Escape from Texas: A Novel of Slavery and the Texas War of Independence [Paperback]

James W. Russell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 28, 2012

In 1828 James, a slave, arrives in Texas, brought by his owner, Samuel Bingham. Texas is then a part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. James comes to Texas because he has no choice. But once there, he finds a postrevolutionary country where slavery is on the way out and his freedom is a real possibility. His owner, though, is determined to take advantage of the low cost of land in Texas to build up a farm into a cotton plantation with the use of slave labor. Over the next nine years James will experience and participate in a series of wrenching events that marked the origins of the Lone Star State. Set in the years surrounding the 1836 Texas War of Independence, ESCAPE FROM TEXAS is a solidly researched examination of the clashing aspirations of slaves, slave owners, Indians, and Mexicans during a turning point of the westward expansion of the United States. While there are a number of novels set in this period of Texas history, ESCAPE FROM TEXAS is the only novel that has a slave as a key protagonist and incorporates prominently that point of view of the turbulent events. Its provocative underlying thesis is that the extension of slavery was the true underlying cause of the Texas War of Independence, not yearnings for freedom by the Texas frontiersmen, as American folklore has traditionally had it. ESCAPE FROM TEXAS is to the understanding of the Texas War of Independence as Howard Fast's Freedom Road was to the understanding of the post-Civil War period of Reconstruction.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A tantalizing, compelling, and learned look into an under-examined period of history that bridges the experiences of African-Americans, Mexicans, Afro-Mexicans, Native-Americans, and Anglo-Americans alike. Few other books have so keenly explored what border life may have been like in the years leading up to the Mexican-American War. Certainly, no novel has so astutely captured the mindset of black slaves and their complicated relationships with Mexico during this era. This is an unusual piece of fiction, both for its tight historical accuracy and the scope of its imagination. This is a gripping and wonderful narrative, packed with surprises, as well as new lessons in history. --Ben Vinson III, Johns Hopkins University, author of Black Mexico and Flight: The Story of Virgil Richardson, A Tuskegee Airman in Mexico.

About the Author

James W. Russell was born in New York and grew up in Oklahoma. He received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin and has taught at universities in San Francisco, Texas, Oregon, Mexico City, and Connecticut. Currently he teaches sociology and directs the Latin American Studies Program at Eastern Connecticut State University. From 1990 to 1992 he was a Fulbright Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City. In 2001 he served as a Fulbright Senior Specialist at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic. He is the author of a number of articles in publications such as Monthly Review, The Nation and The Progressive and has written seven books including: Class and Race Formation in North America (University of Toronto Press) "A critically important people's history of North America" Dan Zuberi Double Standard: Social Policy in Europe and the United States (Rowman and Littlefield) "A wonderful book: erudite and sophisticated, yet lucid and to the point"--Frances Fox Piven

Product Details

• Paperback: 210 pages
• Publisher: Sloan Educational Publishing; 1 edition (January 28, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597380350
• ISBN-13: 978-1597380355
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,749,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This book should be added to the curriculum for the state of Texas, but don't hold your breath. July 28, 2012

By Kindle worm

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Cringe worthy in its accurate depiction of what, I can imagine, life must have been like in Texas before the so called war of independance. I gasped and clung to my seat at evey page turning event. What's especially gratifying was how rooted in reality the story is, quite the opposite of today's mega blockbuster history thrillers.
This book should be added to the curriculum of school board across the country or at the very least the state Texas, but don't hold your breath.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Backstory to the Border Story May 21, 2012

By Jerry L. Lembcke

Format:Paperback

Readers who know their literary styles will see the likeness to Howard Fast's "Freedom Road" in James W. Russell's first novel, "Escape from Texas." Loaded with historical detail, enriched by the sociological touch he gives them, and enlivened by the characters he develops, the narrative of slave-free and white-Indian-Mexican conflicts come together in this fast-moving prelude to the Texas War of Independence.
Jerry Lembcke

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars an eye-opener May 6, 2012

By Curious Indexer

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I read this book with eyes getting wider and wider as I read. It's amazing how the grade-school imagery of the Alamo, etc. stuck in my mind for decades after I came to regard the subsequent Mexican-American war as an imperialist grab. This novel shows the insertion of Anglo slaveowners and African American slaves into one part of a Mexican state and how it impacted the Mexicans and Indians who had testy relations with each other as well as with the newcomers. Texas "independence" meant independence for slaveowners from the off-and-on attempts of the Mexican goverment to end or ameliorate slavery throughout its territory. I went back and forth as to how believable the two main characters were (James, a very resourceful slave and his half-shrewd and half-myopic owner, Bingham). But they're both lodged in my mind as standing for the dynamics of what was going on in this part of Mexico. The author has created an emotional involvement for at least this reader, and I hope a lot of other people give themselves a chance to experience it.