Mexico's struggle for independence was as much a series of civil wars and failed social revolutions as it was a war to separate Mexico from Spain. Some Mexicans fought to bring profound social change to the country, some to achieve autonomy, some for vengeance or booty, still others to maintain the status quo. After ten years of bloodletting, Mexico achieved its independence through a strange political compromise that resolved none of the severe problems that plagued the country.

In The Mexican Wars for Independence, the historian Timothy J. Henderson provides a comprehensive, dynamic, and insightful account of the era, and in the process deftly shows why the revolution failed to bring about meaningful and sorely needed reform. Tracing the conflict from its ambitious beginning in 1810 to the country's independence in 1821, The Mexican Wars for Independence makes sense of the complex and ambiguous conflict and its legacy, and, in so doing, forces a reconsideration of what "independence" meant and means for Mexico today.