A Continuous State of War: Empire Building and Race Making in the Civil War-Era Gulf South - Paperbackby Maria Angela Diaz (Author) From 1845 to 1865 the Gulf of Mexico was at the center of American expansion and southern imperialism. A Continuous State of War tells the story of several communities, such as Galveston, New Orleans, and Pensacola as well as countries such as Mexico and Cuba to uncover the way that that wars within the upper rim of the Gulf of Mexico facilitated American and southern attempts to conquer Latin American nations. In the