Audiobook12 hours
William Walker's Wars: How One Man's Private American Army Tried to Conquer Mexico, Nicaragua, and Honduras
Written by Scott Martelle
Narrated by David Colacci
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
In the decade before the onset of the Civil War, groups of Americans engaged in a series of longshot-and illegal-forays into Mexico, Cuba, and other Central American countries in hopes of taking them over. These efforts became known as filibustering, and their goal was to seize territory to create new independent fiefdoms, which would ultimately be annexed by the still-growing United States. Most failed miserably.
William Walker was the outlier. Short, slender, and soft-spoken with no military background-he trained as a doctor before becoming a lawyer and then a newspaper editor-Walker was an unlikely leader of rough-hewn men and adventurers. But in 1856 he managed to install himself as president of Nicaragua. Neighboring governments saw Walker as a risk to the region and worked together to drive him out-efforts aided, incongruously, by the United States' original tycoon, Cornelius Vanderbilt.
William Walker's Wars is a story of greedy dreams and ambitions, the fate of nations and personal fortunes, and the dark side of Manifest Destiny, for among Walker's many goals was to build his own empire based on slavery. This little-remembered story from U.S. history is a cautionary tale for all who dream of empire.
William Walker was the outlier. Short, slender, and soft-spoken with no military background-he trained as a doctor before becoming a lawyer and then a newspaper editor-Walker was an unlikely leader of rough-hewn men and adventurers. But in 1856 he managed to install himself as president of Nicaragua. Neighboring governments saw Walker as a risk to the region and worked together to drive him out-efforts aided, incongruously, by the United States' original tycoon, Cornelius Vanderbilt.
William Walker's Wars is a story of greedy dreams and ambitions, the fate of nations and personal fortunes, and the dark side of Manifest Destiny, for among Walker's many goals was to build his own empire based on slavery. This little-remembered story from U.S. history is a cautionary tale for all who dream of empire.
Related to William Walker's Wars
Related audiobooks
The Sugar Barons: Family, Corruption, Empire, and War in the West Indies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pirates of Barbary: Corsairs, Conquests and Captivity in the Seventeenth-Century Mediterranean Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inca Apocalypse: The Spanish Conquest and the Transformation of the Andean World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pancho Villa: The Life and Legacy of the Famous Mexican Revolutionary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tupac Amaru II: The Life and Legacy of the Peruvian Leader Who Rebelled against the Spanish Empire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCinco de Mayo: The History of the Battle of Puebla and the Famous Holiday Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Genghis Khan: The Ruthless Legacy, Great Mongol Empire, and The Making of the Modern World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEl Diario Del Che en Bolivia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen Montezuma Met Cortes: The True Story of the Meeting that Changed History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Insurgent Mexico Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArgentina and Peronism: The History and Legacy of Argentina’s Transition from Juan Perón to Democracy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Populista: The Rise of Latin America's 21st Century Strongman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Heritage History of the Confident Years: 1866-1914 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mesoamerican Warfare: The History of War in the Region from the Olmec to the Aztec Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Emiliano Zapata: His Life, Death, and Role in the Mexican Revolution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mediterranean Dictators: The Story of Benito Mussolini, Torquemada, and Francisco Pizarro Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Louisiana Purchase: A Captivating Guide to a Major Turning Point in the History of the United States of America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNative American Indians: Apache and Comanche Backgrounds Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Snowblind: A Brief Career in the Cocaine Trade Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Double Life of Fidel Castro: My 17 Years as Personal Bodyguard to El Lider Maximo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All Over the Land Nothing Else Was Spoken Of Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Shining Path: Love, Madness, and Revolution in the Andes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roosevelt and Stalin: Portrait of a Partnership Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5History of the Conquest of Mexico Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Politics For You
The Prince Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 48 Laws of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Behold a Pale Horse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Elon Musk Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You Can't Joke About That: Why Everything Is Funny, Nothing Is Sacred, and We’re All in This Together Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Franklin Scandal: A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse & Betrayal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Razorblade Tears: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The MAGA Diaries: My Surreal Adventures Inside the Right-Wing (And How I Got Out) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5While Time Remains: A North Korean Girl's Search for Freedom in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for William Walker's Wars
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
2 ratings0 reviews