By pulling together such a rich and multitextured history, A Continuous State of War offers an original and valuable analysis of the complicated ways in which race, movement, and geopolitics intersected to shape the history of the Gulf and the United States' understandings of empire during the Civil War Era.

—Brian Schoen, author of The Fragile Fabric of Union: Cotton, Federal Politics, and the Global Origins of the Civil War

This is a welcome partially narrative history of the role of the Gulf South in U.S. territorial expansion after 1836 that will appeal to college teachers looking for a readable volume on territorial expansion for upper division and graduate courses in history. . . . I’ve read a great deal about international relations during the Civil War, but this analysis stands out.

—Amy S. Greenberg, author of Lady First: The World of First Lady Sarah Polk