Jürgen Buchenau's concise, accessible narrative manages to compare and contrast the centuries-long growth of the United States and Mexico while arguing for the constant mutual influence on, and interlacing of, their economies and cultures. Through telling detail and engrossing vignettes, it also proves mindful of the complexity of the humans caught in the asymmetrical conflicts between their governments. We all need this reminder that walls have always been anomalous in the North American landscape.

Alan McPherson, Temple University

Comprehensive and compelling, The United States and Mexico takes readers on an eye-opening journey through five centuries of partnership and conflict. Casual readers and experts alike have much to learn from Buchenau's engrossing and indispensable narrative.

Renata Keller, associate professor of History at the University of Nevada, Reno