Vividly reconstructs how Maximilian's power was forged and maintained by the sharp end of a French bayonet.Jonas is astute and judicious in navigating the kaleidoscope of contradictory political ideologies that came together in the Second Mexican Empire, before all too quickly coming apart again.--Natasha Wheatley, New York Times Book Review Adds to our understanding of the Second Mexican Empire by giving us a fuller account of both its rise and dissolution, and.helps us to see anew the importance of an episode, so near the U.S., that is routinely overshadowed by the drama of the Civil War.--Steven McGregor, Wall Street Journal One of the few detailed studies of a subject little known to most readers in North America or Europe: the short-lived Mexican Empire of 1863/67.--Randall Newnham, German Politics and Society Fascinating and full of insights.

Building on extensive research across multiple countries and languages, Jonas casts new light on the French invasion of Mexico, from its racialized justifications to the almost tragicomic cluelessness of Maximilian and Carlota.--Alice Baumgartner, author of South to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to Civil War Without a doubt the best work on the Second Mexican Empire ever produced in English. Jonas maintains narrative momentum even as he provides serious analysis, moving with equal dexterity through the complications of court politics in different European states, church-state relations in Mexico, and the battlefields in which men of different origins killed each other in pursuit of their personal ambitions and ideological passions.--Peter Guardino, author of The Dead March: A History of the Mexican-American War Rescuing Maximilian and Carlota's ill-fated effort to create an empire in Mexico from its undeserved obscurity, Jonas reveals it to be central to debates about the possibilities and perils of democracy not only in Mexico but in Europe and the US as well. Based on deep research on both sides of the Atlantic, Habsburgs on the Rio Grande is a masterpiece of transnational history.--Karl Jacoby, author of The Strange Career of William Ellis: The Texas Slave Who Became a Mexican Millionaire.