The Texas Revolutionary Experience: A Political and Social History, 1835-1836 (Texas A&M Southwestern Studies) [Paperback]

Paul D. Lack (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

PAUL D. LACK holds a bachelor's degree from McMurry College and a master's and Ph.D. from Texas Tech University. Well-known for his challenging articles on slavery and the Texas Revolution and on the historiography of the Revolution and the Republic, as well as other publications on regional, state, and local history, Lack is a professor of history at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: TAMU Press (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0890967210
• ISBN-13: 978-0890967218
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,505,692 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Sources On the Subject, September 13, 2006

By 

Fred McGhee "fredmcghee" (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Texas Revolutionary Experience: A Political and Social History, 1835-1836 (Texas A&M Southwestern Studies) (Paperback)

Paul D. Lack has written an excellent social and political history of one of the most important and interesting episodes in North American history. A well organized book, this volume not only displays the author's command of the source material, but also ranks highly as a well written narrative. Of particular note is Lack's mostly even-handed treatment of the Tejano and African-American perspective on the Texas Revolution and its after-effects. While the book does fall somewhat short in its overall mastery of some of the Mexican and African-American sources it is nonetheless to be commended for discussing aspects of the revolution usually short-shrifted in more conventional accounts.

Much ink has been and continues to be spilled about the Texas Revolution, much of it by propagandists. This is a scholastic and deeply learned interpretation of that troubled time period and brings to light aspects of what happened that many people would prefer to keep dead and buried.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough, but Boring, January 27, 2011

By 

JKHero "JKHero" (Tennessee USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Texas Revolutionary Experience: A Political and Social History, 1835-1836 (Texas A&M Southwestern Studies) (Paperback)

My 5-star rating doesn't suggest that you should buy this book. It is dry. It lacks a plot. It contains little action. It reads like a college textbook. And it doesn't provide much material about the battles involved in the Texas Revolution.

However, the book accomplishes exactly what it claims to do. It provides a political and social history of Texas during 1835-1836. And it is well documented. Thus, I'm rating it as 5 stars for anyone who wants that kind of a book.

Dr. Lack starts with an introduction to revolution theory -- what a true revolution is and how it typically progresses. He then chronicles the consultation and the convention which finally declared Texas independence. After that, he follows the actions (and lack of actions) of the interim government.

The second half of the book re-hashes these events, but with an emphasis on ethnic and political groups in Texas at the time. He includes chapters on the army, those who opposed independence, los Tejanos, the Anglo Texans, and Black Texans. He even includes a few pages on actions of Free Blacks in the revolution. He gives very little attention to the native (Comanche, Apache, etc) populations in Texas.

His concluding chapter reports on the September 1836 election which ratified the Republic's Constitution and elected its first President, and then provides a few glimpses of its government during the next decade as well as how the revolution set the stage for Texans to develop their "national culture" and their own set of holidays and heroes.

The edition I have has no pictures and just two maps -- although the maps are well done and include almost every location mentioned in the text.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Texas Revolutionary Experience, March 11, 2001

By 

DAVID THORNHILL (LEWISVILLE, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Texas Revolutionary Experience: A Political and Social History, 1835-1836 (Texas A&M Southwestern Studies) (Paperback)

Having read this book, one finds it was written more as a history book than a fact book. It was an excellent book, mostly for those students of Texas history. It gives details as if you were living in that time frame. Kinda like a time machine back to the 1835-36 period. I would recommend this book only to the serious in mind of Texas history. Otherwise you might find it pretty boring.