First published 2021
The Battle of the Alamo stands as Texas's most sacred story. Davy Crockett and his fellow defenders died fighting Mexico for independence, their sacrifice paving the way to victory. Bryan Burrough and his co-authors dismantle this cherished narrative piece by piece. They reveal how the real story got buried under decades of deliberate mythmaking. The authors show that Tejanos, Texans of Mexican heritage, fought alongside the Anglo settlers but were erased from historical memory. They expose how the conflict's roots in Mexico's move to end slavery got covered up. The book traces how these myths took shape during the Jim Crow era, when celebrating the Alamo became intertwined with celebrating whiteness. Burrough examines why efforts to tell a more complete story have repeatedly failed and why the battle over the Alamo's meaning has turned increasingly hostile in recent years. As Texas transforms, the fight over its founding story grows more intense.
Genres: historical-fiction, politics, non-fiction, american-history
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-revisionism, myth-debunking
Setting: Alamo, Texas, Mexico
Period: 19th-century, Jim Crow Era
416 pages · Hardcover · Penguin Press
Content warnings: racism, slavery