Lone Star Nation: How a Ragged Army of Volunteers Won the Battle for Texas Independence - And Changed America

Brands writes the "epic" story of these men who fought for Texas independence. He does not write over your head and does not leave the reader uninformed. He does not hold back details about the "mythical" Texas figures who are "larger than life" in most accounts. It is a simple and effective way to learn about the Texas Revolution.

Brand's has a great style with a smart wit and feel for the times as well as anecdotal material that gives great depth to his writing. His use of Ehrenburg is the first I have seen as source material.

Brands does a great job of weaving the lives of Austin, Santa Anna and others together in a compelling fashion. His vivid narrative style makes you forget you are reading history, but rather makes you feel you are sitting around a fireplace listening to a master storyteller perform his craft with grace and ease.

Texas is sure of itself today, certain and confident of its place in the nation. Native Texans have occupied the White House, and held countless other positions of power, whether direct (Secretary James Baker) or indirect (e.g.,Colonel House under Wilson). That Texas was at once vastly uncertain as to its identity comes through clearly in Professor Brand's sharply written history. Austin came to Texas in fulfillment of his father's dying wish to colonize the state. To do so, he and countless others were willing to pledge allegiance to the Mexican flag. They were supportive of Santa Anna's commitment to federalism at one point (and then fought Santa Anna, and then sent him to Washington on their behalf, and fought him again, and embraced him later; he had, Brands' says, "more lives than a cat"). When the break with Mexico came, Texas experienced a period of independence during which she flirted with both Great Britain and France, and left open the possibility that if she were not annexed to the U.S., she might serve herself well by becomming a pawn in the efforts of both countries to halt U.S. expansion. Brands excells at biographical description -- Austin, Houston, Bowie, Crocket, and the rest are superbly rendered in his text. As to the lot of them, let it suffice to say that the founding fathers of Texas were not men who entered the region to "top off" already successful careers. Perhaps as a result, Texas, until the end of the civil war, seemed to represent, writ large, her anxious, impressionable and undisciplined founders. If the pioneers of Texas agreed on anything, it was that Texas was to be a new beginning. That dream went unfulfilled -- the withered "raisin in the sun" of Langston Hughes' imagery. This is because, try as it might, Texas, and the Texicans and tejanos never quite escaped being drawn into the vortex of larger forces, and the stress of pre-existing conflicts. What a great tale the Lone Star Nation conveys.

We all have heard the story of the Alamo. By now must of us have heard that it's possible that Davy Crockett did not die in the fight but was executed after the battle was over. What H W Brands brings in this new volume of Texas History is just how unlikely the entire revolution was and how close it came to being crushed. A commander-in-cheif that had no real authority and a government in rebellion that would not or could not supply the army they ordered Sam Houston to raise. It really makes one wonder just how the heck they succeeded. It appears with some skill, a lot of luck and the desire to be independent.H W Brands makes all his subjects interesting and this one is no exception. READ THIS before going to see THE ALAMO!