Customer Reviews

The Gates of the Alamo

5 star:		(66)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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)

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.

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

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!

This is the BEST novel about Texas history. The majority of characters are based on actual people of the time, David Crockett, William Travis, Santa Anna, Gail Borden and more. Harrigan brings them to life, gives them breath, gives them hopes and dreams, and makes them human.

I'm originally from Texas and have visited the real Alamo in San Antonio many times. Most people, during their first visit, are amazed to find that the Alamo stands in the middle of the city. At the time of the battle it was across the river from the town. One cannot get a good sense of just how big the Alamo compound was, in 1836, by visiting the actual place. The plaza, where most of the fighting took place, is now covered by a street, shops and the U.S. Post Office (where Travis was killed). But, when you read GATES OF THE ALAMO you believe you are there; you can visualize the place, the smells, the cold, the pain, and the hunger. You find yourself totally immersed in the characters of the book with their desperate attempts to survive a very brutal and bloody battle.

The battle, as written by Harrigan, comes to life. Even though this book is a novel, what Harrigan has written about the battle is based on the most recent research. His interpretation of the battle is mesmerizing and moving.

The story is told from the perspectives of Mexican officers and soldiers and the Texans. Harrigan is fair in his portrayal of these characters and, because of that, one has a deeper understanding of what motivated these people to fight and die before dawn on March 6, 1836.

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.

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!

The Alamo is the holiest of Texas shrines, a haunted little mission built at the crossroads of fact and fiction, and in the gospel of Texas, perhaps a vestige of Creation itself.

With characteristic hubris, Texans can trace this new millennial world to the blood spilled at the Alamo, a game of six degrees of historical separation: Without the Alamo, they say, there could have been no Battle of San Jacinto. Without the Battle of San Jacinto, Texas could not have existed. Without Texas, westward expansion would have been stymied. Without the West, the U.S. would merely be an Atlantic power, at best, and would not likely have risen to a world power. And without the U.S. as a world power, the world as we know it today would not exist.

So there is no surprise that a gifted Texas writer such as Stephen Harrigan would return to the touchstone of this single, epochal event to tell a riveting new story, in much the same way writers have so often returned to the story of Creation.

This book is a new masterpiece in the literature of fact. The strength of Harrigan's extraordinarily authentic novel is in its superior storytelling, no small thing when staring down the hot barrel of history.

This past weekend I was in a local bookstore, seeking something interesting to read. Nothing really caught my fancy, and then I happened to notice a thick novel: "The Gates of the Alamo" by Stephen Harrigan. I must admit that at first impulse I was skeptical; after all, the Alamo is one of those topics which lends itself to paeans filled with noble, square-jawed heroes who die nobly and heroically, with rifle in hand and a patriotic sentiment on their lips. But, a glance at the large number of very favorable comments from reviewers (and not all from Texas, which is important since many Texans tend not to be entirely rational when discussing the Alamo) convinced me that the book might be worth a try.

"The Gates of the Alamo" is told from the viewpoint of half a dozen characters, both Mexican and "norteamericano". All of these characters are fictional, except for Joe, Colonel Travis's slave (about whom we actually know very little from history), so we see the familiar central figures of the Alamo story -- Travis, Bowie, Crockett, Santa Ana, Sam Houston -- from a distance. This allows Harrigan to hold firm to his stated goal of "absolute fidelity to the truth of the events" without having to resort to invented motivations and thoughts of historical figures. And he does an excellent job of constructing his story on a sturdy framework of genuine history. Certainly there are many elements of Alamo history which are open to varying interpretations, but Harrigan stays close to those events for which there is persuasive evidence. Undoubtedly, there are those who will not be happy with some of Harrigan's depictions of some of the traditional Alamo heroes. No, none are presented as villains, but they may be a little less than twelve feet tall. Unquestionably the most attractive of them is David Crockett, drawn as a genial man instinctively drawn to practicing personal politics with everyone he meets, but underneath all that, a man who is both goodhearted and, well, heroic.

"The Gates of the Alamo" is more than a recounting of a famous battle, however. Indeed, the Alamo is not even seen until the halfway mark of the novel. Before the first Mexican soldier rides into San Antonio de Bexar, we are already deeply involved with the personal stories of the viewpoint characters and, through them, we have come to understand much about the "Texian" settlers and the Mexican army. And the attraction of those personal stories cannot be discounted either; they are complex, very real people walking through the pages of the novel. They include a character as unexpected as Edmund McGowan, a natural scientist who has spent the past ten years as a botanist under contract to the Mexican government to study the plants of Texas; he frequently finds himself distracted by the sight of some flower as yet undescribed in scientific literature or by the flight of magnificent flocks of birds overhead.

When the final battle of the Alamo does come, Harrigan provides a powerful, intense picture of desperate combat, a battle deeply involving people with whom we have become intimately familiar. Neither glamorous nor a simplistic "war is terrible" diatribe, it is a realistic portrait of what happened that morning.

"The Gates of the Alamo" stands head and shoulders above most historical novels.

Although a native Texan, I confess that I never really understood or valued the mystique of the Alamo. In fact, I was a teenager before I realized that the Texans were defeated in San Antonio. But after reading Harrigan's powerful account my imagination has been captured by the power, the horror, and the beauty of the epic struggle. Surprisingly the account of the siege and ensuing battle consume only a small part of Harrigan's book. All that preceeds and follows gives the reader an understanding of the complex relationship between the Mexican government and the settlers from the north. Harrigan's characters, even the heroes of the Alamo like Crockett, Bowie, and Travis, are depicted as men and women of both human frailty and heroic courage. Mary Mott's character was especially powerful, and as a woman I could identify with her overpowering need to find her son and the despair and grief that the hardships of pioneer life held for women. After Harrigan's book, I now understand why Texans should remember the Alamo.