William Walkers Wars, Scott Martelle
William Walkers Wars, Scott Martelle
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William Walker's Wars
How One Man's Private American Army Tried to Conquer Mexico, Nicaragua, and Honduras

Author: Scott Martelle

Narrator: David Colacci

Unabridged: 12 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 01/30/2019


Synopsis

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.

About Scott Martelle

Scott Martelle, a veteran journalist and former member of the Los Angeles Times editorial board, is the author of several nonfiction books. His journalism has included presidential campaigns; postwar Kosovo; a wide range of local and regional stories; book and music reviews; longform narrative nonfiction, and opinion pieces on such divisive topics as climate change, immigration, the death penalty, and gun control. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Sierra magazine, Los Angeles magazine, Orange Coast magazine, and elsewhere.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jean on March 17, 2019

This is the story of the 19th century adventurer William Walker. Walker was born in Nashville, Tennessee. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Nashville at age 14. He graduated medicine from the University of Pennsylvania at age 19. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh,......more

Goodreads review by Ethan on April 03, 2019

A well-researched and clearly composed biography about a footnote figure in American history. Walker could modestly be described as a “terrestrial pirate”, but I believe most contemporary readers would sway toward a description of “delusional white supremacist American drifter with a Napoleonic drea......more

Goodreads review by Joe on June 05, 2021

Christ, what an asshole......more

Goodreads review by David on May 02, 2024

Having recently visited Costa Rica, we visited the national monument in San Jose, a statue which depicts the defeat of renegade American 'fillibuster' Willam Walker by the combined forces of five Central American countries, led by Costa Rican President Juanito Mora. Our guide recounted with pride th......more

Goodreads review by Drtaxsacto on July 02, 2019

In the middle part of the 19th Century America had a bunch of odd political movements including one by a man born in Nashville named William Walker, born in 1824. HIs early life was exceptional by the time he was a late teenager he had graduated from the University of Nashville with a Legal and then......more