Saint Patrick's Battalion: A Novel

Saint Patrick's Battalion: A Novel

In a monastery built by Franciscan monks on the site of an Aztec war godâ€™s temple, a rogue battalion of cannoneers prepares to make its final stand along a strategic road to Mexico City. Reviled by its enemies and lionized by its allies, Saint Patrickâ€™s Battalion will fight under an emerald green flag with the fury of the proud and the damned. And as James Alexander Thomâ€™s extraordinary new novel reaches a shattering climax, the reader hurtles into a collision between true loyalty and true betrayalâ€“and between the best and basest reasons for war.

Narrated by two soldiers on opposite sides of the Mexican-American War of 1846, Saint Patrickâ€™s Battalion tells the true but little-known story of an Irish immigrant who deserted from the U.S. Army and was joined across enemy lines by hundreds of comrades. Driven by the abuses of Protestant West Pointâ€”trained officers and the realization that they were attacking fellow Catholics, John Riley and his San Patricios abandoned their adopted country and took their place proudly alongside the dashing Hidalgo horsemen and stolid native Indians who were being used by the Mexican army as cannon fodder against the foreign invaders. Though hopelessly misled by the vainglorious Santa Ana, and facing such future military legends as a brooding young Ulysses S. Grant and the brilliant captain Robert E. Lee, Riley and his fighters were responsible for an enormous number of American casualtiesâ€“and would eventually pay a brutal price for their treachery.

Its narrative foreshadowing Americaâ€™s Civil War, Saint Patrickâ€™s Battalion asks haunting questions about American expansionism, racism, and the machinations of a war that began before it was declared. From horrific depictions of cannonade warfare to the quiet corners of doubt, courage, and love in menâ€™s hearts and minds, James Alexander Thomâ€™s novel takes us on an astounding adventure into beautiful, harsh Mexicoâ€“and dramatically chronicles a crucial, bloody chapter in the making of America.
Country USA
Manufacturer Ballantine Books
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2006-08-22
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780345445568

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Ballantine Books
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2006-08-22
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780345445568

Saint Patrick's Battalion: A Novel

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