The Spanish-American War

Examines the events leading up to the Spanish-American War, the major battles, and the postwar period.

Gr 6-9-On the night of February 15, 1898, the battleship Maine blew up in the Havana harbor, triggering the Spanish-American War. Through this war, which was "the shortest and least damaging of American conflicts," the United States became a world power. Dolan provides an in-depth study of this historic event, including the home front. Vivid descriptions of the battles at sea and on land give readers a clear understanding of various strategies that led to victories and defeats. Reactions to the outcome of the war, such as changes in nations and territories, are addressed. Sidebars offer additional fascinating facts and black-and-white maps, photographs, and reproductions provide points of reference. This short book offers a solid discussion of the event including its ramifications, both in domestic and foreign policy.

Lana Miles, Duchesne Academy, Houston, TX

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 5-8. Beginning with a tense, up-close recounting of the U.S.S. Maine's explosion off the coast of Cuba, which killed 260 U.S. soldiers, Dolan traces the history of the Spanish American War. Additional details about other contributing factors, especially President William McKinley's impatience with revolutionary activities in Spain and Cuban and Americans who were being goaded toward war by the newspapers, broaden the historical scope. Statistics-rich battle scenes are made more memorable with descriptions of such key military leaders as Teddy Roosevelt and obese, gout-suffering Major General William Shafter. The sketches are among the best parts of the work: fluidly written, they rev up the narrative pace. Throughout, drawings, maps, and authentic photographs provide worthwhile support to the chronological descriptions, which move readers logically through America's last nineteenth-century war. Roger Leslie
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