Book Description
On March 9, 1916, a band of Mexican marauders led by Pancho Villa crossed the border and raided the tiny town of Columbus, New Mexico. A military expedition was hastily organized to go into Mexico and capture Villa, suspects were rounded up, trials were held, and a virulent backlash against persons of Mexican origin erupted on the local and national scenes. General John Black Jack Pershing, once a genuine fan of Villas, accompanied by a young George Patton, was told to assemble a group of soldiers, head into Mexico, and get Villadead or alive. The last hurrah for the U.S. Cavalry, the expedition would be the first time armored tanks, airplanes, and trucks were employed against an enemy. But as they descended into the nightmare of Mexico, the American troops were followed by spies and picked off by snipers, fought violent battles, and suffered in the scorching deserts and snowy mountains. Some would never return home alive. A brutal tale of revenge and violence, Eileen Welsomes richly detailed account is equal parts Sam Peckinpah, Cormac McCarthy, and Stephen Ambrose.
Customer Reviews:
Pancho Villa and Black Jack Pershing.......2007-07-14
As one who fell in love with Mexico in 1964, I continue to read most of what comes out in print with relation to that country. This book has information about Pershing that I knew nothing about, and reveals much of a personal nature about him and about Francisco Villa.
The struggles of the U. S. soldiers as they search for the elusive Villa
make an interesting story-- one that got lost because the incursion into Mexico was followed so quickly by World War I. I wonder, for example, how many of the soldiers who were in Mexico went on to the European war.
I had the great good fortune to hear a lecture by one of Villa's secretaries.
I am still in love with Mexico after all these years!
Norma Williamson
Excellent account of the events in Mexico before WWI.......2007-06-12
The author has done her homework with this fine piece of history. I have read much on this subject and was hoping to find out more details about the Punitive Expedition mounted by America to track down Pancho Villa and his bandit army. She paints Villa and the other leaders of the 'Revolution' as most of them were: brutal killers seeking wealth and power and a few betterment of the people of Mexico. Lots of details about the Villiast raid on Columbus, NM, the numerous skirmishes between US troops and various factions of Mexican forces of all sorts.
Plenty of drama and some good information about Villa's background, experiences during the revolution as well as those of Obregon, Madero, Zapata and many others.
Worth reading as her style is easy to follow and sometimes humerous and insightful.
I give it thumbs up. Enjoy as it might lead the reader to seek more information about this fascinating period of US/Mexican history.
The Columbus Raid and its aftermath........2007-06-04
A former guerrilla ally of the United States turns his vengence on the U.S. A President who wanted to tend to the domestic ills of the United States is drawn into a foreign conflict. An intervention is attempted which results in native aggravation at the United States. History repeats itself. The time is 1916 and the terrorist act is at Columbus, New Mexico-a sleepy border town. Pancho Villa kills a lot of innocent men. Americans are now his enemy. The Americans intervene in Mexico and try to track him down. They nearly suceed. Time give Villa the punishment he deserves.
This is an interesting book about earlier terrorism. Not much is written about the Columbus raid. Welsome does a good job of describing the killings of Pancho Villa and his Division of the North in the 1916-17 period. This should be read in light of the current war on terror.
a little too much fluff.......2007-06-03
I enjoyed the book, but I thought it could have been shortened considerably if Welsome would have left out the numerous paragraphs about what someone was thinking or might have thought as they rode a horse through the mountains. It had a little too much fluff for me and for a book that has a title that indicates it is about 2 military leaders I was left with the feeling it was a so-so attempt to create a romanticized old west tale. I would have liked to seen more actual military history instead of the speculation fluff that fills so many pages. The book is nice but if you want a military history book, this isn't it.
Good book about Villas' Columbus Raid.......2007-03-19
The book is excellent from a historical perspective. Ms. Welsome thoroughly researched the topic and presented her findings in a very readable manner. The only negative is that it wasn't told as exciting as some other period non-fiction I've read. But this is really nitpicking though, as I thought it was a fine book all things considered.
Book Description
Starting with twenty-eight followers, Francisco Pancho Villa rose out of banditry to become a dynamic strategist who mastered the tactical use of a diverse array of weapons, including modern railroads and cavalry, to contest control of Mexico. In his early days as a brigand, the peasantry idolized him because he often gave them the largesse of his raids on the wealthy haciendas. His military career began in 1910 during the Mexican Revolution, and by the time of his defeat at the Battle of Celaya in 1915 he commanded 15,000 horsemen. Villa could be a generous patron to his loyal followers but a terrifying enemy. He believed that those whom he defeated earned the “privilege” of being executed by his own hand. During the bloodiest months of the Mexican Revolution, he even contended for control of the nation. He could not be intimidated by anyone, including the U.S. Army’s Punitive Expedition led by Gen. John J. Pershing, who was sent to capture Villa after his raids into New Mexico during 1916. He died as he lived, violently, the victim of an assassination squad in 1923. Robert Scheina analyzes this complex man and provides a solid overview of Mexico’s political history against the fabric of social and cultural turmoil.
Customer Reviews:
Villa: Revolutionary Leader.......2005-10-17
"Villa: Soldier of the Mexican Revolution" provides a balanced, in-depth look at a fascinating revolutionary combat leader. The story of Pancho Villa, with his personal, political and military strengths and weaknesses is expertly woven into the political and military tapestry of revolutionary Mexico of the first two decades of the 20th Century. Scheina's encyclopedic understanding of Latin American political and military affairs shines through in this clear and concise book. Noteworthy is Scheina's handling of the vast parade of dictators, generals, moderates, revolutionaries and revolutionary military leaders. Scheina's clear presentation is the best I have seen. The author does the reader another favor; for ease of reference, all geo-locations are made in reference to Mexico City and denominated in linear miles.
Pancho Villa was a product of his times, a man who showed nothing but strength to his followers, confederated leaders and his enemies. Villa also relied on natural cunning and inherent intelligence. Pancho Villa was a strong, charismatic leader who gained tough, battle-ready horsemen through his ability to lead by example, provide for his followers, and ruthlessly dispatch enemies. While able to attract good quality, mounted infantry/cavalry during times of success, these irregulars tended to dissappear after a string of military reverses. Like so many irregular forces, they were strongest after a few victories. For much of the revolution, Villa also lacked trained infantry. What set Villa's irregulars apart from others was their ability to dismount and engage in vicious city-fighting for days on end.
Villa lived and fought during a period of great technological change. He used his mounted infantry for tactical attack and railroad-borne horsemen, artillery and machine guns for strategic movement. The changes of this era were also reflected in Villa's horsemen's frequent encounters with entrenched infantry which were protected by machine guns and barbed wire. Often, the elan of Villa's horse was able to carry the day. In the last days of horse cavalry, Villa's communications included the telephone and his reconnaissance motor cars and attempts with early aircraft.
At his best, Villa was a brilliant leader and tactician. He worked with the forces available to him and employed new weapons when made available. In weaker moments, Villa fell back on the tried and true tactics of his early victories, launching wasteful frontal cavalry charges against well-defended infantry. Charisma was not always enough. Late in his career, Villa was simply unable to adjust while under the pressure of numerous, trained and motivated enemy armies. "Soldier of the Revolution" provides an excellent glimpse into Mexico's revolution, Villa's response and the importance of the charismatic "strong-man" in Latin American politics. Scheina also provides the Mexican view of Pershing's campaign against Pancho Villa. A campaign of relevance to America's performance in World War I.
Customer Reviews:
An American Classic.......2000-11-05
This is probably the finest relatively-unknown novel ever published in the USA. The reviews back in 1982 were stunning. (William Safire in the New York Times wrote: "Rip-snortin', rootin'-tootin' adventure"; the L.A.Herald-Examiner said, "A big, rawboned, wild-blooded adventure, a novel to make any writer proud and many readers grateful." (I copy these from the paperback book jacket.)
Young Tom Mix runs off to Mexico to join the revolution and becomes Pancho Villa's "gringo" aide. This is historical fact, although Irving -- for our benefit -- embroiders this for some 500 fabulous pages. Tom meets all kinds of people who were there, including George S. Patton, Emiliano Zapata, and Franz von Papen. It's a swashbuckling story, and who among us not wished he'd grown up as romantically as Mix does here?
The book gives the sights and sounds of a turn-of-the-century world real enough to touch. I note that another reviewer in the L.A. Times called it "a fantasy worthy of Mark Twain, a legendary tale." And the Houston Chronicle called it "a wonderful, big book." I agree. If you own a copy, you can sell it for ten times what you paid for it. If you can't find one to buy, try your library. It's GREAT.
Customer Reviews:
Fast arrival.......2007-02-21
It got here in good shape. It was a gift I gave. They liked it a lot.
Amazon.com
The historical figure known as Pancho Villa, hero of the Mexican Revolution, is shrouded in considerable mystery. His enemies presented him as a bandit and murderer, one who thought nothing of slaughtering innocent civilians and looting their villages. His followers considered him to be something of a Robin Hood forced to take action against the government only after stoically enduring its oppression for years. And hagiographers have assigned to Villa an important role in shaping the Mexican Revolution--an uprising that he joined somewhat late. That he was a bandit Villa never denied, but he protested being called a murderer: he killed only when attacked or betrayed, he said. Elements of many other stories made their way into American government reports, however, and went on to color the historical record. (That government, under the administration of Woodrow Wilson, took a considerable interest in Villa after he led an armed raid on the little New Mexico town of Columbus, making off with weapons and supplies.) University of Chicago historian Friedrich Katz carefully separates what can be reliably said about Villa's life from the tidbits of legend and celebration, and the extensive picture of Villa that he gives us (his book weighs in at nearly 1,000 pages) is no less interesting for all his debunking. Students of Mexican history will find much of value in Katz's researches. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
Alongside Moctezuma and Benito Juárez, Pancho Villa is probably the best-known figure in Mexican history. Villa legends pervade not only Mexico but the United States and beyond, existing not only in the popular mind and tradition but in ballads and movies. There are legends of Villa the Robin Hood, Villa the womanizer, and Villa as the only foreigner who has attacked the mainland of the United States since the War of 1812 and gotten away with it.
Whether exaggerated or true to life, these legends have resulted in Pancho Villa the leader obscuring his revolutionary movement, and the myth in turn obscuring the leader. Based on decades of research in the archives of seven countries, this definitive study of Villa aims to separate myth from history. So much attention has focused on Villa himself that the characteristics of his movement, which is unique in Latin American history and in some ways unique among twentieth-century revolutions, have been forgotten or neglected. Villa’s División del Norte was probably the largest revolutionary army that Latin America ever produced. Moreover, this was one of the few revolutionary movements with which a U.S. administration attempted, not only to come to terms, but even to forge an alliance. In contrast to Lenin, Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh, and Fidel Castro, Villa came from the lower classes of society, had little education, and organized no political party.
The first part of the book deals with Villa’s early life as an outlaw and his emergence as a secondary leader of the Mexican Revolution, and also discusses the special conditions that transformed the state of Chihuahua into a leading center of revolution. In the second part, beginning in 1913, Villa emerges as a national leader. The author analyzes the nature of his revolutionary movement and the impact of Villismo as an ideology and as a social movement. The third part of the book deals with the years 1915 to 1920: Villa’s guerrilla warfare, his attack on Columbus, New Mexico, and his subsequent decline. The last part describes Villa’s surrender, his brief life as a hacendado, his assassination and its aftermath, and the evolution of the Villa legend. The book concludes with an assessment of Villa’s personality and the character and impact of his movement.
Customer Reviews:
Everything you'd like to know about Pancho.......2007-05-15
I bought this book while writing a paper for a Mexican History class. I was writing on the military tactics and strategies that Villa used during the Revolution. This book had some really useful material for my paper, and having read a good bit of the rest of the book, I can tell you that it has something for just about anybody depending on your specific area of interest.
Very well done!.......2006-12-28
Katz provides the best biography of Pancho Villa. It is lengthy but is thorough and covers the relevant times in his life. Villa was a thug and a thief and Katz shows that well. His attacks against the government and the United States are clearly laid out and Katz analyzes the surrounding characters very well. If you are interested in the Mexican Revolution this is an essential book to have. For those looking to build up a library on Mexico history this is a must read. I loved every page of this book and have read it several times and each time I unlock a new level of knowledge about the revolution and Villa. Highly recommend.
Bringing Villa to Life.......2005-10-27
Katz is very complete in his review of Villa's moment in history. He represents the thorough type of academic research that we have come to expect from a distinguished professor at the University of Chicago.
Impressive book lacking credibility........2005-09-08
This appears to be a well-researched book and certainly contains a lot of information about Pancho Villa. But there is something wrong. The author has low credibility with me because he writes that Pancho Villa never smoke nor drank. Yet, I can go online and find a photo of Pancho Villa smoking. [...] Moreover, Pancho Villa may have been smoking marijuana in this photo. John Reed writes that La Cucaracha was his army's theme song, but Katz never even gives an explication of Pancho Villa or the sentiments expressed in the 30 plus verses of that song -- e.g. "La cucaracha, that little cockroach, O his home he'll never leave, because to travel without a real roach to smoke, he just can't conceive. Heard the cockroach kicked the bucket, and the funeral packed the house. He was buried with four buzzards, right next to the sexton's mouse. With the chin hairs of Carranza, I will weave a lovely band, for the hat of Pancho Villa, yes, our leader oh so grand. When this baker went to mass, he didn't have a single prayer, so he prayed the blessed Virgin, fill his pot pipe up to there. Biggest laugh that I've had ever, Pancho Villa without shirt on. Carrancistas run for cover, that's why Pancho Villa's men won."
Pancho Villa rides once again.......2005-08-26
The leadership of Pancho Villa was of personality. He was an exciting legend. "You, sir, have destroyed the revolution." (p 117) Pancho Villa was, also, outspoken to his superiors, hot-headed, impulsive and may have been correct. The revolution, the real subject of the book, was destroyed by the rich. Apparently, because of that, Pancho, after a few more battles, retired. The book presents his opinion thoroughly in close to 1,000 pages of fascinating text full of legendary encounter. Pancho Villa, of course, is the center of everything in his world. It was ego. The book shows that too: a portrait of a complex man. Eric J. Lindblom PhD Harvard
Average customer rating:
|
The Great Pursuit: Pershing's Expedition to Destroy Pancho Villa (Men at War)
Herbert Molloy Mason
Manufacturer: Smithmark Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0831757078 |
Book Description
From 1894 to 1914 Pancho Villa shared his memoirs with his assistant Manuel Bauche Alcalde; the result, five hand-written notebooks being published for the first time. His granddaughters, Guadalupe and Rosa, unveil the true face of this man who, far from being the fierce or god-like idol we know, is a patriotic, sincere and loyal companion. This book contains little known or never before published photographs of one of history's most misunderstood characters.
Description in Spanish: "Que se conozca mi historia, toda mi historia, con todos sus sufrimientos, con todas sus luchas, con todas sus miserias; con toda la sangre que me vi forzado a derramar, con todas las injusticias que me vi precisado a combatir, con todas las agresiones que me vi compelido a repeler y todas las infamias que hube que castigar. Que todos, amigos y enemigos, conozcan al Francisco Villa de verdad, al de carne y hueso, al de nervios y sangre y corazón y pensamiento, que ni es el hombre-fiera que pintan los enemigos del pueblo, atribuyéndome una insaciable sed de sangre, de pillaje y de exterminio, ni es tampoco el super-hombre que quisieran encontrar los que, encariñados con el forjamiento de los ídolos populares, no ven que ante las aras de esos falsos ídolos se sacrifica estérilmente la sangre de los pueblos.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book.......2005-07-10
This is Propably one of the best books of Mi General Francisco Villa that Ive read. Se los recomiendo...
Average customer rating:
- Profane, violent, and funny and historically accurate
- Blake at his best
- Pancho Villa comes alive
- Good but not great
- The Friends of Pancho Villa
|
The Friends of Pancho Villa
James Carlos Blake
Manufacturer: Berkley Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0425153045 |
Book Description
Killers of men and lovers of life, they fought for freedom. For the Revolucion. For Villa. In return, they received a soldier's highest honor. They shared life--and death--with the mightiest hero in all of Mexico.
* Blake--one of the most exciting new voices in American historical fiction--is the author of The Pistoleer (Berkley, 9/96)
* "Blake blends fact and fiction into one of the few novels that risk political incorrectness by frankly describing the murder, betrayal, and deceit that turned a revolution against dictatorship into a civil war."--Publishers Weekly
Customer Reviews:
Profane, violent, and funny and historically accurate.......2006-06-19
James Carlos Blake takes the reader through the Mexican Revolution (and civil war) beginning in 1910 when Rodolfo Fierro, the narrative voice, joins Pancho Villa's small gang during a train robbery. Villa's fortunes rise and fall rapidly and Fierro has the ultimate insider access. Thirteen years later political opponents ambush and gun down Villa, by then retired, on the streets of Parral.
The book is filled with historical characters including Fierro, who carries the well-earned sobriquet "The Butcher", Felipe Angeles, Villa's best poltical general, as well as Porfirio Díaz, Francisco Madero, William Benton, Victoriano Huerta, Emiliano Zapata, Venustiano Carranza (whitebeard) and Alvaro Obregón (One-Arm). Fierro relates in the book that contrary to rumor he did not really drown when he got stuck in quick sand with gold loaded in his pockets - I have found reports that he did drown, but in 1913 and in 1917!
In Blake's telling, Villa and his friends had a grand time fighting, drinking, dancing, screwing, and loving (except for Pancho who rarely drank - he seemed to get married instead). At times the book is laugh-out-loud funny, which is a bit disconcerting because the bodies are piling up quickly. The confrontation between the Scotsman William Benton and Villa is hilarious in a profane and violent way. Pancho and Rodlfo inhabit a brutally violent world that frequently turns murderous almost without warning.
One paragraph captures the sense of history, the humor, and Villa's somewhat vague political identity when Pancho describes the impact of his brief invasion of New Mexico. "From now on their books will have to say, 'Nobody ever invaded the United States except for Francisco Villa, the magnificent Mexican patriot who tried so hard to be our friend but who we treated so shamefully because we are such stupid sons of bitches and have no honor.' "
Highly recommended for all readers of historical fiction or with an interest in Mexico or US-Mexico relations.
Blake at his best.......2004-06-27
This account of a portion of the Mexican Revolution is full of fact and adventure. Biased in favor of Pancho Villa's version (and why not?) of things, it sells other key components of the Revolution short. This is not to criticize the work, it keeps them from crowding the story. I have done some studying of this era in Mexican history and this work affords the reader an excellent grasp of what went on at the time. Double-check the facts, this is the first novel that I have underlined like a text. Forget the facts, you've still got one heck of an adventure story. Blake has written other books and they are equally up to the form he has shown here.
Pancho Villa comes alive.......2002-10-20
I've never read a James Carlos Blake novel before. I bought this, hesitantly, off a remainder shelf... Frankly, I'm amazed it was there. This is a tremendous book, replete with wonderful characters, an interesting plot, and wonderful atmosphere. The author has recreated the time of the Mexican revolution wonderfully, and the main character, and narrator, is someone you'd like to sit and have a conversation with...though not in a dark alley.
Rudy Fierro is there, throughout the whole of the Mexican revolution, and Pancho Villa's fight with the various people in power in Mexico City. The various people involved are tremendously depicted, and there's a parade of minor characters, some historical, some not. Both Ambrose Bierce and George Patton, not to mention John Pershing, make appearances. The author does a marvelous job of portraying men for whom it is nothing to shoot several hundred people, and then go have dinner.
Frankly, I was surprised by how good this book was. I found another one on the same remainder shelf, and after that I'll be hitting the used bookstore.
Good but not great.......2002-04-08
"Pancho Villa" is written in a straight-forward style that is accessible and blunt, like a boy's adventure novel. I am not an expert on the Mexican Revolution and its aftermath, so I can't really comment on the accuracy of the book, but any reader should know ahead of time that the book is a veritable bloodbath. Villa and his men are portrayed as near psychopaths with only the most simplistic of political motivations. What they enjoy most is POWER and everything it brings - mostly free sex and the ability to kill at will. The author is certainly consistent - if not monotonous - in his presentation.
The Friends of Pancho Villa.......2002-01-24
This is one of the greatest novels I've heard of Pancho Villa.
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