Chris Tomlinson

My Texan / Mexico credentials: (1) fourth-generation Texan, (2) third-generation Houstonian, (3) first boyfriend, Mexican, (4) long-time resident of Austin, (5) short-time resident of Galveston, and Laredo at the border, (6) two years in Mexico, and (7) last but not least, rode a mule past the Alamo in a trail ride parade.

Oh, and on the way to our cousins, we kids would gauge the time by watching the San Jacinto monument move slowly by in the distance.

So this story was all over my stomping grounds.

My seventh-grade Texas history class was in the ancient past and long-forgotten, so I started this book fresh and eager to learn. And it was amazing! The hero myth is so stilted compared to the larger, all-encompassing story about real people, which is always more interesting. Heroes can be such one-dimensional, cardboard characters. But these "heroes" became more interesting as their flaws were revealed -- and they had some major flaws!

Thank you to these authors who brought Texas history alive, and to Dan Patrick, the Texas Lieutenant Governor, who canceled the book presentation in Austin, causing a spike in book sales which included my purchase.… (more)