Very thorough and well-organized. The story lays to rest the myths good and bad of these three heroes of the Alamo, but this only serves to make them more human and far more interesting. As a Texan who was raised on many of the legends, I was a little upset that some of the stories may not be true (the line in the sand), but was actually more impressed with the three as individuals by the end of the book, and appreciated more the often contentious road to Texan independence. Furthermore, while the book focuses mainly on Bowie, Crockett, and Travis, there are tremendous insights into many individuals and processes involved in the revolution, including reflections on the reluctant leadership of Stephen F. Austin (whom I greatly respect) and the unsteady and unpredictable leadership of Sam Houston (whom I do not). Very informative and well worth the time.

Quick! Name the three most famous battles fought on what is now US soil! Well, there may be some room for discussion but I would go with (in no particular order) The Battle of the Little Big Horn, Gettysburg, and The Battle of the Alamo. Two of these have their stature largely established on legend more than fact since there were few, if any, surviving witnesses from the side that most of us focus on. Indeed, little use has been made of the observations of the winning sides. Most references I've read discount most of the eyewitness accounts. This leaves two of the three battles with a limited availability of historical sources (while books on Gettysburg continue to emerge with new sources, interpretations and perspectives). In view of the apparent limitations he had to work with, what William C. Davis has done for the Battle of the Alamo is a truly impressive work of research, organization and perspective.

Be forewarned; this book of 587 pages of text and roughly 160 pages of footnotes uses merely 4 or 5 pages to tell of the Battle itself. Davis relies almost exclusively on Sutherland's "Fall of the Alamo" which is rather less extravagant than popular legend. While this book limited its' account of the actual battle, it gives, perhaps, the best written account of the events leading up to the Battle. It does so, as its' title implies, by focussing on the lives of Davy Crockett, James Bowies and William Barret Travis.

The threee men's lives display three seperate directions and give us three seperate understandings of the motivations of men in that time and place. Crockett was the explorer who became restless each time civilization moved into the neighborhood. He was the most famous of the three both in his time and in History and his was the life we enjoyed reading the most. His political career was "interesting" but not worthy of any more impressive adjective. His demise was the event that elevated his life but he would have been remembered even without the Alamo (albeit by far fewer people).

James Bowie was the wheeler dealer whose land-grabbing schemes were so boldly and so crudely illegal that most readers will find themselves having to make excuses to keep plodding through the morass of thievery. In time his exploits become more engrossing to the reader but there was always a new angle to twist in order to create a new fortune on paper. Bowie's bravery in Texas might have elevated his name higher than it was had he not already been half-dead with Typhoid Fever before the Battle even began. As it was, his name would have been obscure in modern times had it not been for the Alamo. His knife and his legal trail of fraudulent claims would have been all that was left to his fame (and it was his brother who invented that famous knife).

William Barret Travis was the least know of the three and the least acclaimed. As a kid I often wondered who this Travis character was and why was his name mentioned with Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie. Travis was a lawyer of limited ability until he fled to Texas to escape his debts back home. There he eventiually found his abilities in the legal profession and he represents that stabelizing effect that professionals bring when they arrive at the frontier settlements. Travis might possibly have exceeded the fame of his two counterparts had it not been for his death at the Alamo. That is because Davis portrays his legal mind as one of a man with great political promise. (Or he could have drifted deeply into obscurity).

The details that the author gives us is an excellent study of the emerging American Nation. The explorer, the fortune hunter, and the civilizer were a sort of system that led to the development of the great American continent. Reading the stories of these men gets confusing at times. (I often had trouble figuring out if I was reading about Bowie or Travis since their financial lives were so similar). However, the details leading up to the Alamo gave me a much better appreciation of the actual events. I may not have been as excited about reading of the Battle (as I was in reading Jeff Long's "Duel of Eagles") but I realized at the end of the book that I had gotten more out of it than any other account of the Alamo. These men (and others such as Sam Houston) were fatally flawed but they were also very interesting. Kudos to Willam C. Davis for putting together such a well-conceived and well-written account.

This book is a very well conceived idea that tries to understand what happened at the Alamo through the eyes of three people. Each provides a different perspective to life in Texas and life in the United States in the time period leading up to the Alamo. A crook like Bowie has fled from land speculations schemes and is trying to make a name for himself in Texas. Travis has abandoned his family and gone to make an honest life and escape the debt he built up. Finally we have David Corckett the hero of Tennessee who has lost elections and patience with Andrew Jackson heading to Texas. All of these three have led colorful lives with Crockett being the most interesting. This book serves as a biography to all three while describing the importance of the Alamo to Texas. It is very well done and you find yourself going through the book very quickly. I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in understanding what life looked like in the United States in the years leading up to the Alamo.

This book is a very well conceived idea that tries to understand what happened at the Alamo through the eyes of three people. Each provides a different perspective to life in Texas and life in the United States in the time period leading up to the Alamo. A crook like Bowie has fled from land speculations schemes and is trying to make a name for himself in Texas. Travis has abandoned his family and gone to make an honest life and escape the debt he built up. Finally we have David Corckett the hero of Tennessee who has lost elections and patience with Andrew Jackson heading to Texas. All of these three have led colorful lives with Crockett being the most interesting. This book serves as a biography to all three while describing the importance of the Alamo to Texas. It is very well done and you find yourself going through the book very quickly. I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in understanding what life looked like in the United States in the years leading up to the Alamo.

William Davis, best known for his excellent works on the American War Between the States (oh, alright, "Civil War" if you insist) delves into the Texas Revolution with this work, and presents historians with an excellent glimpse at the three principal figures of the Alamo Siege. This triple biography gives an excellent in-depth look at the careers, motivations, and personal lives of three men on their march to an appointment with destiny.

I highly recommend all of Mr. Davis' works, especially "Deep Waters of the Proud" and "Look Away!"

Davis is meticulous in his research, teasing from the legends what we know, what can be deduced, what is probable, improbable, and impossible. So, if you want scholarship, an in-depth understanding of the truth, as near as it can be determined, this book is great.

Davis' sketches of the personalities and characters of Crockett, Bowie and Travis were also impressive.

But, IMO, if you want a wallopping page-turner, look elsewhere.

OK, that is a bit of a negative title, so I want to start off saying that I really enjoyed this book. One of the problems with the story of the Alamo is that it all too often is isolated in the time during the battle and not much of the events and lives of the participants are ever explored. This leaves a story disconnected from all that ran up to it, all that caused it.

William C. Davis does an admirable job assembling the lives of three people who are somewhat elusive in the historical record until their "big day" at the Alamo (even Crocket has his blank spots in his history). It is important info that informs us all why these men were "that" Travis, Crocket and Bowie.

He gives them life in a narrative that quickly moves in a conversational style. Further, he does an admirable job not judging these men on today's more "civilized" standards, allowing us to come to know the men as they were, in their day, without being weighed down by modern approbations and regrettable "social" historical analysis so popular with too many historians.

Now the criticism: As my little review title suggests I feel that there was one road, one equally important, not explored that led to the Alamo. It is a road that is just as important as the other roads Davis explores; that of Travis, Crocket, and Bowie.

It is a road without which the Alamo would not have occurred, propelling the three heroes into American mythology. It is the road traveled by Santa Anna.

Of course, at 587 pages, this tome is already a bit larger than the average popular treatment of any particular historical event and it is probable that Davis struggled to keep the story under one thousand! Still, Santa Anna's journey was just as tumultuous, interesting and central to the story as Travis, Crocket, and Bowie's, and just as important.

Davis admits that he started with the idea of a Bowie bio, so it isn't surprising that he dwelled on Bowie more so than the other two. But, given the re-direction he took with his story a little less on Bowie could have sufficed as the story of Santa Anna was included.

After reading the book, I felt a hole in the story. Why, exactly, did the Mexicans do all they did? Not just during the months preceding the Alamo, but for the decade before. How did Santa Anna get to his position? What drove him to lay siege to the Alamo and that small band of Norteamericanos? I know Santa Anna is not the American hero that the other three are, but where is the hero without the villain?

In any case. This book is highly recommended for anyone wanting a well researched story of the actions and personalities that led up to the Alamo. Even with that one small detraction, I say read it!

By Warner Todd Huston

"This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

Author William C. Davis does not follow this advise and gives us the true story of these three icons of Texas. We find that aside from Crockett's three successful congressional campaigns and Travis' legal practice in Texas, these heroes were not very successful nor particularly honorable as that term is defined today. Bowie was an unsuccessful con artist who married his Tejano wife for her money and connections, Travis abandoned his pregnant wife in Alabama to evade a warrant for his arrest for debt, and Crockett was long estranged from his second wife at the time of his death. They were not exactly paragons of virtue but in the manner of their deaths they were and are heroes and that should not be forgotten, and Davis does not forget this. I am reminded of a line from another movie, Casablanca, in which Humphrey Bogart says, "They got a lucky break. Yesterday they were just two German clerks. Today they're the 'Honored Dead'." Bowie, Crockett and Travis are Texas' Honored Dead.

This is the most important book about the Alamo and its heroes to appear in the last three decades. Davis has undertaken meticulous research, including review of previously unseen documents in Mexico's military archives, to construct new, revealing biographies of the three most celebrated Alamo heroes. Especially valuable are the sketches of Bowie and Travis, about whom there are no earlier satisfactory biographies. Many will find Travis's story completely new, and Davis portrays the Alamo commander as an important political leader of the Texian revolt, whose death was an incalculable loss to that cause. Bowie, on the other hand, is something of a rogue, forever scheming to turn a dishonest dollar through slave smuggling or land fraud. However, Davis also captures Bowie's daring, bravery, and leadership capabilities, particularly in battle. Crockett's story is more familiar, but Davis adds new interpretation and assessment of the frontier politician and folk hero,! deftly distinguishing the two and tracing the emergence of the fictional "Davy," partially by Crockett's own design. Other historical figures, particularly Sam Houston, do not fair so well, and Davis reveals the petty politics that may have led to abandonment of the doomed Alamo garrison. The work is not intended as a study of the Alamo itself, and the siege and battle are confined to a single chapter. Nonetheless, Davis has uncovered new information and formed unique insights about the event and the actions there of the three heroes. Much myth is stripped away, and Davis reveals the human failings of the three figures, who still emerge as courageous men of stubborn conviction, in many ways typical of those who sought to improve their fortunes by exploiting opportunities along America's expanding frontier. The book deserves a place beside such highly-regarded Alamo works as Walter Lord's "A Time To Stand."