Diary of a Dirty Little War: The Spanish-American War of 1898

From its beginnings, America has acted out much of its history on the battlefront. Yet for the average American, little is known of the Spanish-American War. The reasons for our entry never seemed compelling-at times, yellow fever seemed more the enemy than did Spanish troops-and the United States was ill prepared for the venture. Nevertheless, this conflict served to unify a country that only thirty years before had been hopelessly divided by civil strife.

This colorful account reveals how ...