Book 18
The concept of this book was to weave the personal history of the three famed heroes of the Alamo - Crockett, Bowie and Travis - from birth to the main event. There was a lot of myth-busting.
Because Travis was younger, the first third of the book bounced between Bowie and Crockett. Crockett, as we know, was a congressman. His schtick was to be the Western Everyman - very Jacksonian. Except that he was far too independent for the true Jacksonians and they managed to have him voted out of office, which is how he landed in Texas. A lot of that "I'm my own man" stuff was a bit too much for me on the heels of McCain.
Bowie was a land speculator. Perpetuated major fruad against the federal government. I felt sleazy just reading it. Went to Texas when his other deals fell through.
Travis was a young lawyer so far into debt that he fled to Texas, abandoning his wife and two young children. Nice.
Suffice it to say that the Alamo redeemed them all.
This was not my normal pick for subject matter, but I was at the Alamo in January so I gave it a try. It was well-written, but now I am done.
The concept of this book was to weave the personal history of the three famed heroes of the Alamo - Crockett, Bowie and Travis - from birth to the main event. There was a lot of myth-busting.
Because Travis was younger, the first third of the book bounced between Bowie and Crockett. Crockett, as we know, was a congressman. His schtick was to be the Western Everyman - very Jacksonian. Except that he was far too independent for the true Jacksonians and they managed to have him voted out of office, which is how he landed in Texas. A lot of that "I'm my own man" stuff was a bit too much for me on the heels of McCain.
Bowie was a land speculator. Perpetuated major fruad against the federal government. I felt sleazy just reading it. Went to Texas when his other deals fell through.
Travis was a young lawyer so far into debt that he fled to Texas, abandoning his wife and two young children. Nice.
Suffice it to say that the Alamo redeemed them all.
This was not my normal pick for subject matter, but I was at the Alamo in January so I gave it a try. It was well-written, but now I am done.
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