Santa Anna: The Life and Legacy of the Legendary Mexican President and General Paperback – January 4, 2017

Every country has its villain and two countries want this man in their gallery: Mexico and the US. This is a great revisionist look at Mexico's most remembered and reviled president, explaining how actually many evils attributed to him were not of his making, and how official history condemned him to ostracism. Santa Anna was a brave, astute, treacherous and seductive man in troubled times for Mexico: he led the resistance against French, American and Spanish invasions to Mexico, traveled the Caribbean, escaped death miraculously many times, died and resurrected many times in politics, and at the end of his life, while living in New York, contributed to a surprising invention that changed the American culture. It's surprising to see how this resourceful man survived so many changes, fell in disgrace and got up again. I liked to hear Santa Anna's own version of the facts —albeit somewhat exaggerated, but this is understandable— taken from his own autobiography written in exile, eye witness accounts of the Alamo, as well as his final words to American reporters when he was well into his 70s, a figure of the past living in Mexico city.

If Mexico's Santa Anna had been an American leader, he would be accepted and honored as a great hero.

very thin book, which is quite alright, I knew it was no textbook. Great counterpoint to american perspectives, though still delves into the kind of propaganda you would teach school children about a national folk hero. read it, but read other books on the subject as well.

This is a very small format, thin book. Oddly the pages are not numbered. Some interesting things, but it looks like it was written from 3x5 cards.

Howdy, as a fifth-generation Native Texan, it did me good to read about Santa Anna because I never knew what a colorful character he was in Texas History. All I knew was Sam Houston's army whupped his army in the Battle of San Jacinto. We Texan children had a taste of our history in (I think) the 5th grade, then the 7th grade and finally in the 11th or 12th grade. It's been so long ago I forget the exact grades. However, I REMEMBER THE ALAMO! On one hand, Santa Anna was a diabolical ruler, but on the other hand, he had the adoration of some, if not all of his subjects. He wanted to be remembered as The Napoleon of the West but died penniless, old and forgotten, having outlived his flamboyant reputation--a has-been, in a foreign country. I highly recommend this book for entertainment and historical enlightenment.

Another excellent Charles River Editors' product with detailed and balanced historical overview of one of the New World's problematic military leaders. The man was flawed but ready for any opportunity. His life found him in the midst of Mexico's independence and ironically led to the loss of valuable territory to Texas and the US. But as much fault lay with the Mexican elites who failed him when resources from Mexico City would have made the difference. Charismatic, adventurous, vain and brought down by his human foibles, his life is worth understanding. Could not put it down. If more historians used these Charles River editions as the standard of their research and writings, their works would not be mouldering away.

aMuch needed counterpoint to the numerous biographies of Sam Houston.

Santa Anna by Charles River Editors gives a much less biased view of the remarkable Mexican leader, not just an American spin on history. At one time there was a oral Anna family tradition that Santa Anna was one of my relatives, but after reading this well researched book, it was nothing but an urban myth. The book is concise, 80 pages, but contains much pithy information about somebody so significant in 19th Century Mexican history.

An interesting review.