The Alamo’s Forgotten Defenders: The Remarkable Story of the Irish During the Texas Revolution

Description

Author: Tucker, Phillip Thomas

Publisher: Savas Beatie

Pub Date: 2016

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Book:  Fair.  Binding tight.  No tears, bends or folds.  Previous owner’s blindstamp and gift inscription on upper corner ffep.  Some edge wear along upper rear board.  Dust Jacket: Fair.  Not price clipped.  Upper rear edge and spine head have (water?/coffee? ) damage that has stained the interior of the jacket.  Aside from that damage there is very light edge and corner wear.

Notes: As a Texas legend, and American icon, the Alamo is second to none.   In total, 15 Ireland-born defenders of the Alamo were killed when the Alamo fell on March 6, 1836, outnumbering the number of Tejanos (native Texans) killed.  Many more of the defenders were sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons of Irish immigrants, including the leadership triumvirate of William Travis, Jim Bowie, and Davy Crockett.  “Irish immigrants and settlers were the third highest population group and the largest white ethnic group in Texas when the Texas Revolution erupted in early October 1835, comparable to numbers of overall United States settlers…” (page 3).   Besides examining the makeup of the Alamo defenders the author also examines the politics of the age–“As cruel fate would have it, the Alamo leaders were caught in the midst of a bloody Mexican Civil War between centralism and republicanism, and in this sense the Alamo was merely a pawn in a much larger game.” (page 93)  Not revisionist history, but also not the “guts and glory” story of the Alamo.