Bryan Burrough is the author of six books, including The Big Rich,
Days of Rage, Public Enemies, and the No. 1 New York Times
bestseller Barbarians at the Gate.
Chris Tomlinson is a columnist for the Houston Chronicle and the
San Antonio Express-News and the author of the New York
Times-bestselling Tomlinson Hill about his family's slave-owning
history in Texas. From 1995-2007, he reported from more than 30
countries and nine wars for the Associated Press.
Jason Stanford is a writer whose bylines have appeared in Texas
Monthly, the Austin-American Statesman, the Los Angeles Times,
MSNBC, the Texas Tribune, and Texas Highways. The former
communications director for Austin Mayor Steve Adler, Stanford
previously worked as a political consultant and helped elect or
re-elect more than 30 members of congress. He now publishes a
weekly newsletter called The Experiment.
“Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson, and Jason Stanford urge us to
reconsider the Alamo, a symbol we’ve been taught to fiercely and
uncritically remember . . . the book provides strong, provocative
critiques of U.S. imperialism and colonialism. The myth of the
Alamo, as we know it, is a lie. It’s been a part of the lie
students have learned in school, and animates the lies peddled by
legislation like the 1836 Project and the critical race theory
bill. But if you want to truly remember the past, you first have to
forget it.” —Texas Observer
“Engrossing.” —Wall Street Journal
“Lively and absorbing . . . Much of the fun of the book derives
from how deftly it strips that varnish off and demolishes the
prevailing (white) racist shibboleths—in particular, what the
authors call the Heroic Anglo Narrative of Texas history.” —New
York Times Book Review
“Lively, entertaining and well-researched . . . The greatest
surprise of Forget the Alamo is its clear-eyed explication of the
ways politicians, educators, writers, filmmakers and TV executives
used the Alamo to serve whatever message they were promoting.”
—Houston Chronicle
“Riveting . . . The narrative flows seamlessly as it explores the
complicated legacies of Stephen F. Austin, known as the Father of
Texas, and Sam Houston, the first and third president of the
Republic of Texas, as well as the many places and institutions
named in their honor. Bringing Mexican voices to the forefront, the
authors argue that it is necessary to diversify perspectives in
order to create a comprehensive historical narrative of Texas, and
especially San Antonio. Not only an essential work of Texas
history, but popular history at its best. The book shines when
detailing the power of telling one’s own story.” —Library
Journal
“Substantive yet wryly humorous . . . Skillfully drawing on primary
and secondary sources, the authors show that Stephen F. Austin, who
established a colony of American settlers in Texas in the 1820s,
fought to protect slavery from Mexican legislators’ desire to
abolish it, and that the independence movement was focused on
preserving Texas’s slave-based cotton economy. Enriched by its
breezy tone and fair-minded approach, this is an essential look at
the Alamo from the perspective of today’s racial reckoning.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A zesty, journalistic, half history, half sendup about the battle
of the Alamo and the myths that cling to it . . . Burrough,
Tomlinson, and Stanford, all Texans, succeed brilliantly in their
intent . . . this lively book is sure to cause plenty of
interesting conversations in Texas. An iconoclastic, romping,
bull’s-eye volley at an enduring sacred cow—popular history at its
most engaging and insightful.” —Kirkus (starred)
“Burrough, Tomlinson and Stanford boldly reappraise a legend that
is foundational to Texas, and for that matter to America: the
battle of the Alamo. What they've unearthed is an astounding
century-long effort by the state's Anglo grandees to repackage an
embarrassing defeat as the very fountainhead of Lone Star heroism.
Meticulously researched and engagingly written, Forget the Alamo is
an all-too-timely tale of how a fable, told forcefully and
frequently enough, makes its insidious way into the history books.”
—Robert Draper, author of To Start A War
“Forget the Alamo is all about myth-busting and icon-smashing. But
anyone who thinks that in doing so the authors have simply ruined a
perfectly good legend needs to think again. The true story of the
Alamo is far more entertaining and complexly human than any amount
of John Wayne swinging a musket from the battlements of a Texas
fort. This is a ripping good tale, well told.” —S. C. Gwynne,
author of New York Times bestsellers Empire of the Summer Moon and
Rebel Yell
“A clear-sighted historical narrative of the founding story of
Texas, full of surprising details that bust the Alamo myths we were
taught in school. In a time of real racial reckoning, the heroes of
the Alamo don't get a pass. The authors deliver a page-turner
you'll read with pleasure, packed with insights that stick to your
ribs.” —Elise Hu, NPR host-at-large
“As a native San Antonian, I grew up knowing only Hollywood's
version of how things went down at what became the ‘shrine of Texas
liberty.’ In this lively book, Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson and
Jason Stanford dig deep into Texas history to separate fact from
legend—not only about the Alamo, but of the forces that produced
Texas itself. It turns out reality is richer and more compelling
than mythology.” —Karen Tumulty, Washington Post columnist and
author of The Triumph of Nancy Reagan
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