So Far From God Book Review

Eisenhower, John S. D. So Far From God: The U. S. War with Mexico 1846 – 1848. New York: Random House, 1989, xxvi, 436. Mr. John Eisenhower is a retired Army General from Westchester, Pennsylvania. He is also the son of retired General and later President, Dwight D. Eisehower. He is an author as well as a military historian. Mr. Eisenhower's other works include, The Bitter Woods, published in 1987 and critically acclaimed by Life magazine author, S. L. A. Marshall as being "written with power by a true military historian." Reviews of his work from The New Yorker and New York Times Book Review describe his accounts as "Exceptionally interesting" and "Written with enthusiasm that is hard to resist." Using his military background, Mr. Eisenhower was able to bring an unbiased opinion to the U. S. war with Mexico by
Events and key personnel on the American side are also outlined in detail. President Tyler is described as "seizing the initiative" to shift public opinion against Mexico by assigning a troublemaker, Wilson Shannon, as the minister to that country in 1844. Eisenhower provides a detailed description on the implementation of weaponry and tactics during all stages of warfare. He often refers to the performance of the main characters in other conflicts such as the war of 1812 and forward to the civil war. The cause of this war is summed up early in the text followed by the tactics and detailed execution of much of the operations. The turning points of the battles and their consequences were described in terms of techniques and capabilities as well as philosophies of the leaders. Bloody Friday was a good example of this as Winfield Scott used Captain Robert E. Lee and Major William Turnbull jointly as intelligence gatherers for the defense of El PeÔÙn, when previously he had pitted them against each