Torn Asunder

<p>In 1848 the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War and dramatically reshaped North American geopolitics by ceding half of Mexico’s territory to the United States. In the following decades as conflicts over slavery in the United States and over the nature of nation state and religion in Mexico overwhelmed politics both republics collapsed into civil war. In Mexico internal conflict sparked foreign intervention and the establishment of monarchical rule under an Austrian prince while across the border eleven Southern states seceded from the union to establish a republic founded on slavery and white supremacy.<br/><br/>Erika Pani’s <i>Torn Asunder</i> weaves these two tales of crisis war and political experimentation into a single story. Pani argues that by consecrating these episodes as epic and exceptionalist chapters in both nations' histories scholars have overlooked the coincidences and connections between the United States and Mexico. She chronicles the ways in which between 1848 and 1867 politicians from the two nations tested different formulas reacted to virulent opposition sedition and war and ultimately attempted to unite deeply divided countries. <i>Torn Asunder</i> highlights the fragile contentious and unpredictable nature of politics in the Americas rooted in the inherent instability of popular sovereignty.</p>