Reader's Diary #965- Park Benjamin, Jr: The End of New York

If Americans were to make a list of 20 countries that pose the biggest threat to their national security, I doubt Spain would even crack their top 20. I don't know if it was a late 19th century Cold War that I hadn't read about in history books, but in Park Benjamin Jr's "The End of New York" it's Spain vs. the U.S..

The story starts off promisingly enough: an international incident is triggered all because of a case of mistaken identity. After that the story goes downhill. It should be exciting, after all New York City is getting its butt kicked by the Spanish navy. It has all the makings of a summer blockbuster. Unfortunately, it's bogged down with tedious naval terms and it comes across more of a paranoid ploy to get the U.S. government to invest more in their navy. A case could be made that it worked.

Anyway, I'm off to New York City tomorrow. Thankfully, it wasn't conquered by the Spanish. Though in all honesty, I've nothing against the Spanish and in all likelihood, I'd be going anyway.

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