(which, one humorist quipped, should have been titled "Alone in Cuba"). Green failed to do justice to the much maligned William S. Fisher, who led the filibuster expedition and whom many Texans blamed for their defeat at Mier. A1though Green did not accuse Fisher of outright cowardice, as some did, he consigned him to an undeservedly minor part in the battle, arguing that a hand wound had left him dazed, nauseated, and unfit to command in the crucial stages of the fighting. Exaggerating the extent of Fisher's injury allowed the author to emphasize his own leadership role. Fisher did not receive much better consideration in the narrative that follows. Although the two men shared the privations of captivity in Mexico for six months, Green referred to his commanding officer only briefly, and Fisher remains, regrettably, something of an enigmatic figure in the literature of the expedition.

Finally, Green's all-consuming hatred of Sam Houston intrudes upon the narrative at every turn, so much so, that at times he seems less interested in recounting the story of the Mier Expedition than in discrediting Sam Houston for his role in the affair. It would, of course, be unreasonable to expect dispassionate objectivity from one so intimately involved with these events. Nonetheless, Green went to extreme and even absurd lengths to indict Houston, blaming him for all the misfortunes that befell the Mier prisoners, and indeed for all the many crises that the Republic suffered during this period.

Despite these flaws, the book has endured; it remains one of the most compelling and illuminating eyewitness accounts of the Republic period. It is also one of the most readable. Although Green is not at his best when waxing splenetic on such topics as Sam Houston and his Mexican captors, on the whole the book is written in a fast-paced and engaging style. No doubt intending to capitalize on public interest in the expedition, Green provided an account that is rich in drama and demonstrates both a keen eye for anecdotal detail and an appreciation for some of the lighter moments of his imprisonment in Mexico. The illustrations, drawn by Charles McLaughlin, himself a Mier prisoner, are a particularly valuable addition to the text.

But Green's Journal is more than a chronicle of one of the more remarkable chapters in Texas history. The author's cultural and racial biases, however unpalatable they may be to present-day sensibilities, tell us much about the way mid-nineteenth-century Anglo-Americans saw themselves and their southern neighbors. In this regard, the final chapter, in which Green offers a lengthy discourse on the inevitability of U.S.expansionism, is of particular significance. Although at first glance a somewhat tedious digression from the narrative, the last chapter constitutes a fitting postscript: a logical denouement of the author's contempt for Mexican sovereignty, his deep-seated conviction that Anglo-American arms would prevail over a degraded and benighted culture. Beyond its merits as a history of an ill-fated military campaign, Green's Journal