For a journalist, Merry sure does write like an academic, and not in a good way. This is a really in depth history, and though it's mostly an objective examination of the Polk administration, I can't help but notice that Merry is a bit too forgiving in his treatment of Polk's problematic obsession with Jacksonian imperialism. Though Polk was a bit less genocidal than his Indian-hating mentor, I really felt that Merry whitewashed a lot of what was still a rather blood-soaked presidency by praising Polk's vision and efficiency. I don't really care for Polk, but I read this for the emphasis on the Mexican war, as it's one of the more interesting subjects in American history to me. Merry's history of the war is very thorough, and I did learn quite a bit about the political climate leading up to the war, and the policy decisions and politicking that led up to the conflict that I was unaware of, so the book wasn't a total waste.