write:Smith’sextensive research in both American and Mexican archives ensured its place in theconflict’s historiography yet it is full of racist and denigrating portrayals of Mexica

1919. Winner of thePulitzer Prize for history in 1920
this book was the benchmark for the study of theU.S. war with Mexico from the time it was published through the 1970s. Smith’sextensive research in both American and Mexican archives ensured its place in theconflict’s historiography
yet it is full of racist and denigrating portrayals of Mexicansthat ultimately reveal more about the writing of history
and the Progressive Eramind-set
than about the historical events themselves.Stephanson
Anders. Manifest Destiny: American Expansion and the Empire of Right. NewYork: Hill and Wang
1995. Linking manifest destiny to an older tradition of missiondating back to the Puritans
Stephanson shows how this idea has been presentthroughout U.S. history in various forms.Streeby
Shelley. American Sensations: Class
Empire
and the Production of PopularCulture. Berkeley: University of California Press
2002. Building on Johannsen’sideas
Streeby shows how a literature of sensation had a profound influence on thewar and other nineteenthcentury imperial ventures. American Sensations also makesclear that 1848 was a pivotal year in U.S. history
for it not only marked theattainment of an American empire
but with the acquisition of Mexican territory andits people
it also revealed the Republic’s deep-seated racial and class dimensions.