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Post by TRK on Jan 13, 2008 9:22:12 GMT -5
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Post by scroggwe on Jan 25, 2008 10:59:43 GMT -5
1. The Alamo Story, by JR Edmondson: A good general narrative history. 2. Three Roads to the Alamo, by William C. Davis: Biographies of Travis, Bowie, and Crockett. 3. The Alamo Reader, by Todd Hansen: The most thorough collection of complete primary accounts about the Alamo. 4. Sacrificed at the Alamo, by Bruce Winders: The first book to properly place and explain the battle of the Alamo as a Napoleonic era battle. 5. The Secret War for Texas, by Stuart Reid: A totally different and new look at the Texas Revolution, while not focused on the Alamo, it thoroughly explains the events in South Texas from December 1835 through March 1836 that culminated in the fall of the Alamo. I personally believe that the Five Essential Alamo Books would have to include Steven L. Hardin's "Texian Iliad" althought it is not essentially an "Alamo" book, but is a very excellent overall history of the military story of the Texas Revolution. Another personal favorite is Allen C. Huffine's "Blood of Noble Men.' This is one of my personal favorites. I have not read the others listed, except "Three Roads to Texas." I plan on buying Stuart Reid's book in the next week or so. The "Alamo Reader" is one that I have planned to read, but somehow have never got around to purchasing it.
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Post by Herb on Jan 25, 2008 12:28:40 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum, Bill. I thought long and hard about Hardin's book, when initially making up the list, and have continued to do so.
As this list is met to be a consenus of the members, and there's been other calls to add Hardin, I've gone ahead and made the change.
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Post by cantador4u on Mar 5, 2008 12:04:50 GMT -5
I think we have a new book that should be considered essential for anyone interested in the Alamo. I'm of course referring to The Illustrated Alamo 1836: A Photographic Journey, by Mark Lemon.
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Post by Herb on Mar 10, 2008 13:19:53 GMT -5
I think we have a new book that should be considered essential for anyone interested in the Alamo. I'm of course referring to The Illustrated Alamo 1836: A Photographic Journey, by Mark Lemon. I think you're probably right, but let's wait and see how some others feel as they return from San Antonio.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Mar 10, 2008 14:51:55 GMT -5
I strongly endorse its inclusion on any must-read Alamo list. It is the single best reference we have (or are likely to have) regarding the structure and appearance of the fort. I would like to see a selection of photos of Mark's model used for a brouchure of some kind that visitors could use as the walk the grounds. I don't know how it might be done technically, but it would be a tremendous help to have some sort of overlays that could superimpose the current grounds and its structures over the original terrain.
Mark's book is clearly a breakthrough document.
AW
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Post by steves on Mar 25, 2008 16:23:47 GMT -5
Haven't posted for a while due to dead computer...still...Now have 'Three Roads',...awaiting 'Texan Iliad' to add to my small set of relevant Ospreys.....have a strange feeling the buying isn't over. Steve
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Post by Allen Wiener on Mar 25, 2008 22:13:36 GMT -5
Probably not, Steve, but you're off to a good start with those choices.
AW
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Post by Herb on Apr 2, 2008 15:45:03 GMT -5
Although, there wasn't much discussion, I believe the overall sentiment is that Mark Lemon's book belongs on this list - so the list has been updated today.
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Post by steves on May 10, 2008 14:45:59 GMT -5
Probably not, Steve, but you're off to a good start with those choices. AW And so it continues....vist to 2nd-hand bookshop on holiday got me 'The Alamo Reader' for £10....wife quite unable to comprehend my joy Steve
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doc
Full Member
Posts: 88
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Post by doc on May 11, 2008 17:17:13 GMT -5
Gents:
Many thanks to those who have suggested that TEXIAN ILIAD be added to this list.
Having said that, I do not agree.
From the get-go, I envisioned TI as "a Military History of the Texas Revolution." Of course, I had to discuss the Alamo battle, but I never meant it to be an "Alamo book" per se.
If TI makes any contribution, it is because it describes the war in full and includes some of the lesser known engagements.
SLH
SLH
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Post by Allen Wiener on May 12, 2008 10:34:17 GMT -5
Gents: Many thanks to those who have suggested that TEXIAN ILIAD be added to this list. Having said that, I do not agree. From the get-go, I envisioned TI as "a Military History of the Texas Revolution." Of course, I had to discuss the Alamo battle, but I never meant it to be an "Alamo book" per se. If TI makes any contribution, it is because it describes the war in full and includes some of the lesser known engagements. SLH Steve, Well, I guess there's no one more qualified to make that judgment than the author himself and I do see your point. However, I regard TI as a very key "Alamo" book precisely because of the context it lends to the battle. No other book has ever put the siege and battle into fuller context as well as TI and I find myself pulling it off the shelf as often as any other Alamo-related book. Also, it's a great read. Perhaps our list should add a supplementary list of key books about the broader Texas Revolution that provide such context to the Alamo story and do it well. Books like TI, Davis's "Lone Star Rising," Alan Huffines Osprey book "The Texas War of Independence 1835-1836," Stuart's "Secret War for Texas," Gregg Dimmick's "Sea of Mud" and (despite its heavy going) Paul Lack's book could go on such a list. I still have not read H. W. Brands' "Lone Star Nation," but perhaps that could be added too. Also some of the Mexican accounts that cover a broader period, like De la Pena, Almonte, et al. AW
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Post by bobdurham on May 13, 2008 18:57:51 GMT -5
I agree strongly that Texian Iliad definitely belongs on some list; if not a list of Alamo books proper, then a list of Texas Revolution books. I haven't got around to getting Stuart's or Lack's books yet and haven't finished Sea of Mud. Agree with your other choices though, including Brands' Lone Star Nation -- I liked it a lot.
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Post by Rich Curilla on May 14, 2008 0:06:23 GMT -5
"Five Essential Alamo Books" huh? Well.
I seem to be faced with the same dilemma at our Alamo Village gift shop. We may be able to have five for sale, so what should they be. I definitely have the opportunity on the street to guide tourists to Alamo books, but which ones should I encourage our buyer to get?
I haven't arrived at a solid answer yet (partly because we can't always buy books), but I have indeed discovered the kind of Alamo books they should be for the folks who visit Alamo Village.
Right now, we sell George Nelson's The Alamo: An Illustrated History because folks are always asking me questions about the real Alamo, and it has all the iconography they need to understand it. It is also an eye-catcher for tourists with its cover's aerial view painting of the compound that they have just walked around at the Waynamo. We will also try Mark Lemon's book soon, but this is fine wine and I don't know if we'll get more than a couple people a year THAT serious about the Alamo.
(We also just started to handle one of Mark Lemon's two Alamo prints from his book. My choice was the lower angle with the CG sky in the background because it is unique as Alamo art and thus more attractive to the man on the street. We have already sold a few of these, and I didn't buy them all.)
We also sell Bill Groneman's Alamo Defenders because I get a lot of Alamo descendants -- or wanabe descendants -- asking questions.
Blood of Noble Men is also a useful tool and thus a marketable book at Alamo Village. This is because of Gary's illustrations and because of Alan's ingenious approach with dividing the eyewitness accounts into the days of the siege, so that, for any one day, a buyer can see what everybody who might have been there said about it. This trumps Groneman's Eyewitness to the Alamo only because of its more dramatic context.
What we still don't have (and frankly, I'm having trouble deciding on which is best), is a *basic* Alamo history book. If Walter Lord's A Time To Stand were more up-to-date, that would be the one. It's driving force and succinct narrative has yet to be matched. What it needs to be is something to the point that gives the readers an update on the Alamo story without bogging them down in stuff they aren't interested in. I think it is Steve's Osprey book, The Alamo 1836 -- Santa Anna's Texas Campaign, but damned if our buyer can get it. (Can't figure this out, because KingsX has no problem.)
All this is to say that I have been thinking a lot about a small number of which books.
Taking that to this site, here is what I suggest: a longer list. One cannot just simply say "five best books." Best for what? Learning about the battle? The Alamo itself as a place? The men? The Texas War of Independence (without an understanding of which you cannot grasp the significance of the Alamo)? Then there is the question of *to what degree* of interest. i.e. Nelson or Lemon? Scatter-gun iconography or fine wine for the connoisseur?
All that said, I suggest five categories with three books each.
Those categories are:
THE ALAMO FORT (Nelson, Lemon...)
THE SIEGE AND BATTLE (Lord, Hardin, Huffines, Edmondson)
THE TEXAS WAR AS BACKGROUND (Hardin's Illiad)
THE HEROES (Groneman, Davis...)
THE CULTURAL IMPACT (Thompson, Thompson, Thompson, Thompson)
Another probable category would be:
SERIOUS STUDY (Lemon, Winders, Hanson)
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Post by Jim Boylston on May 14, 2008 8:15:50 GMT -5
Rich, as far as an "update" of "A Time To Stand" goes, I assume you mean a well written narrative history that would give a good introduction to the subject to a novice, yet keep more advanced students interested as well. For my money, Jack Edmondson's "The Alamo Story" fills the bill and is the book I most often recommend to friends who don't "get" my obsession and want to know something about the subject. I think it's a great overall survey, but it's also a standout for its portrayal of Bowie, who can often come off remote and enigmatic. I think Jack puts meat on the bones, and Bowie is more three dimensional in "The Alamo Story" than in most other general histories of the Alamo. Jim
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