As one of thousands of seventh-grade Texas history alums in the mid-2000s, reading this book was a whirlwind of emotions for me. I was immediately taken back to the classroom with my middle school history teacher, remembering how she’d made us repeat multiple times back to her that “the Civil War was fought over states’ rights, not slavery.” (The nuance of states’ rights to practice slavery apparently was lost on her.) As you can probably imagine, her take on the Alamo was absolutely that of the Heroic Anglo Narrative referenced in the book, with only passing mention of Tejanos as folks who just happened to help out The Trio.
I was alternately angry and frustrated while reading this book – not with the book itself, but with the actual education I missed out on that I am only coming to realize as an adult. It shouldn’t be such a shock – of course the legend of Travis, Crockett, and Bowie has been embellished over time, and Texans love nothing more than a good story. I feel foolish, somewhat, for not second-guessing much of the Alamo myth, for not realizing the traumatizing impact on my fellow classmates who did not view the Anglos as the “good guys” but nonetheless has to be quiet.
As you can probably tell, this book left a lot for me to think about, and I’m still mulling a lot of it over. I’d recommend it to anyone who was subjected to Texas history class as a child, or anyone who has an interest in Texas history – that is, actual Texas history.