The Gates of the Alamo.Stephen Harrigan. 2000/2001. Read by George Guidall. 17 tapes, 23.25 hrs. Recorded Books. #96566. 0-7887-5319-3. $141.00. Vinyl binder; reader notes. SA This historical novel departs from the romantic versions of the Battle of the Alamo The Battle of the Alamo was a 19th-century battle between the Republic of Mexico and the rebel Texian forces, including both Anglos (ethnic Europeans) and Tejanos (ethnic Mexicans in Texas), during the Texians' fight for independence — the Texas Revolution. as it graphically and realistically tells the story from the perspective of immigrants from the north and soldiers from the Mexican army. Jim Bowie is portrayed as an opportunistic land speculator Speculator A person who trades (i.e. derivatives, commodities, bonds, equities or currencies) with a higher-than-average risk, in return for a higher-than-average profit potential. , Sam Houston as an alcoholic power seeker, and many of the settlers from the U.S. as adventurers who were running from the law, debts, or other problems. Interestingly, David Crockett emerges as a serious leader rather than as a backwoodsman in a coonskin cap. Bowie, Travis, Santa Anna, et al, assume secondary roles while a widowed innkeeper An individual who, as a regular business, provides accommodations for guests in exchange for reasonable compensation. An inn is defined as a place where lodgings are made available to the public for a charge, such as a hotel, motel, hostel, or guest house. and her son, an American botanist, a slave and a number of individual Mexican soldiers come to the forefront at the undermanned fort at San Antonio de Bejar. The story continues beyond the slaughter at the Alamo to Santa Anna's capitulation CAPITULATION, war. The treaty which determines the conditions under which a fortified place is abandoned to the commanding officer of the army which besieges it. 2. . Veteran reader Guidall's dramatic, fully voiced presentation stirs the emotions and the imagination. His reading of the final attack is spellbinding spell·bind tr.v. spell·bound , spell·bind·ing, spell·binds To hold under or as if under a spell; enchant or fascinate. [Back-formation from spellbound. as he brings the whine of bullets, the roar of cannons, and the screams of the dead and dying almost to the surface. A good story superbly presented. Prof. John E. Boyd, Jenkintown, PA |
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