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Summary: The best of its kind.
Review: I'd confess that I'm addicted to historical fiction. I think that when it is well written, the result can be staggering, not only taking a reader inside a character's mind, but inside a different time and world. This happens to be one of those books. Harrigan retells that old story of the Alamo we all know so well, slipping in enough historical detail to be absolutely convincing, yet never halting the momentum of his book. It reminded me of another piece of historical fiction I'd just finished, The Requiem Shark, both books dealing with hackneyed subjects (the Alamo and Piracy) and yet they're almost as well written as my number one author, Patrick O'Brian. I say almost, because O'Brian is the true king of historical fiction. It doesn't hurt that he wrote for over fifty years, and hopefully Harrigan will be around at least as long.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: This is a wonderful period story. I found myself marveling at the quiet courage of the fictional characters, as well as the larger than life failings, courage and characteristics of the legendary Texas personalities. I found Davy Crockett to be an exceptionally moving "real" character. My only complaint about the book is the inclusion of so many Spanish terms without the benefit of a glossary to aid in clarity. In spite of that small complaint, a great read all around.
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Summary: Girl finds battle book great
Review: Having nearly all of my family in San Antonio, I visited the Alamo many times in my childhood, often because my dad wanted to go. Now, as an adult about to visit again, I wanted to find out much more about the area. When my dad suggested this book, I bought it right away, and I was not disappointed. The first two thirds of the book familiarizes the reader with all the characters, both real and fictional, so that when they finally all reach the Alamo, you wish good things for both sides! My husband, a Marine, was pleased with my fascination at what the various troops endured in order to reach the battle site - frostbite, hunger, stench, weariness, just to name a few. On our upcoming trip, I'll be the one asking to go to the Alamo, and maybe on side trips to Gonzales and Goliad, too. Thank you, Steven Harrington, for re-introducing me to my hometown.
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Summary: Outstanding Book
Review: After this one, I'll be after all of Stephen Harrigan's books. The story line is imaginative, believable and it keeps your attention. Best of all, it's very well written. This book is excellent.
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Summary: Historical fiction at its best
Review: Harrigan's book is as good as historically based fiction can be, and that statement is meant to evoke comparisons with any of O'Brian's books. Just as O'Brian simultaneously demythologizes and humanizes the Nelson era, Harrigan does the same for an event in Texas history that has become iconic and mythical. His account of the battle, far removed from what we learned in "Texas Comics" (literally a comic-book format pamphlet traditionally used in the Texas history course that, believe it or not, was required by law of the public schools when I was an eighth-grader), is no less heroic, far more believable and as bloody as it must have really been. His treatment of the best known figures of Texas history--Houston, Austin, Bowie, Travis, and Crocket--and many more of the lesser lights is balanced and knowing. This is a great book.
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Summary: Outstanding (Historical) Novel!
Review: Stephen Harrigan wrote a wonderful novel several years ago entitled "Aransas." Now he has written another outstanding novel, "Gates of the Alamo." For those interested in history it is especially appealing because it deals with one of America's most powerful icons, the Alamo. However, it is not just a historical novel. Harrigan has told a brilliant tale full of characters that demand your attention. Characters from both sides of the conflict grip you and carry you all the way to the last page of the story. I highly recommend this book to any one who loves to read a great story, well told.
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Summary: "A Work of historical fiction which reads like a thriller"
Review: After publishing two wonderful, critically acclaimed novels in the '80s ("Aransas" and "Jacob's Well"), Stephen Harrigan seemed to drop off of the literary map. But his time was well spent, writing books of essays ("Commanche Night") and teleplays ("The Last of His Tribe," "Cleopatra") while researching his latest and third novel, "At the Gates of the Alamo," a work of historical fiction which reads like thriller and will have thousands of Americans glued to their seats as they reevaluate that legendary event in our history. Harrigan frames his story with a 1911 parade in San Antonio, as former Mayor Terrell Mott, the last surviving "hero" of the Alamo, takes a place of honor in the procession. Terrell's recollections of that time lead into the main story, featuring Terrell his mother Mary, and a botanist named Ed McGowan as protagonists. Beginning in the months before the citizens of Texas begin their fight for independence, Harrigan's narrative sets the stage for the coming siege with descriptions of violence that were almost commonplace during the time. An attack by Karankawa Indians is rendered in prose that mixes matter-of-fact detail with nearly poetic description: "He raised his war club, and in a strange suspension of time she studied him as if he were a subject sitting for a portrait: the shell gorget at his beautiful neck, the blue circles tattooed over his cheekbones, the rattlesnake rattles whirring at the end of his braid." After meeting up briefly with Mary Mott and her son Terrell (not to mention Jim Bowie) along the Texas coast, McGowan heads to Mexico City in order to secure more money to complete his _Flora Texana_, a journal identifying the various species of plants and flowers throughout Mexico. At the same time, Bowie and his followers head north in order to join brief skirmishes against the Mexican Army (Steven Austin, the founder of the independence movement, has been jailed in Mexico City). McGowan's journey brings him full circle, just in time to inadvertently get involved with the defenders of the Alamo - among them, Terrell Mott. Although the story of the Alamo is a familiar one, Harrigan lends it new importance by including recently discovered facts in his narrative, such as Crockett's leaving the Alamo during the siege to enlist more defenders. What's more, historical figures are presented in a realistic light: Jim Bowie comes off as a schemer always in search of a quick fortune; Col. Travis is brash and full of bravado; former congressman David Crockett can't seem to shake the habit of politicking; and Sam Houston is a scheming, devious man of questionable fortitude. Mary Mott's observations of Houston, after the Alamo, are telling: "In order to help the 'forted up' men in the Alamo, Houston would have had to abandon his own plans and subvert his own ambition, and men such as he did not do such things, no matter the cost in lives." Harrigan intermingles his fictional characters with the historical creating a work of seamless beauty. The Mexican characters - like Sgt. Blas Montoya, or Lt. Telesforo Villasenor - are handled with the same amount of care, so that when the battle comes the reader is equally moved by deaths on both sides. And the ongoing (on and off) relationship between Mary Mott and Ed McGowan never slides into maudlin territory. Great historical novels should present their revelations about the past within the context of a story that is both riveting and believable. Harrigan's "At the Gates of the Alamo" does all that and more. (copyright 2000, DTS/St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
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Summary: Remember the Alamo!
Review: Ranks way up there with "Gates of Fire" and "The Triumph and the Glory" at the summit of recently released historical fiction novels. In fact it is the best of the three. "The Gates of the Alamo" brings history to life as only the best novels of this fascinating genre can, the characters are vividly drawn, the setting and action portrayed with authenticity, and the valor and heroic nature of the siege at the Alamo brought home to the reader with stunning power. A great book!
Rating:
Summary: A wide audience will enjoy this book.
Review: From the first page this large and satisfying book, you know you are in the hands of a master. Stephen Harrigan not only knows his Texas history like nobody's business, but he knows how to create characters we immediately care about, and finds the trick of building suspense around an historical event with a well-known outcome. Using a mix of Northamerican, Mexican and Tejano characters both real and imagined, we see what life in Mexican Texas was like. One major character, Edmund McGowan, is a naturalist in the employ of the Mexican government who sees no reason to break away. The mysterious end to that income sends him to Mexico City to find out what's happened. The possible breakaway of Texas is the talk of the town, and although Edmund insists that many of Mexico's Texas citizens are perfectly happy (settlers had to become Mexican citizens and Catholics in order to own land) a Mexico City barber sets him straight: "Ah, but these days one can only be a Mexican in one's soul. It is very difficult to be a citizen when one's government is so inconstant." Also on this trip he meets Stephen Austin, fresh from prison following his latest attempt to have a rational dialogue with Mexican president Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, and Juan Almonte, an intelligent and powerful Mexican nobleman, all of whom will play major parts later in the book. McGowan's relationship with widow Mary Mott, who runs an inn on the Texas coast, adds a deep personal note to their troubled times, as does the tie between the Mexican sergeant Blas and a mysteries Maya girl. The roster of character is large, but each one is sharply drawn and memorable. The siege of the Alamo is exciting and unromantic. Some of its heroes emerge as quite heroic, others portrayed as regular people fighting for their lives. The heroism is not confined to the defenders of the Alamo: many Mexican officers were horrified at Santa Anna's insistence on killing everyone in the fort. I'm not sure I agree with that familiar bookending device of using a 1911 Alamo parade to encase the story, but what the heck, I was glad the book went on that much longer. Unlike the work of many journalists who turn to fiction, every page of Harrigan's novel is alive and vibrant.
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Summary: Finest novel of the Battle of the Alamo
Review: Stephen Harrigan's The Gates of the Alamo is simply the best novel ever written about the Battle of the Alamo, and it is immediately on this reader's shortlist of favorite books. Harrigan works from a deep well of background research, and he displays a sound understanding of the time, the place, and the people of Texas during the turbulent years of 1835 and 1836. In every possible respect this book has the ring of truth and authenticity, and it abounds with thoughtful insight. The author's powers of description rank high, and the reader will feel the sights, sounds, and smells of a bygone world. The central characters include Texans and Mexicans, and both sides are portrayed fairly and with sympathy. Without a doubt, the author's narration of the final battle for the Alamo probably comes as close as is possible to the stark truth of what that savage contest must have been like. As a delightful bonus, the endpapers feature Gary Zaboly's two excellent aerial perspectives of the Alamo compound and San Antonio de Bexar. I recommend this book in the highest terms and without reservation and hope it will be a bestseller!
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