Customer Reviews

Death of a Legend: The Myth and Mystery Surrounding the Death of Davy Crockett

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This book's focus and raison d'etre - the death of Crockett - is "...the opportunity to present the history and evolution of our beliefs regarding this one brief moment in history...to look at the question from beginning to end." The author's own remarks here encapsulate the book's intent, with "beliefs" the most telling word.

In their writings, authors reveal more about their own work and about themselves than any review can. It often escapes our attention that reviewers offer their own opinions (welcome to Oz!) which many, for better or worse, will ultimately share. The most any prudent reviewer can do is say if - and why - a book is worth reading. Too many reviewers tend to view a book tangentially and focus on what it is not. This reviewer regards an author's work for what it is and gauges it on its own merits. That's my modus operandi.

Bill Groneman gives us a solid work. That's his modus operandi. Western historians will have to live a long time, amass abundant research material, study it diligently, and learn a great deal from it before realizing they'd be hard pressed to nullify this book's substance and findings. Even with the most convincing arguments unanswered questions remain - but behind argument stands evidence. If we're persuaded, it's not by the author's comments but more importantly by his actual findings. That he so acknowledges this in his book is very much to his credit: he has enough confidence in some of his readers' intellect to feel they can come to their own conclusions and he wants us to think for ourselves.

There's evidence Crockett died in battle and several accounts place his remains near the front of the Chapel. No book will ever hold the last word on the matter (but this one holds the most recent one), and the evidence Groneman presents here is certainly persuasive. It's a given that many believe Crockett died battling because they wish to, and because other less heroic possibilities go against their grain; revisionists may believe otherwise, but for corresponding reasons. Even if only by common sense, it seems unlikely Crockett would have met his end another way, including (as some revisionists claim) by surrendering or hiding - particularly when we consider personal self-sufficiency not only as one of the concepts but as one of the operative characteristics of those who lived in that era and particularly in that area. It appears submission or cowardice would be, in the most basic and understated term, rather inconsistent with someone who had been variously a farmer, hunter, veteran of the Creek Indian War, militia colonel, Tennessee state legislator, and three-term U.S. congressman. The rational person concludes that Crockett's conduct throughout his too-short life speaks for itself.

The only objection the judicious reader should make is that this book isn't long enough. You can't choke a cat with cream. Even at nearly 200 pages of actual text, with additional pages of subsequent sections (including one titled Conclusions which offers incredibly perceptive possibilities), significant contributions by Joseph Musso and well-executed original drawings by artist Rod Timanus, we'd welcome more. Some of Groneman's turns-of-phrase encapsulate the discord between opposing factions; about one academic, his insightful observation "...the quintessential professor straightening out the errant student" warrants nomination for inclusion in future editions of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations by its masterfully deriding contextual explanation.

The only objection this reviewer has to the book's layout is that the footnotes appear at the end of the volume itself, but it's reasonable to presume these footnote placement logistics originated with the publisher, not the author. Footnotes so rendered are if not equivalent then certainly comparable to hearing knocks at the door on one's wedding night.

JEFFREY DANE

I try and read everything that comes out of the Alamo and the Texas Revolution. This author is beginning to make "a living" off the argument that the de la Pena diary is a fake, but in the end he can offer absolutely no evidence is the contrary from what we already know before the work is read! Did Crockett die in battle? Groneman says no one knows. But was Crockett taken prisoner and then executed? Groneman does not know, but believes that the de la Pena diary on which much of, but not all, that tale is founded, is a fake. So by the time the reader gets to the end of the work, there is nothing conclusive. So, the question that begs to be asked is: what's the point? Crockett was at the Alamo. Crockett fought. Crockett died. What difference does it make HOW he died? The entire exercise is analogous to the question of whether or not Napoleon was murdered on Saint Helena? Who cares? It does not change what Napoleon did in life any more than how Crockett met his end changes what he stood for by choosing to fight and die at the Alamo. My suggestion to Mr Groneman is for him to please move on.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as I enjoyed Groneman's bio of Crockett - a fascinating, insightful, and good-natured look at the Alamo and the literature and evidence concerning it. KN

When I saw this book on the shelf, I was really hoping to read an objective analysis of this topic. I had read several earlier books by other authors about the battle for the Alamo, and was aware of the de la Pena account, and thought this book would be the true scholarly discourse on the topic I wanted. What a disappointment! It quickly became clear while reading that scholarship was absent. Scholars don't write works like this in first person, or flip-flopping between 1st and 3rd. Even more however, the author states upfront a personal scepticism about the de la Pena account before ever discussing it, and makes it clear this book is motivated by criticism he received on an earlier book on the same topic. When he finally gets to the de la Pena account, his arguments appear more to be opinion, and does he want scientific testing of the document, no, that wouldn't prove anything to him! How about present the facts and let the reader decide? Throughout the book, at every opportunity he poos all over the de la Pena account without ever giving the reader the information/analysis to decide for themselves. The sad thing about this is that I still haven't seen an objective scholarly treatment of this topic and I need to keep on looking.

The argument goes on and on..

But it is bewildering how some authors will find any means possible to support their hero worship sentiments. The question I ask is why are Mexican eyewitness accounts scrutinized and summarily dismissed if they counter legend? And why are some Mexican accounts acceptable when they support legend? Why does the author accept questionable Anglo accounts (Dickinson) yet fail to question her credibility in light of some confused observations (her sighting of Travis body on the chapel roof)?

The author,I guess, believes students of the Alamo will believe what they want to believe...and accept the verification of that belief that best fits their views. In my opinion, those who want to maintain the The Legend Must Live! view of the siege and fall of the Alamo have an ally with this author.

Despite its doubtful particulars in the book, the title is correct, DEATH OF A LEGEND. Crockett surredered, after having been found hiding under some mattresses in the low barrack, plus, with some of his Tennessee boys, and they were executed moments later at the orders of Santa Anna. Lieutenant-Colonel Jose Enrique de la Pena's Papers have been proven to be the real thing, and not forgeries, as this booklet states. This work is passe, and good riddance to such "historical" crap!