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71 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"A Work of historical fiction which reads like a thriller", March 6, 2000
By A Customer
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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49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wide audience will enjoy this book., March 2, 2000
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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32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very good read, March 1, 2000
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
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