The Alamo: An Epic

The Alamo is an American epic about one of the great mythic moments in U.S. history. The subject is the Texas Revolution, the critical event in the complex and gradual takeover of Northern Mexico by Anglo-Americans, which culminated in the Mexican War and fixed the territories of the two major nation-states of North America. Part Odyssey, part Iliad, part American western, The Alamo follows the linked but episodic adventures of its hero, William Barret Travis, and the legendary figures Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie through the siege and battle of the Alamo, as they lead a vastly outmanned Texas army of independence against the charismatic and ruthless Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Like the major epics of the past, The Alamo is the product of an act of synthesis, in which elements from classical and Renaissance epic are blended with the realism of the historical novel, the pace of cinema, and the vividness of imagery characteristic of the best Romantic and Modernist lyric poetry. Into the familiar story of the Battle of the Alamo and the Texas Revolution, Michael Lind has introduced an unprecedented degree of historical accuracy, psychological realism, and social observation. Dozens of characters - ranging from the famous and great like Santa Anna and Sam Houston to the unfamiliar, like the wives and mothers of the small town of Gonzales, Texas, and the forgotten soldiers of the Mexican army - come to life in this epic retelling of an American legend.