A war that started under questionable pretexts. A president who is convinced of his country's might and right. A military and political stalemate with United States troops occupying a foreign land against a stubborn and deadly insurgency. The time is the 1840s, the enemy is Mexico, and the war is one of the least known and most important in both Mexican and United States history--a war that really began much earlier and whose consequences still echo today. Historian David A. Clary presents this epic struggle for a continent for the first time from both sides, using original Mexican and North American sources.--From publisher description.