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A Sinister Splendor: A Mexican War Novel
A Sinister Splendor: A Mexican War Novel
A Sinister Splendor: A Mexican War Novel
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A Sinister Splendor: A Mexican War Novel

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Pairing extensive research with a brilliance for reviving the past in gripping narrative, Spur Award-winning author Mike Blakely has penned an epic, historical novelization of the Mexican-American War in A Sinister Splendor

1845. Texas joins the union. Mexico threatens war over the disputed Texas border. But much more than the Rio Grande Valley lies at stake—expansionists dream of an America that sprawls all the way to the Pacific Coast. Can a conflict with an already war-torn Mexico satisfy this lust for territory?

President James K. Polk sends troops the Texas border to test Mexico’s appetite for war. General Zachary Taylor, known as “Old Rough and Ready,” leads the invasion south. A 24-year-old lieutenant named Ulysses S. Grant gets his first taste of battle. Texas Rangers John Coffee Hays and Sam Walker expand their reputations as fearless fighting men. An Irishman, John Riley, quits the U.S. Army—along with hundreds of other mistreated immigrant soldiers—and forms a Mexican battalion of U.S. deserters. Army laundress Sarah Bowman is celebrated as a heroine on her way to becoming a frontier legend. The infamous Mexican warlord, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, returns to power through intrigue and political persuasion.

The Mexican-American war becomes the heroic proving ground for future Civil War generals and presidents of the United States, Mexico and the Confederacy. But the glories of victory are tempered by the horrors of war—lives lost, bodies battered, souls shattered, dreams crushed, whole cities razed and innocence forever dashed. With a sinister splendor two very different cultures clash in an epic adventure of duty, patriotism and courage to the death.

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LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 19, 2019
ISBN9781429943611
A Sinister Splendor: A Mexican War Novel
Author

Mike Blakely

A native of Texas, Mike Blakely grew up working on the family ranch.  He is a veteran of the United States Air Force and holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin.  He is the former president of Western Writers of America and has taught fiction writing at numerous workshops nationwide.  His novel Summer of Pearls is the 2001 winner of the Spur Award for Best Western Novel.  Also a singer/songwriter, Blakely tours all over the U.S. and in Europe with his band and records his original songs on his own independent record label.  He currently lives on his horse ranch near Marble Falls, Texas.

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