Met His Every Goal? James K. Polk and the Legends of Manifest Destiny

“Engagingly written and lavishly illustrated, “Met His Every Goal?”–intended for general readers, students, and specialists–offers a primer on Polk and a revisionist view of much of the scholarship concerning him and his era. Drawing on published scholarship as well as contemporary documents–including heretofore unpublished materials–it presents a fresh portrait of an enigmatic autocrat. And in Chaffin’s examination of an oft-repeated anecdote long accepted as fact, readers witness a case study in how historians use primary sources to explore–and in some cases, explode–received conceptions of the past.”