Bryan Burrough. (2021). Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth. Penguin Publishing Group.

Bryan Burrough. 2021. Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth. Penguin Publishing Group.

Bryan Burrough, Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth. Penguin Publishing Group, 2021.

Bryan Burrough. Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth. Penguin Publishing Group, 2021.

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Forget the Alamo

fullDescription

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.

reviews

1. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     January 1, 2021
     

     Here are a few things America has conveniently forgotten about the Alamo: Tejanos, Texans of Mexican origin, fought alongside the likes of Davy Crockett; the fighting was initiated because Mexico wanted to abolish slavery; and the myth of the Alamo was forged during the Jim Crow era. From No. 1 New York Times best-selling Burrough (Barbarians at the Gate); Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News columnist Chris Tomlinson, author of the New York Times best-selling Tomlinson Hill; and Texas-based journalist Jason Stanford.

     Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

2. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     June 14, 2021
     Journalists and “proud Texans” Burrough (Days of Rage), Tomlinson (Tomlinson Hill), and Stanford (Adios, Mofo) revisit the legend of the Alamo in this substantive yet wryly humorous history. Though “traditionalists” believe that the Alamo’s defenders sacrificed their lives in order to help defeat Mexican dictator Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and secure Texas’s independence, the authors point out that Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and others “were fighting to form what became the single most militant slave nation in history.” Skillfully drawing on primary and secondary sources, the authors show that Stephen F. Austin, who established a colony of American settlers in Texas in the 1820s, fought to protect slavery from Mexican legislators’ desire to abolish it, and that the independence movement was focused on preserving Texas’s slave-based cotton economy. Early histories of the Alamo “suffered from the twin sins of florid romanticism and score settling” and diminished the influence of Tejano families on the region, according to the authors, who also reveal the 20th-century origins of the myth that Davy Crockett went down fighting (it was widely reported in the 1830s that he surrendered before his execution). Enriched by its breezy tone and fair-minded approach, this is an essential look at the Alamo from the perspective of today’s racial reckoning. Agent: John Silbersack, the Bent Agency.

3. • premium: True
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     Starred review from March 15, 2021
     A zesty, journalistic, half history, half sendup about the battle of the Alamo and the myths that cling to it. Setting out to distinguish ascertainable fact from Texas tub-thumping, Burrough, Tomlinson, and Stanford, all Texans, succeed brilliantly in their intent. Their focus is the famed 1836 battle for control of San Antonio's fabled fortress and its role in the mythology of the Lone Star State. In this evenhanded popular history, the authors situate the war for Texas' independence from Mexico as a fight for the preservation of slavery by Anglo Texans. The fact that Santa Anna and his followers, as well as the Tejanos (Texans of Mexican birth), were "ardently abolitionist" foes of slavery is only one of the book's many punches to received wisdom. Some of the fort's famous defenders come off poorly. Jim Bowie was "an amazingly brazen swindler. Had he stayed in the United States, there's a decent chance he'd have ended up swinging from a rope." Davy Crockett didn't die a "glorious death": "The Alamo's trapped defenders died for pretty much nothing." What the authors call the "second battle of the Alamo" has focused not on slavery but on what the events of 1836 do and should mean to Texans. Laying waste to many previous historians of the events, the authors leave readers amused as well as informed. The entertaining story contains multitudes: Disneyland, John Wayne, JFK, LBJ, and, of course, the Bush political dynasty. Since the 1970s, this battle has been joined by American Latinos, whose ancestors are finally gaining their well-deserved recognition in Texas history through "Alamo revisionism"--a direct, important challenge to the "Heroic Anglo Narrative of the Alamo." Despite a bit too much chattiness and some unnecessary vulgarity, this lively book is sure to cause plenty of interesting conversations in Texas. An iconoclastic, romping, bull's-eye volley at an enduring sacred cow--popular history at its most engaging and insightful.

     COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

4. • premium: True
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     Starred review from June 1, 2021
     

     In this riveting work, three Texan writers--best-selling authors Burrough (Days of Rage) and Tomlinson (Tomlinson Hill) along with journalist and political consultant Stanford--delve into the myth surrounding the Alamo and reveal a truly nuanced history of the battle and the way it is remembered. The authors set out to create a new narrative of the Texas Revolution, built upon an examination of the racial structures existing in 1836 and the present day. This book casts aside the Anglo narrative of ultimate sacrifice, in favor of a broader discussion about the history of slavery in Texas and the impact of Tejano history. The narrative flows seamlessly as it explores the complicated legacies of Stephen F. Austin, known as the Father of Texas, and Sam Houston, the first and third president of the Republic of Texas, as well as the many places and institutions named in their honor. Bringing Mexican voices to the forefront, the authors argue that it is necessary to diversify perspectives in order to create a comprehensive historical narrative of Texas, and especially San Antonio. VERDICT Not only an essential work of Texas history, but popular history at its best. The book shines when detailing the power of telling one's own story.--Jacob Sherman, Univ. of Texas at San Antonio

     Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

5. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     Starred review from June 1, 2021
     Texas holds unique status as the only one of the 50 United States that was once its own nation. It passed out of Spanish rule when Mexico declared its independence. Americans flooded into east Texas to raise cotton, an exceedingly lucrative crop--provided settlers could bring along their enslaved workers, but the young Mexico City government soon outlawed slavery. Mexico found military success battling these settlers, overwhelming the American fighters at the Alamo. Many a myth was generated by this battle, and the Alamo became a rallying cry as Americans asserted sovereignty over Texas' territory. The newly independent Texas wrote slavery into its constitution and booted free Black people from the republic. Slave trader Jim Bowie, killed at the Alamo, became a hero. Spanish-speaking Tejanos found their role defending the Alamo diminished, and Hollywood produced several movies that played fast and loose with historical fact. But myths take on their own life. Writing in lively prose, Burrough (Barbarians at the Gate, 2009), Chris Tomlinson (Tomlinson Hill, 2014), and Jason Stanford explore the historical record to uncover the facts obscured by myth, and try to maintain a non-partisan perspective. Nevertheless, their conclusions are bound to be controversial in Texas and beyond its borders.

     COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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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...

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