Illusions of Empire
The Civil War and Reconstruction in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands

William S. Kiser (Author)

9780812253511

Hardback, published 7 December 2021

272 pages, 11 illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.666 kg

"Kiser's expansive history of borderlands diplomacy and intrigue fills important gaps in the historiographies of the Civil War era, U.S. foreign relations, North American imperialism, and the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. It will be a valuable read for scholars in all these fields, particularly those with transnational and continental interests. Perhaps most important, Kiser goes beyond simply linking or comparing events in the United States and Mexico to recover the deep entanglement of the Civil War and the French Intervention, while also showing the critical importance of events in the border region to both conflicts and to the broader geopolitical history of North America." (The Journal of Southern History) "William S. Kiser continues to burnish his reputation as a prodigious researcher, productive writer, and keen analyst of the mid-nineteenth century southwestern borderlands from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. Using an impressive variety of manuscripts, official documents, English-and Spanish-language newspapers, and secondary books and articles, Kiser demonstrates the oftenoverlooked significance of northern Mexico to the American Civil War and Greater Reconstruction...llusions of Empire makes the strongest case in print for the importance of Mexican diplomacy to the United States during the Civil War era. Furthermore, it offers important analytical opportunities for Texas historians beyond the southwestern borderlands." (Southwestern Historical Quarterly) "In his most recent book, William Kiser has taken on the long-overdue task of tracing the inextricable connections between the American Civil War, Napoleon III's 'Grand Scheme' of a new American empire, and Mexico's second war of independence. Adding to his formidable list of publications on the US-Mexico borderlands,Kiser argues for the centrality of this region in shaping Civil War diplomacy and military strategy. Showcasing his fine-grain analyses of governmental correspondence and congressional records, Kiser both informs and entertains with his surprising stories of the US borderlands' most pivotal political players and what he calls their 'irregular' and often illicit venues of diplomacy and alliance." (Hispanic American Historical Review) "Kiser provides a succinct and engaging narrative of the complex relations between the US and Mexico during the Civil War and Reconstruction, when both nations experienced dramatic internal conflicts...This engaging book makes a convincing case for a 'Greater Reconstruction' that encompasses the US West and the borderlands, and makes insightful comparisons between similar processes of national consolidation in the US and Mexico" (Choice)

Illusions of Empire adopts a multinational view of North American borderlands, examining the ways in which Mexico's North overlapped with the U.S. Southwest in the context of diplomacy, politics, economics, and military operations during the Civil War era.
William S. Kiser examines a fascinating series of events in which a disparate group of historical actors vied for power and control along the U.S.-Mexico border: from Union and Confederate generals and presidents, to Indigenous groups, diplomatic officials, bandits, and revolutionaries, to a Mexican president, a Mexican monarch, and a French king. Their unconventional approaches to foreign relations demonstrate the complex ways that individuals influence the course of global affairs and reveal that borderlands simultaneously enable and stifle the growth of empires.
This is the first study to treat antebellum U.S. foreign policy, Civil War campaigning, the French Intervention in Mexico, Southwestern Indian Wars, South Texas Bandit Wars, and U.S. Reconstruction in a single volume, balancing U.S. and Mexican source materials to tell an important story of borderlands conflict with ramifications that are still felt in the region today.