Rating: 
Summary: Powerful historical epic on a human scale
Review: Brother Alamo Society member Stephen Harrigan set himself a daunting task when he undertook to retell the story of the Alamo in a way that would please general readers and historians and literary critics alike. It has taken me almost two years to work up the nerve to read his long-awaited, painstakingly researched book. It is a pleasure, and a relief, to discover that "The Gates of the Alamo" fully deserves all the praise it has received.As much as the Alamo siege serves to anchor and highlight the story, it is not the sole focus of the plot (and, indeed, only occupies a bare third or so of the book). Harrigan strolls leisurely through the year leading up to the Texas revolution, concentrating on his fictional characters and restricting most of the historical players to walk-on scenes. This is war as seen from ground level, and the primary players are not generals and politicians, but the innocents, bystanders, and journeymen swept up by events set in motion by men who cannot see the end results of what they are doing. One main character, unexpectedly, is an apolitical frontier botanist (Edmund McGowan); another is a widowed Refugio innkeeper, the sensible and resourceful Mary Mott, who is full of scorn for the grandstanding postures of men like the self-mythologizing Travis or Houston. Yet she, too, is carried away by their actions, as is her troubled son Terrell and the quietly courageous McGowan. Their fates remain linked throughout the simmering course of 1835 and, when the Mexican despot Santa Anna arrives with his army to crush the rebel Texians, they find themselves by design or happenstance together at the gates of the Alamo. We experience the hardships of Santa Anna's private soldiers, too, in a way seldom explored by previous writers. Although el Presidente himself and several of his real-life subordinates appear (in brief but memorable scenes), the most finely drawn portraits are those of fictional soldados mexicanos, struggling to survive a brutal campaign and used as pawns by a leader who regards their lives as of no more value than "chickens". In this way, Santa Anna is perhaps uncomfortably close to some of the more blustering Texian commanders, agitating for an independence that will allow them unfettered pursuit of wealth and land. Harrigan would not be the first to make a subtle point about the common lament (put into these words during the Civil War), "rich man's war; poor man's fight." We see this most clearly through the eyes of Joe, Travis' slave, a survivalist who suspects his lot is not likely to improve no matter which side prevails. If Alamo commander Travis is inclined to stoke his delusions of Walter Scott-inspired heroics, famous knife-fighter Bowie is occasionally little better than a pirate, albeit a mannered one. Their redeeming virtues are fortitude and courage, and a basic, dogged respect for a rough sort of democracy. The historical figure to come out looking the best to the modern reader is ex-Congressman David Crockett, whose legend is downplayed but whose quick wit and natural leadership qualities are key to holding the beleagured Alamo garrison together. The attention to detail in this novel is tremendous, if perhaps overpowering to some casual readers, and it will reward those who already are familiar with this period and who will recognize many little touches and nuances. Even though much about the Alamo battle itself will forever remain unknown, there is little sense of the invented or the anachronistic in Harrigan's reconstruction. Almost everything rings true, although I wonder if some of the invective is too jarringly contemporary for the 1830s, and Mary Mott may strike some as being a singularly liberated woman for a relatively unliberated time (but not unbelieveably so, since it took toughness to survive on the frontier, something amply demonstrated in Mary's first appearance). I would personally have liked to see some native Bexareno characters, too, for another unique vantage point, or a chapter detailing the Texian attack on Bexar. Some historical events are handled almost *too* casually, as if the author was fearful of invoking cliches badly handled by Hollywood filmmakers: hence no dramatic Crockett arrival at the Alamo, no *deguello* played by the massed Mexican bands during the attack, no line in the sand drawn by Travis (but as Terrell Mott grumbles, "that never happened"). These are minor quibbles, and do little to detract from Harrigan's remarkable accomplishment. The final Mexican assault on the battered San Antonio mission is as powerful as anything ever written about war. The battle of San Jacinto sequence, where the Texians gain their terrible revenge for the massacres of the Alamo and Goliad, is maybe too abbreviated, but can hardly have been anything more than anticlimactic anyway. The book's coda wraps up loose ends and scrolls into the introduction, lending a suitably circular effect. The overall impression it left with me is one of profound sadness; there is a melancholy that suffuses "The gates of the Alamo," not martial clamor. It is ultimately a book about loss. When Terrell gazes at the facade of the ruined Alamo church, with its empty windows and gaping doorway, he doesn't see the "cradle of Texas liberty"; he pointedly sees the face of a grinning skull. It is a telling moment, and marks this book as a significant contribution to Texas literature.
Rating:
Summary: A very good read
Review: The Gates of the Alamo is a work of fiction set against the turbulent Texas Revolution and the Alamo in particular. While I am not normally a fan of ficticious works dealing with Texas history this book is the exception. Mr. Harrigan has done his research and taken us into the thirteen day siege in ways few have imagained. This is not Walt Disneys version. The characters are well thought out and human, their decisions are not always the right ones and life does not always have a happy ending. Seen through the eyes of both men and women, Anglo and Hispanic, soldiers and civilians Harrigan takes us through the horrors of war and lets us see that while the Alamo was heroic it wasn't antisceptic and battles really do bring out the worst in its participants. The author has taken the time to understand the different mind sets and attitudes concerning the Texas independence movement and has interwoven them into an interesting story that can be depended on to keep a readers interest and actually inform on many points. Mr. Harrigan has incorporated into his book recently discovered information about the battle that until now only serious researchers and Alamo historians have been aware of adding a deeper understanding of the siege to the casual reader. All in all a very good read that is enjoyable, disturbing, informative and highly recommended
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and haunting, a true novel and a good one.
Review: I saw some reviews of this book that made me laugh out loud. One of them literally started with something like "When I consider the glory that is the Lone Star State..." You might imagine this fella did not like this book. He was looking for larger than life legends and myths about fighting for freedom. It is ironic that the chief freedom they fought for at the Alamo was the freedom to own slaves. The Mexican constitution did not allow slavery and the future cotton barons knew they had to gain independence if they were to prosper. This is not dealt with in the novel at all. What is dealt with is the individual fight for freedom inside of the main characters. Those who cannot free themselves from their own inner chains perish tragically. The survivors live on with a new collection of scars and ultimately for those who last long enough the Alamo loses all relevance and becomes the icon of myth that we have still with us today. But before it is all over the reader gets the best account what actually happened at the Alamo that I have seen to date. This book has drawn greatly upon the discoveries and scholarly evidence concerning those fateful events in 1836 that led to Texas breaking away from Mexico. But more than that, it is a book that uses these events leading up to the famous siege as the setting of a truly human novel about the relationship between fictitious characters - characters whose desires and needs, virtues and foibles resonate far beyond their particular surroundings or time. Yes, we are introduced to all the famous characters we have all read about in the history books. They and their fictitious companions are presented with all the imperfections of real people. But they also reveal a down to earth courage that was required to survive on the frontier. And once we get to the Alamo itself the battle is very real and harrowing. When I read this book I had mixed feelings. I had mixed feelings about the fact so much of the story takes place outside of the historical events that made me buy the book. I had mixed feelings about the fact the main plot concerned a widow and her teenage son and the inapproachable naturalist who were all invented by the author. But by the end of the novel these people were as real to me as my own friends. And weeks later I was still thinking about them and haunted by what became of them. That is why I call it a true novel, as it affected me on many levels, some I was completely unaware of until after the experience was over. Years later I still feel that same way about the people that book brought to life. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants some idea of what it would have been like to live on the frontier in the 1830s and for anyone with an interest in what actually happened at the Alamo.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful(cliche but true)
Review: POP QUIZ!
The purpose of a Good Novel is to:
A) Provide reader into insight into themselves, and/or the world around them
B) Educate the reader, and pique their curiousity about learning more about a certain subject.
C) Allow the reader a temporary escape hatch from the mundaneness world in which they live
D) Entertain the reader
E) All of the Above If you answered E) All of the above, THE GATES OF THE ALAMO may be the title for you to read. Harrington's novel is an historical novel, set in Texas during the period leading up to the (in)famous Battle of The Alamo. Harrington aptly populates his version of events with an eclectic mixture of realistically portrayed Historical figures such as Jim Bowie, David Crockett, and Santa Ana of Mexico, and characters drawn purely from his rich imagination. He breathes so much life into his fictional characters mainly the widow Mary Mott, her son Terrell and botonist Edmund MgGovern that they are as real as the historical figures on the pages in the readers' eyes. This novel is an excellent character study. The ending is obvious, for anyone familiar enough with history to know what happened at the Alamo, but Harrington keeps the reader glued to the pages, by making them care enough about the fates of the Motts and Edmund to be eager to read this epic tome until the dramatic conclussion. Yet it is also more than a character study, in describing his characters so richly Harrington provides insight into many motivations of the human race thus providing insight into the readers' and others psyche. On top of successfully doing this he also details lush descriptions of landscape, and settings transporting whoever reads this novel into Texas at the battle for the Alamo. Powerful storytelling is bandied about way too frequently, but it applies to THE GATES OF THE ALAMO.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Account of the Historical Battle
Review: All things considered, this was not a bad book. It held my interest from beginning to end, mostly because of the strength of the novel's first half and the strong character development there. The fictional story is naturally overshadowed in the second half by the historical battle. In the first half, we get a glimpse of Texas frontier life through Mary Mott and her son Terrell as they run their inn near the gulf coast. We see the inside of Mexican politics through Edmund, the botanist who works for the government of Mexico, and through this plot device we are able to see the political situation from a Mexican perspective. The Mexicans saw North Americans as "land pirates." After all, Texas was part of Mexico. The action that eventually brings Mary and Edmund together is both interesting and informative about the historical events that led to the Battle of the Alamo. The budding relationship between Mary and Edmund is written in a subtle and sensitive way. I liked both these characters in the beginning. Edmund is proud and highly educated but has absolutely no knowledge of women and apparently has never considered them necessary, his only love being his botanical study of Texas. The widow Mary is wiser in a worldly sense and is attracted to Edmund but she waits for him to make the first move. This complicated relationship keeps the first half moving. Eventually the author needs to get his characters inside the Alamo and this is where the novel runs into trouble. The formerly strong and wise protagonists, Mary and Edmund, choose to go to Bexar, a place they know will soon erupt into heated battle at the Alamo, for some rather silly and implausible reasons. And as they get into more and more trouble on the way, I kept wondering why they ever went in the first place. This weak link compromises the fictional story throughout the entire second half of the novel. The battle itself is well done. Harrigan writes battle scenes with realistically graphic violence and gore. As with any so called historical novel, the author must be careful not to change history or historical persons, and at the same time invent dialog and actions that can never be verified. Harrigan has done a good job with the battle itself. He's taken out or changed some of the better-known legends. He did this based on the latest available historical documents, according to an interview with him that was published on the Internet. The fictional characters serve little purpose in the second half other than to get the reader into the Alamo, and later into the command post of Sam Houston. Harrigan pulls no punches in his treatment of this legendary Texas hero. Houston is shown as a drunken vacillator who is despised by his men. All in all this was a good novel. Harrigan has enough love for Texas history not to revise it, but only to try to clarify it. An historical novel is not a bad way to teach history as long as the reader can keep the fiction separate from the history. This fictional story falls apart in the second half, but you don't buy a book called "Gates of the Alamo" to read a love story.
Rating:
Summary: Not your father's Battle of the Alamo
Review: All history is subject to interpretation, and reinterpretation. Historical fiction is more amorphous than that: not only is it reinterpreted when the evidence requires it, it's also reinvented when our view of things changes. Fifty or a hundred years ago, the Alamo was defended by universally brave and hardy characters who only wanted freedom for themselves, and they were mercilessly slaughtered by the evil Santa Ana, for no good reason other than that he was bloodthirsty and vicious. Think Disney movie, with John Wayne playing Davy Crockett, dying heroically. Things change, though, and in recent years, the legend of the Alamo has changed somewhat. In some ways, this makes the defenders of the place more heroic: we're much more aware now of the horrors of war than we were in the fifties. On the other hand, the issues that led to the Texas War of Independance are a great deal murkier now than they were back then. The leaders at the battle itself have been revealed elsewhere to be less-than-lily-white, and this of course leads you to question everything else. The present novel is a retelling of the story of this battle, primarily from the point of view of several fictional characters who interact with the various historical personages who really participated in the events. The narrative follows five main characters: the widow innkeeper Mary Mott, and her teenaged son Terrell, a friend of theirs, a botanist named Edwin McGowan, and a pair of Mexican soldiers, a sergeant named Blas and an officer named Telesforo. The novel begins with a very elderly Terrell, late mayor of San Antonio and local hero, attending a celebration of the anniversary of the battle in 1911. The narratives of the Americans involved in the battle are interesting, for the most part, and provide most of the strength for the book. Following Edwin MacGowan and his dog Professor, and Mary and Terrell, is fun, and the descriptions of the other men involved, Crockett (always "David" in the narrative, "Davy" was an invention of the newspapers), Bowie, Travis, and Sam Houston, come across reasonably well, though the author apparently doesn't think much of Houston. There are other, less well-known characters from history, including Travis' slave, a manservant named Joe. The author spends a good deal of time dealing with Joe's dilemma, fighting for "freedom" when Mexico has outlawed slavery. Joe of course wonders if Mexico wins, will he be free, and his eventual decision is interesting. I enjoyed this book, though it was marred by the Mexican half of things. I'm not a racist, I assure you (my wife is half Mexican-American), but the narrative seemed more burdened by the characters than helped by them. The American characters have a connection to the main story and the main historical characters, but Blas (the sergeant) has no connection to any of the other characters in the narrative until the very end of the book and that's only incidental. Telesforo is somewhat more connected to the rest of the plot, but not that much. Also, while there's a considerable build up to the climactic scene, the author seems unsure how to end the book. As a result, after three dozen chapters which are an average of say fifteen pages, there are a bunch of very short ones where he's apparently doing housework, cleaning up after his plot. It's almost as if he got tired of writing, and just concluded things abruptly. While I enjoyed this book, I will agree that the suspense in the plot isn't as strong as it might have been. It's very literary though: the writing is quite good. I agree that it bears comparison with McMurtry, but Harrigan at least pays some attention to history (I've become rather annoyed with McMurtry's indifference to even making events vaguely resemble historical fact) and the book is much the better for it. My comparison would be to Thomas Flanagan's fine novel, The Year of the French. It's not quite as good as Flanagan, but it's still pretty good, and readable.
Rating:
Summary: A spectacular book
Review: "The Gates of the Alamo" represents the first in a long line of books that I will no doubt read concerning the events of 1836 in San Antonio de Bexar. An Arkansas transplant to North Texas, I've developed a hunger for historical narratives pertaining to my adopted state, and Stephen Harrigan's robust, bloody, entertaining, deeply moving book is my first step into that body of literature. Harrigan has obviously researched the time period thoroughly, and I was transfixed by the amount of political, emotional and topographic detail contained in these pages. Like "Lonesome Dove" and "The Killer Angels," "Gates" transports the reader to another time and place, not simply through historic details, but with characters that live in the heart. A great book in every way. I defy you to put it down once the siege begins. And does anyone else see Tom Hanks in the movie role of Edmund McGowan?
Rating:
Summary: Very Good, but too long! Edmund slows it down!
Review: I've always had an interest in the Alamo, and when I was a kid I read at least three other books on it, Davy Crockett & Jim Bowie, and I saw the John Wayne movie with my dad the week it came to the local movie theatre. I was really looking forward to reading this book. Contrary to the info I had when I went looking for it, the book is actually a 736 page paperback with relatively small print. Remember, this is Historical FICTION, and while the author even cites some of his authorities to keep to the true historical perspective, it is too drawn out. I did like the fact that he created interesting characters that were interacting with the major players on both sides of the battle, in fact he even slyly included what appears to be a younger, later to be General William T. Sherman, in part of the aftermath of the Alamo. Edmund, however, was too blind and wooden a character, intended as it may have been to portray him as such. While Edmund, despite his occupation, started out with some real action, and he got into, and out of, some really tough spots, he was also really boring in several portions of the book. His character slowed down the flow of the book too much, and too often, and some of the time and pages used on him could have been better spent elsewhere, or just been cut to shorten the book. I thought "pay by the word" was over. I also would like to think that Jim Bowie did have more of a role at the Alamo, sick or not, than what was portrayed. Finally, I got the impression that the very end of the book seemed somewhat contrite and forced on the author. Otherwise, it was a very good, but long read. Overall, I still give it a FOUR STAR rating for the impartial perspective, numerous interesting major and minor characters, links to history and the detailed study the author made to write it.
Rating:
Summary: Make A Movie Of This One!
Review: Here we have 500+ pages of great entertainment. I'm not an expert on fiction but the label "epic" might fit THE GATES OF THE ALAMO as our botanist protagonist finds himself in Texas and Mexico and the Yucatan, on the Gulf Coast and, finally, at the Alamo in an historic battle. The book's prose uses the third person so viewpoints from all sides are given, including such historic icons as Santa Anna and James Bowie. Reading the last few pages, I had to wipe away the tears and I'm not someone who blubbers like that so easily. The author doesn't romanticize life in early-1800's Texas so we read about how hard life was then. The pages describing the long march made by the Mexican army from Mexico into Texas during winter is particularly disturbing. I remember only one or maybe two sex scenes in 500 pages so I don't understand the problem there. The Alamo fight is given plenty of attention and is thrilling and tragic with some interesting new ideas about how the battle took place. While my interest in botany is near zero and I sometimes found the native plant information to be a little much, on reflection it gave me a deeper feeling for what Texas was like by being exposed to the botanical dimension of the area. Plus this was at a time when amateur science was getting very popular and so it fits the times and the character. I'd like to see a movie made of this novel. I give it 5 and a half native fauna out of 5.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent story about Texas Revolution
Review: The Gates of the Alamo is an excellent novel about the months leading up to and then the famous battle for the Alamo. Instead of telling the story from the usual Alamo trio( Crockett, Bowie, and Travis), we see the story through the eyes of botanist Edmund McGowan who is traveling through Texas and widow Mary Mott and her son Terrell. It does take awhile to actually get into the Alamo, but what leads up to it is just as good as the actual siege. Using the main historical figures as secondary characters, including Santa Anna, Colonel Almonte, and Travis' slave Joe, works especially well here because the three main characters are so fully developed. Also, it is obvious reading the novel that Harrigan is not a big fan of Sam Houston. He is portrayed here as an out of place drunken politician. The best part of the novel is definitely the siege of the Alamo. Harrigan places the reader directly into the crumbling mission during the siege as we see the suffering and the brutality of the battle. The final assault on the Alamo spares no gory details which is very effective in showing how gruesome this battle really was. One problem with the Gates of the Alamo may be that everyone reading it already knows how it ends. However, it is truly worth it. The sense of doom Harrigan creates in the last few days leading up to the final assault on March 6 is incredible. The Gates of the Alamo is a great historical novel that will keep all Alamo fans interested throughout! Don't miss The Gates of the Alamo!
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