back a few years ago and had this here book along with us to read the facts surrounding the Philippines portion of the Spanish American War and sure enough did find it fascinating. I can highly recommend it and will even go as far as to give it the traditional 17 Huckabee thumbs up.


Rating:
Summary: You have no idea!
Review: The times surrounding the conflict in Cuba are fascinating. Unless you are well versed in the history of this time, you will find the unfolding tale of America's first international intervention a real treat.
The author does a fine job describing the events and personalities that steered the conflict on both sides of the ocean.

Rating:
Summary: You have no idea!
Review: The times surrounding the conflict in Cuba are fascinating. Unless you are well versed in the history of this time, you will find the unfolding tale of America's first international intervention a real treat.
The author does a fine job describing the events and personalities that steered the conflict on both sides of the ocean.

Rating:
Summary: readable and thorough book on the war of 1898
Review: This an epic and thorough book on the Spanish-American War of 1898, one of the lesser known wars in American and world history, but nonetheless very important. O'Toole does a very credible and noteworthy job discussing all aspects of the war, detailing not only the land and naval operations during the war, but the diplomatic events preceding the crisis and during it, and actions on the American political scene in Congress, the White House, and the press leading up to and during the conflict. O'Toole discusses as well previous events in relations between the United States, Cuba, and Spain, and how the US had a long involvement in Cuba long before 1898 running guns, smuggling, and otherwise aiding Cuban insurgents and rebels against Spanish authorities. The author shows that the Spanish-American War was practically inevitable given the past history of American involvement and views on the region, and was not out of the realm of possibility that war might have occured much earlier.

The Spanish-American War was in many ways a war between a declining Spain, increasingly weak in Europe, overextended, fighting a war it did not want over a possession that was increasingly more trouble than it was worth, and a rising United States, eager to flex its muscles after the long recovery from the Civil War, increasingly concerned with events outside it borders (the interest in part fueled by a very activist press), and an eager and enthusiastic Theodore Roosevelt building and running an increasingly world class navy. The Spanish-American War pretty much marks the debut of the US as a world power as it closed the war having defeated a major European power and with possessions far outside of traditional home waters.

O'Toole shows in detail the conflicts on land and in the sea, and how truly different they were. The naval conflicts went exceedingly well for the United States thanks to excellent tactics and ships, and casualties were extremely light. O'Toole vividly shows how the Battle of Manila Bay and events in the Phillipines made Admiral Dewey a hero, as well as how Oregon's dash around the Horn made it a legend. The land battles stand in stark contrast, as they were beset by confused leadership at times, ill-preparation, difficult terrain, disease, and a desperate Spanish defense force. Casualties were much higher on land, and O'Toole shows how the fighting in the jungles and mountains of Cuba was far from "splendid."

O'Toole closes the book with a look at the war in the Phillipines, which soon developed into the Phillipine Insurrection. Though he does not spend a great deal of time on this aspect of the war, he does draw some startlingly parallels between this theater of operations and the much later Vietnam War; a war fought in the jungle, where the enemy and the friend were difficult to tell apart, fought by often demoralized troops with hazy objectives, a conflict in which cruel tactics were employed by both sides, far more brutal than was seen in Cuba.

A great read, a must for military historians, students of Latin America, and of American history, as well as anyone wanting to know more about the "splendid little war."