“In the late 1840s and early 1850s, filibustering expeditions based in the United States against Cuba, Nicaragua, and other parts of Latin America captured the American popular imagination. . . . None of the filibusterers was more famous than Narciso López. Fatal Glory is an outstanding study of López’s efforts to overthrow Spanish rule in Cuba between 1848 and 1851. After fleeing from an unsuccessful revolt in Cuba, López came to the United States and proceeded to organize four separate expeditions. Two were thwarted by United States government intervention before they departed, and two sailed and landed in Cuba but were quickly defeated by the Spanish army. . . . The inevitable outcome of the expeditions, however, was largely lost in the great excitement that López and his supporters created in the United States. . . . Tom Chaffin has done an exemplary job of integrating various related topics into his narrative. It is clearly a labor of love. . . . A model historical monograph.”—Journal of American History