The book Santa Anna of Mexico by Professor Will Fowler presents President Santa Anna’s history from a different perspective. President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna is a famous leader who was perceived as a dictator. As a result, he was hated throughout Mexico and other parts of the world for her lack of honor and legacy in his leadership. The author takes the audience through the major events of the president’s life and vindicates him from the negative perception people had. The author defends the president on the basis that he lived during complex times and took drastic actions for the benefit of his country. He presents Santa Anna as a charismatic leader who was connected with the problems of early Mexico and employed unpopular methods to solve them. Fowler successfully depicts Santa Anna as a successful president by elaborating all the major events in the president’s life.
Summary
The book explains the leadership history of Mexico and the transition from one government to another. It focuses on the country’s leadership and how the power transfer was carried out. As a democratic nation, Mexico handed over power peacefully, but the case was different with Santa Anna. He served for seven terms as a ‘heartless’ dictator from 1833 to 1859, and both Mexicans and other people in the world believed his overstaying in power was to blame for the calamities that faced the country. The intended audiences for the book are students and people interested in Mexican and Latin American history. Educators and law professionals are also a perfect audience for the book as it tries to navigate through the major lives of the president’s life to understand the reasons for the political decisions he made. The book’s purpose is to help people change their perception of the president who ruled for the longest period in the history of Mexico. President Santa Anna was justified in taking unpopular decisions, which made him hated by people.
Analysis
Professor Will Fowler is a celebrated scholar who has spent many years of his life studying Latin American history and has gathered enough experience in the history of wars fought in Latin America and all the outcomes of the wars. As a member of the Mexican Academy of history, he has depth knowledge of Mexico’s past leadership and political decisions. The author’s biography and experience levels give him the credibility to write about the unpopular Mexican leader having gone through the country’s history. The authors claim that Santa Anna was not a bad president, as perceived by his biography. He claims that the president’s biography should be written afresh. He supports his claim with war chronicles and explains why it was necessary for the president to take the strategic decision which were unpopular. The evidence he provides for his claims is the history of Santa Anna as a general in the Alamo battle, where he lost a leg in the pastry (Fowler, 2007). His sacrifice as a general signifies selflessness and patriotism to his country Mexico.
The author concludes that the calamities faced by Mexico were not due to his continuous stay in office but because of external forces. Meta-analysis is the method used by the author to analyze the important events in Santa’s life. His analysis, however, contradicts the traditional analysis of the character traits of a leader by analyzing the strengths and the weaknesses. However, Fowler left out important information about the president’s weaknesses which the audience could have used to deduce a different point of view. A substantive analysis issues both sides of the leader and allows them to make an informed conclusion. Fowler’s arguments are, however, one-sided and focus only on the leader’s strengths and ignore the weaknesses.
Evaluation
The author achieved his goal of convincing people that President Santa is not as evil as people are made to believe. Analyzing the leader’s major life events made it possible to believe that he was patriotic and did what he thought was good for the people. He had the pure intention for the people, and his central ideology was to ensure that all people get standard services. The revolts that started at the local level by political opponents are what made him change his approach to serve his people better. The author is, however, biased because he focuses on one side of the leader and ignores all the negative things that people perceive of the president (Fowler, 2007). The book is convincing because the quality of evidence presented, starting with Santa’s biography, proves that he was not wicked as he appeared to be during his seven-year tenure. It inference employed by the author is adequate and accurate, as the events were recorded in more than one journal.
The book’s structure is appropriate as it systematically takes the reader through Santa’s life to deconstruct the claims made about him being evil. The evidence provided supports Santa’s strength. It critiqued the claims that he lost the war in Texas and signed a humiliating Gadsden Purchase, where he supposedly sold land to the United States of America. Fowler explained other successes by the president which overshadowed the weaknesses. Some of the evidence presented include the heroism he manifested at Tampico, the success of the Spanish invasion, and being a hero of the pastry war. He proved the artificial mistakes but never stopped believing in Mexico (Fowler, 2007). There is neither exaggeration nor distortion of information which makes the book accurate.
The book’s ideas are arranged appropriately since it starts with the president’s biography, the successes, and the major events that made Santa a great man. The organization into chapters designates different phases of his life and his achievements. The book’s main strength is the systematic organization, which makes it easier to follow and understand. The book is divided into three main parts: his early life, the making of the caudillo, and the phoenix’s return, making it easier to follow up. The book’s main weakness is the assumption that the audience has a background of Mexican history and understands what had happened before the rise of the president. While reading the book, the audience without a background in Mexican history must rely on other resources to understand the book. The book is appropriate for historians and war scholars who wish to understand the motives behind president Santa’s actions. The book is highly recommended for historians and law professionals.
Conclusion
Santa Anna is a Mexican president who is perceived as one of the worst presidents in history. However, the author deconstructs the notion by presenting evidence proving that the leader was not as bad as people perceived him to be. Fowler presents Santa Anna as a passionate leader who had the interests of his people at heart. He rose to be a caudillo and won many battles for his country. His passion for the country is the sole reason for his unpopular decision. The author convinced the audience that the leader made political decisions for the sake of his people.
Reference
Fowler, W. (2007). Santa Anna of Mexico. U of Nebraska Press.