A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent (Simon & Schuster America Collection)

A New York Times Bestseller and New York Times Notable Book

Robert Merry's brilliant and highly acclaimed history of a crucial epoch in U.S. history—the presidency of James K. Polk, "our most underrated president" (Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein).

In a one-term presidency, James K. Polk completed the story of America’s Manifest Destiny—extending its territory across the continent by threatening England with war and manufacturing a controversial and unpopular two-year war with Mexico. "A crucial architect of modern America, James K. Polk deserves to be elevated out of the mists of history" (Jon Meacham, author of American Lion).

• President McKinley: Architect of the American Century
• Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America
• Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President
• A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico
• Zachary Taylor: The American Presidents Series: The 12th President, 1849-1850
• The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness
• John Tyler, the Accidental President
• Franklin Pierce: The American Presidents Series: The 14th President, 1853-1857
• Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times
• What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 (Oxford History of the United States)