The Spanish-American War

A fresh (and timely) look at what one diplomat dubbed ""a splendid little war,"" a triumph of yellow journalism and US imperialism. Writing in his usual lurid style (""Chunks of steel buzz-sawed through the air, slicing through anything that stood in their way""), Martin ably describes the harsh Spanish regimes in Cuba and the Philippines; the incidents, culminating in the (probably accidental) explosion of the U.S.S. Maine, which caused McKinley to dispatch his strong new navy and a hastily assembled army to war; and the course of both campaigns, The author misses none of war's ironies (in Cuba alone, 345 US soldiers died in combat, 5,462 of disease), but he also describes many instances of heroism, especially in the black units. He concludes with a detailed account of the Philippine Insurrection, ""the least-known of all our wars""--a bitter conflict he sees as having much in common with Vietnam. B&w photos not seen. Excellent notes; lengthy bibliography; index.