Download or read book Forget the Alamo written by Bryan Burrough and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-06-07 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times bestseller! “Lively and absorbing. . ." — The New York Times Book Review "Engrossing." —Wall Street Journal “Entertaining and well-researched . . . ” —Houston Chronicle Three noted Texan writers combine forces to tell the real story of the Alamo, dispelling the myths, exploring why they had their day for so long, and explaining why the ugly fight about its meaning is now coming to a head. Every nation needs its creation myth, and since Texas was a nation before it was a state, it's no surprise that its myths bite deep. There's no piece of history more important to Texans than the Battle of the Alamo, when Davy Crockett and a band of rebels went down in a blaze of glory fighting for independence from Mexico, losing the battle but setting Texas up to win the war. However, that version of events, as Forget the Alamo definitively shows, owes more to fantasy than reality. Just as the site of the Alamo was left in ruins for decades, its story was forgotten and twisted over time, with the contributions of Tejanos--Texans of Mexican origin, who fought alongside the Anglo rebels--scrubbed from the record, and the origin of the conflict over Mexico's push to abolish slavery papered over. Forget the Alamo provocatively explains the true story of the battle against the backdrop of Texas's struggle for independence, then shows how the sausage of myth got made in the Jim Crow South of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. As uncomfortable as it may be to hear for some, celebrating the Alamo has long had an echo of celebrating whiteness. In the past forty-some years, waves of revisionists have come at this topic, and at times have made real progress toward a more nuanced and inclusive story that doesn't alienate anyone. But we are not living in one of those times; the fight over the Alamo's meaning has become more pitched than ever in the past few years, even violent, as Texas's future begins to look more and more different from its past. It's the perfect time for a wise and generous-spirited book that shines the bright light of the truth into a place that's gotten awfully dark.

Download or read book The Alamo written by Frank Thompson and published by Voice. This book was released on 2004-03 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although The Alamo fell in the early morning of March 6, 1836, the death of the Alamo defenders has come to symbolize courage and sacrifice for the cause of liberty. The memories of James Bowie, Davy Crockett, and William B. Travis are as powerful today as when the Texan Army routed Santa Anna to the cry "Remember the Alamo!" This book is more than a tribute to those who fell defending the mission. It is a thoroughly researched, vividly illustrated, objective description of the circumstances building up to and leading from that stand. By using contemporary writings, this history describes the political and military organizations of both sides, the weapons and equipment available to them, and the enduringly famous personalities involved, creating a vivid picture of this dramatic battle and the period in which it was fought.

Download or read book Alamo Legacy written by Ron Jackson and published by Sunbelt Media. This book was released on 1997 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of family legends from the descendants of the men who fought to protect the Alamo on March 6, 1836.

Download or read book Sleuthing the Alamo written by James E. Crisp and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-04-10 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Sleuthing the Alamo, historian James E. Crisp draws back the curtain on years of mythmaking to reveal some surprising truths about the Texas Revolution--truths often obscured by both racism and "political correctness," as history has been hijacked by combatants in the culture wars of the past two centuries. Beginning with a very personal prologue recalling both the pride and the prejudices that he encountered in the Texas of his youth, Crisp traces his path to the discovery of documents distorted, censored, and ignored--documents which reveal long-silenced voices from the Texan past. In each of four chapters focusing on specific documentary "finds," Crisp uncovers the clues that led to these archival discoveries. Along the way, the cast of characters expands to include: a prominent historian who tried to walk away from his first book; an unlikely teenaged "speechwriter" for General Sam Houston; three eyewitnesses to the death of Davy Crockett at the Alamo; a desperate inmate of Mexico City's Inquisition Prison, whose scribbled memoir of the war in Texas is now listed in the Guiness Book of World Records; and the stealthy slasher of the most famous historical painting in Texas. In his afterword, Crisp explores the evidence behind the mythic "Yellow Rose of Texas" and examines some of the powerful forces at work in silencing the very voices from the past that we most need to hear today. Here then is an engaging first-person account of historical detective work, illuminating the methods of the serious historian--and the motives of those who prefer glorious myth to unflattering truth.

Download or read book Exodus from the Alamo written by Phillip Thomas Tucker and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2010-03-15 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The award-winning historian provides a provocative new analysis of the Battle of the Alamo—including new information on the fate of Davy Crockett. Contrary to legend, we now know that the defenders of the Alamo during the Texan Revolution died in a merciless predawn attack by Mexican soldiers. With extensive research into recently discovered Mexican accounts, as well as forensic evidence, historian Phillip Tucker sheds new light on the famous battle, contending that the traditional myth is even more off-base than we thought. In a startling revelation, Tucker uncovers that the primary fights took place on the plain outside the fort. While a number of the Alamo’s defenders hung on inside, most died while attempting to escape. Capt. Dickinson, with cannon atop the chapel, fired repeatedly into the throng of enemy cavalry until he was finally cut down. The controversy surrounding Davy Crockett still remains, though the recently authenticated diary of the Mexican Col. José Enrique de la Peña offers evidence that he surrendered. Notoriously, Mexican Pres. Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna burned the bodies of the Texans who had dared stand against him. As this book proves in thorough detail, the funeral pyres were well outside the fort—that is, where the two separate groups of escapees fell on the plain, rather than in the Alamo itself.

Download or read book The Alamo Story written by J. R. Edmondson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2022-07-15 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 2000, J. R. Edmondson's The Alamo Story: From Early History to Current Conflicts thoroughly examines the famous "Shrine of Texas Liberty" from its origin as a Spanish New World mission to its modern status. It has been lauded as the “best" and "most readable” of all historical accounts devoted to the legendary mission-fortress. The original edition has been celebrated for over twenty years for its comprehensive approach to Alamo scholarship and for presenting the famous battle in the context of both American and Mexican history. This second edition of The Alamo Story includes new information about the battle and those involved, including expanded stories on the roles of minorities and some illustrations by noted artist Mark Lemon. The book also features a new chapter on Benjamin Rush Milam's assault on San Antonio with only three hundred Texians, the battle that set the stage for the siege of the Alamo less than three months later. And there is an extensive epilogue on the present-day conflicts about the physical Alamo compound, as historic preservationists clash with political and popular opinions in San Antonio.

Download or read book Joe the Slave Who Became an Alamo Legend written by Ron J. Jackson and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2015-03-02 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Among the fifty or so Texan survivors of the siege of the Alamo was Joe, the personal slave of Lt. Col. William Barret Travis. First interrogated by Santa Anna, Joe was allowed to depart (along with Susana Dickinson) and eventually made his way to the seat of the revolutionary government at Washington-on-the-Brazos. Joe was then returned to the Travis estate in Columbia, Texas, near the coast. He escaped in 1837 and was never captured. Ron J. Jackson and Lee White have meticulously researched plantation ledgers, journals, memoirs, slave narratives, ship logs, newspapers, personal letters, and court documents to fill in the gaps of Joe's story. "Joe, the Slave Who Became an Alamo Legend" provides not only a recovered biography of an individual lost to history, but also offers a fresh vantage point from which to view the events of the Texas Revolution"--

Download or read book Remember the Alamo written by Karen Clemens Warrick and published by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. This book was released on 2020-07-15 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1830, many immigrants from the United States called Texas, then a territory of Mexico, home. These immigrants outnumbered Mexican citizens. The U.S. government offered to buy Texas. Instead, Mexico sent troops to keep more U.S. settlers from crossing the border. Tension mounted, as each side prepared to take a stand. Today, people often forget Texas was once part of Mexico, but the cry "Remember the Alamo" has lived on in history. Engaging text, informative sidebars, and fascinating images will help students discover how the battle for the Alamo was the first step toward Texas independence and statehood, and how this event has shaped the political climate since then.

Download or read book The Alamo written by Edwin P. Hoyt and published by Taylor Trade Publishing. This book was released on 2003-04-15 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Master historian Edwin P. Hoyt depicts with graphic and gripping detail the conflict between revolutionary Texas and the Mexican government determined to rule. In the first paperback edition of a highly acclaimed history, Hoyt describes the well-known historical facts of the revolution, the pivotal siege of the Alamo, and the decisive aftermath, and fills them with new life. By merging a multitude of authoritative accounts of this turbulent period and the bloody clashes that shaped it, Hoyt paints a dynamic portrait of Texas rebels and Mexican authorities locked in a struggle over the fate of an untamed land. Fully illustrated with more than 120 black and white and full color images, The Alamo reveals the entire spectrum of Texas's determined bid for independence. Read of the triumph, passion, and tragedy of the valiant yet doomed defenders of the old Spanish mission.

Download or read book The Alamo written by Frank Thompson and published by Taylor Trade Publishing. This book was released on 2001-11-01 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After two short weeks under siege, the climactic battle of the Alamo lasted under an hour, but its aftermath spawned a legend. The Alamo: A Cultural History explores the transformation of the fort from its 1718 inception as a Franciscan mission to its current status as a tourist attraction, historical monument, and international symbol of freedom.

Download or read book Austin s Flower Hill Legacy written by Rosa Walston Latimer and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2021-10-18 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For nearly a century and a half, the Smoot family "cooperated with nature" to create the vibrant Texas wildscape of the Flower Hill Estate on West Sixth Street. But the generosity of spirit that cultivated that sanctuary extends beyond the iron fence surrounding the property. Institutions like the Central Presbyterian Church, the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, the Austin American-Statesman, the Texas state capitol, The University of Texas and Travis and Austin High Schools all owe an incalculable debt to Flower Hill residents. Author Rosa Latimer traces the positive legacy of Flower Hill and the influential Austin family who lived there.

Download or read book The Alamo Reader written by Todd Hansen and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2003 with total page 876 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If everyone was killed inside the Alamo, how do we know what happened? This surprisingly simple question was the genesis for Todd Hansen's compendium of source material on the subject, "The Alamo Reader". Utilising obscure and rare sources along with key documents never before published, Hansen carefully balances the accounts against one another, culminating in the definitive resource for Alamo history.

Download or read book Painting Texas History to 1900 written by Sam DeShong Ratcliffe and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2014-11-06 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Certificate of Commendation, American Association for State and Local History, 1994 T. R. Fehrenbach Book Award, Texas Historical Commission, 1992 San Antonio Conservation Society Citation, 1993 Dramatic historical events have frequently provided subject matter for artists, particularly in pre-twentieth-century Texas, where works portraying historical, often legendary, events and individuals predominated. Until now, however, these paintings of Texas history have never received the kind of study given to historical, fictional, and film versions of the same events. Painting Texas History to 1900 fills this gap with an interdisciplinary approach that explores these paintings both as works of art and as historical documents. The author examines the works of more than forty artists, including Henry McArdle, Theodore Gentilz, Robert Onderdonk, William Huddle, Frederic Remington, Friedrich Richard Petri, Arthur T. Lee, Seth Eastman, Sarah Hardinge, Frank Reaugh, W. G. M. Samuel, Carl G. von Iwonski, and Julius Stockfleth. He places each work within its historical and cultural context to show why such subject matter was chosen, why it was depicted in a particular way, and why such a depiction gained popular acceptance. For example, paintings of heroic events of the Texas Revolution were especially popular in the years following the Civil War, when, in Ratcliffe's view, Texans needed such images to assuage the loss of the war and the humiliation of Reconstruction. Though the paintings cut across traditional art history categories—from the pictographs of early historic Indians to European-inspired oil paintings—they are bound together by their artists' intent for them to function as historically evocative documents. With their visual narratives of events that characterized all of America's westward expansion—Indian encounters, military battles, farming, ranching, surveying, and the closing of the frontier—these works add an important chapter to the story of the American West.

Download or read book A Line in the Sand written by Randy Roberts and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2001-08-03 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In late February and early March of 1836, the Mexican Army under the command of General Antonio López de Santa Anna besieged a small force of Anglo and Tejano rebels at a mission known as the Alamo. The defenders of the Alamo were in an impossible situation. They knew very little of the events taking place outside the mission walls. They did not have much of an understanding of Santa Anna or of his government in Mexico City. They sent out contradictory messages, they received contradictory communications, they moved blindly and planned in the dark. And in the dark early morning of March 6, they died. In that brief, confusing, and deadly encounter, one of America's most potent symbols was born. The story of the last stand at the Alamo grew from a Texas rallying cry, to a national slogan, to a phenomenon of popular culture and presidential politics. Yet it has been a hotly contested symbol from the first. Questions remain about what really happened: Did William Travis really draw a line in the sand? Did Davy Crockett die fighting, surrounded by the bodies of two dozen of the enemy? And what of the participants' motives and purposes? Were the Texans justified in their rebellion? Were they sincere patriots making a last stand for freedom and liberty, or were they a ragtag collection of greedy men-on-the-make, washed-up politicians, and backwoods bullies, Americans bent on extending American slavery into a foreign land? The full story of the Alamo -- from the weeks and months that led up to the fateful encounter to the movies and speeches that continue to remember it today -- is a quintessential story of America's past and a fascinating window into our collective memory. In A Line in the Sand, acclaimed historians Randy Roberts and James Olson use a wealth of archival sources, including the diary of José Enrique de la Peña, along with important and little-used Mexican documents, to retell the story of the Alamo for a new generation of Americans. They explain what happened from the perspective of all parties, not just Anglo and Mexican soldiers, but also Tejano allies and bystanders. They delve anew into the mysteries of Crockett's final hours and Travis's famous rhetoric. Finally, they show how preservationists, television and movie producers, historians, and politicians have become the Alamo's major interpreters. Walt Disney, John Wayne, and scores of journalists and cultural critics have used the Alamo to contest the very meaning of America, and thereby helped us all to "remember the Alamo."

Download or read book Discovering Texas History written by Bruce A. Glasrud and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2014-09-09 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "'Discovering Texas History' is a historiographical reference book that will be invaluable to teachers, students, and researchers of Texas history. Chapter authors are familiar names in Texas history circles--a 'who's who' of high profile historians. Conceived as a follow-up to the award winning (but increasingly dated) 'A Guide the History of Texas' (1988), 'Discovering Texas History' focuses on the major trends in the study of Texas history since 1990. In part one, topical essays address significant historical themes, from race and gender to the arts and urban history. In part two, chronological essays cover the full span of Texas historiography from the Spanish era to the modern day. In each case, the goal is to analyze and summarize the subjects that have captured the attention of professional historians so that 'Discovering Texas History' will take its place as the standard work on the history of Texas history"--

Download or read book Remember the Alamo written by Lisa Waller Rogers and published by Texas Tech University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thirteen-year-old girl keeps a diary of events during the Texas Revolution, as her life changes from dances and picnics to flight from Santa Anna's army after the fall of the Alamo.

Download or read book Emily D West and the Yellow Rose of Texas Myth written by Phillip Thomas Tucker and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-02-13 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the first time, the true story of "The Yellow Rose of Texas" is told in full, revealing a host of new insights and perspectives on one of America's most popular stories. For generations, the Yellow Rose of Texas has been one of America's most popular western myths, growing larger over time and little resembling the truth of what happened on April 21, 1836, at the battle of San Jacinto, where a new Texas Republic won its independence. The woman who has been popularly connected to the story was an ordinary but also quite remarkable free black woman from the North, Emily D. West. This work reconstructs her experience, places it in full context and explores the evolution of a most fanciful myth.