The view that victors get to write history is a common aphorism. Another asserts that elites make and write a nation’s history. Both apply to the story of Texas. Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth is about the battle that occurred at Mission San Antonio de Valero, known as the Alamo, in San Antonio, Texas, in 1836 and its role in the founding of the Republic of Texas and the myths of heroic American Texans that developed and shaped the identities and lives of the people of Texas into the present. The creation of the Texas myth exalted Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, William Travis, and Sam Houston as the principal heroes among the many who, it is said, fought for liberty and freedom and died at the Battle of the Alamo. The book consists of an introduction, 21 chapters, an epilogue, and an afterword. It includes endnotes, a bibliography, and an index, all of which are useful to readers. The authors, Burrough, Tomlinson, and Stanford, review the events that led up to the Battle of the Alamo, the traditional myths that arose over time and their hegemonic influence in the subordination of Tejanos (Texas Mexicans), challenges to the myths, and contemporary controversies over the symbolic meaning of the Alamo.

Historically, the Battle of the Alamo occurred in the years following the independence of Mexico from Spain and the political struggles that ensued between supporters of federalism and supporters of a strong central government. When Mexico organized its states, Texas became part of the state of Coahuila Texas. An important issue at the time and central to American immigrants moving into Texas was slavery. In 1827, the legislature in Coahuila Texas banned the admission of slaves and granted freedom to all children born to slaves. In 1829, Mexico banned slavery. American immigrants, most from the American South, however, wanted to produce cotton and believed it was impossible to do so without the institution of slavery. Tensions over slavery led Mexico to prohibit further immigration from the U.S. in 1830. American immigration had begun formally and slowly under Moses Austin in 1820, but demand for cotton and “Texas fever” led to large numbers of illegal American immigrants moving into Coahuila Texas. The eventual military success of the Americans and Tejanos who sided with them led to the establishment of the Republic of Texas in 1836. Although not consistently recognized by Mexico, the republic lasted until 1846, when the U.S. admitted Texas into the union of states.

What occurred at the Battle of the Alamo gave rise to distorted historical accounts by American writers and to public myths about the men who fought and died there. Indeed, beyond historical accounts, the Battle of the Alamo has been the setting for numerous novels and poems published over the hundred years following the battle. Men like Bowie, Travis, and Crockett are portrayed as heroes who died fighting for liberty and freedom against a tyrannical Mexican leader and government. The authors acknowledge and describe the shady pasts and personal activities of these men who cared more about maintaining slavery than about liberty and freedom, unless it meant the liberty and freedom to maintain the institution of slavery in Texas.

When filmmaking began to take hold early in the 20th century, those that included portrayals of the Battle of the Alamo promoted the myths and negative stereotypes of Mexicans found in earlier printed accounts, novels, and poems. Early challenges to the traditional accounts, including those by Adina de Zavala at the turn of the 20th century, sought historical revision and inclusion of Tejanos who died at the Alamo. Conflicts over the preservation of the buildings and control of the Alamo resulted in the Texan perspective remaining dominant primarily through the work of the Daughters of the Texas Republic. The Alamo not only became a museum that promoted the historical myths, it also became the site of continuous student group visits where they learned the myths and began to see themselves as “winners” and “losers.” In schools, teachers taught students, seventh graders in particular, the creation and heroic myths that shaped their Texan identities. Myths that were expressions of white supremacy and Mexican inferiority.

Although there were a small number of lone voices over the decades that either provided missing details about the Battle or corrected interpretations that had become mainstream in Texas and across the nation with the advent of movies and television series, it was not until the decades following the civil rights movement, when Chicanos and Chicanas began entering colleges and universities, that the number of more critical and more accurate historical works began to appear in print and film. During this same period, the market, or markets, for Alamo artifacts and paraphernalia expanded, with collectors willing to pay large sums of money for items. One of those collectors is singer-songwriter Phil Collins, formerly with the well-known group Genesis. According to the authors, Collins apparently believes that in a previous life he was at the Alamo. He has amassed the largest collection of Alamo artifacts and was willing to donate it to the Alamo on the condition that appropriate facilities be provided. The authors discuss how the authenticity of some of the items in Collins’ collection have come under scrutiny. Further, his collection is surrounded by contemporary controversies over the accounts of the events at the Battle of the Alamo and the importance of including the plurality of muted voices of the peoples in the region, namely Tejanos, Native Americans, and African Americans.

The authors provide a fascinating and much-needed account of the events and historical meaning of the Battle of the Alamo up through the present. They are proud Texans with considerable experience as professional writers. They provide valuable information on the current controversies over the interpretations and meaning of the Alamo. Their work is especially important at this time given the moral panic that is occurring over what students should and should not be taught in schools. Currently, there is a driving concern that students should not be made to feel uncomfortable by lessons on American racism. Linked to this concern is a surge in the banning of books that targets works on racism, abortion, LGBTQ, and other social issues. Most readers would not be surprised to learn that Texas leads the nation in the number of books banned during the current surge. This book is a must and easy read for readers interested in understanding the ideological dimensions of conquest American style.