Alamo Story: From Early History to Current Conflicts
by J. R. Edmondson

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Book Reviews of Alamo Story: From Early History to Current Conflicts

Book Review: A Vivid, Honest Re-telling of the Alamo Saga
Summary: 5 Stars

These are only some of the questions answered in what must surely be the ultimate history of the Alamo--as a mission, a fortress and a shrine. Edmondson's writing is colorful and fact-crammed, carrying the reader forward with the breathless pace of a novel. Above all, he portrays history through the actions of the men who made it--James Bowie's quest for adventure and wealth; David Crockett's failures as a Congressman; William Travis' burning ambition for ever-lasting fame.

Edmondson has brilliantly captured the often harsh realities of life on the Texas frontier. Among these: the ineffective and lethal "treatment" for venereal disease--mercury; the support of many "freedom-loving" Texans for slavery; and the conflicts faced by Tejanos trying to remain loyal to their native Mexico while opposing the dictatorship of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

The climax of the narrative arrives in his full-length and dramatic account of the siege and fall of the mission. Edmondson presents all possible sides to every controversey, and allows the reader to reach his own conclusions. For example, on the death of James Bowie: Edmondson notes that Bowie was deathly ill at the time of the final assault, and thus highly unlikely to have piled corpses around his sickbed. Yet he also states that Bowie had proven a hard man to kill in the past--and thus makes the convincing case that if Bowie had had the strength to hold weapons, he would have used them.

Edmondson has taken a subject well-trodden by historians and novelists and re-created it for a new generation. In doing so, he has rendered scenes of stirring drama while emphasizing the shared humanity of the combatants on both sides.

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