Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers: The Texas Victory That Changed American History by Brian Kilmeade

Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers: The Texas Victory That Changed American History Reviews

• 
  Cherie Gilmore

  Originally I gave this book 4 stars as the author makes this a fun dramatic story. I enjoy the details on the Texas Revolution trail, or events leading up to the Alamo.
  As usual Travis, Crockett, and Bowie are highlighted as defenders of the Alamo. I think it was a bit unfortunate that more time was not spend telling the story of the soldiers.
  Also, the Alamo eye witness accounts vary greatly. The author seems to pick the most popular theories of how Bowie and Crockett died. Theories I have heard or read include Crockett was captured and executed by swords. Or shot. Or died from a bayonet to the heart. Or he died fighting. First he was using his famous knife to stab Mexican soldiers as the entered a building. He was shot in his right arm and then used his left arm and rifle to club more soldiers. He was then hit with a bayonet in the heart. Or under his right eye. One eye witness said he was dead on the ground surrounded by dead Mexican soldiers with his famous hat laying next to him on the ground.
  By writing details that sound like proven fact in a book that should be non fiction is a mistake in my opinion.
  The story of the Alamo is both heartbreaking and inspiring. This book is heavy on the inspiring. Perhaps this book was meant for people who don’t usually enjoy nonfiction.
  
  
• 
  Clay Davis

  The diagrams in the book were not easy to make out.
• 
  Mark

  With Bill O'Reilly off the network, FOX News personality Brian Kilmeade has taken up the "pop history" slack...Kilmeade delivers, just like O'Reilly, a narrative in an easy to read structure that makes us want to come back for more...Very similar to the Walter Lord's "A Time to Stand," but with more of a focus on the role of Sam Houston in the creation of the nation/state Texas!!!...Good Stuff...More please!!!
• 
  Peggy Parsons

  Another great book by Kilmeade. So readable.
  
  I loved getting to know the men who fled to Mexican territory to start their lives over after they'd messed up royally in the states. Most of these Texians (initial spelling) were drunks and cheats and failures in their previous lives. Their second chance was to settle in Mexico, which meant facing the shear brutality of starting from nothing while always on the lookout for Indian attacks. It was a tough life, but nothing compared to the callous cruelty and viciousness of Santa Anna.
  
  Loved reading about the good and bad choices made at the Alamo and the battles that occurred afterward. Excellent detail. Helped me to finally understand how Texas became an independent nation from Mexico and then part of the US.
• 
  Neil McKinlay

  A must read for all lovers of liberty. Kilmeade skims off the cowardly patriot’s dross by placing us right in the action of freedom’s furnace. There we are beaten on the anvil of the example of Texas liberation: “God and Texas - Liberty or Death.” History shows that freedom comes only through acts of bravery. Just ask Jesus.
• 
  Claudia

  Most people think the Texas Battle cry is "Remember the Alamo" - and it might be for all I know - and have only the minor knowledge that the historic occurrence was connected in a fight between the Mexican government and American Texian residents. Echoes of the American Revolution which had the rebellious colonists verses the English crown.
  
  Well, Kilmeade gives the reader a more complete picture of what brought about the conflict between the Texian settlers and the Mexican government under Santa Anna, the actual battle that lead to the massacre of the defendants at the Alamo Mission and how it galvanized not only the rest of the population but brought American troops into the territory. Texas gained it's independence to a republic but it was only a short time later that it joined - was annexed - by the United States.
  
  Intriguing amount of information in a very readable format. The heroes, the villains, the everyday people fighting for their homes. Interesting and I certainly will be looking up a couple more of Kilmeade's published works to see his twist on some other pivotal junction in history.
  
  2022-190
• 
  Doris Jean

  This book was better than the last Kilmeade. book I read. Much better. Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett and many other less famous heroes were brutally murdered at the Alamo.
  
  But not Sam Houston, who had avoided being present at the Alamo. He was more of a politician who kept in the background and watched others take the risks while he garnered the credits. Sam managed to keep himself physically away from several battles and massacres by the treacherous Santa Anna who would make truces and then viciously break his promises and murder the Texans.
  
  However, because Sam had maneuvered himself into such political prominence, he was swept forward as the General of the final deciding Battle at San Jacinto for the state of Texas when Santa Anna was captured. Sam’s ankle was permanently injured in this battle.
  
  The Texans were so afire against the dishonorable Santa Anna that the army unanimously went after Santa Anna and Sam was a puppet leader, he didn’t even give orders. The army knew what moves to make and they made them without asking. They captured Santa Anna and would have executed him, but Sam kept Santa Anna alive and later helped him to be released back to Mexico.
  
  Sam’s later life was interesting. Sam then married Margaret Lea, 26 years younger, and they had eight children.
  
  During the Civil War, President Lincoln knew that Sam was on the Union side and sent him a written offer to pay Texas money for joining the Union side. Sam knew that Texas was on the Confederate side and would never accept this, so he spent his energies keeping Texas from joining the Confederacy. However his own teenaged son, Sam Houston Junior, went against his father and joined and fought with the Confederate army.
  
  This was an interesting book and it included a middle section of wonderful photographs.
  It also included important maps throughout, and I wish the maps had had more detail.
• 
  Kimberly

  This was an easy-to-read history of Texas and its founders as a Republic. As with other Kilmeade books, there is obviously a lot of assumption and triangulation (which the author acknowledges) in order to have a readable story.
• 
  Phil

  Two-stars might be a stretch. Who among us (of a certain age) was not at some point caught up in the fight for Texas independence with the siege of the Alamo at the core. The question always remained what part myth, what part reality? Kilmeade does little to move past myth. Indeed, in the 'Acknowledgements' he concedes that the historic record is cloudy and conflicting and faced with such he compared, examined, contrasted . . . and used his judgement for what 'most likely happened'. In short, he runs with myth.
  
  The expansion of slavery, the No. 1 political topics of that era, was underneath the Texas Revolution. The Anglo-Americans swore to obey the laws of Mexico, including the 1829 emancipation proclamation. Mexico was ardently Catholic and wanted nothing to do with the peculiar institution that was slowly ripping the US apart. You will find none of that here.
• 
  SusanwithaGoodBook

  This was really great! I expected it to be good and informative, but it was much more lively and riveting than I expected. I'm a Texan, so I know the story and most of the details, but Brian's style kept me on the edge of my seat as we marched toward Texas Independence at the Battle of San Jacinto. Along the way I learned some details I didn't know, and got to know the personalities of several important Texas Heroes I only knew from a distance before.
• 
  Cynda

  Having been educated in Texas, it would be easy for me to say that this book is an overview of the Texas Revolution. By saying the easy thing, I would be ignoring how Killmeade worked to include women's presence and participation in the Texas Revolution, how he worked to indicate the importance of the fledging newspaper the Telegraph and the Texas Register. Maybe someone who still can will seek out the newspapers records and write a historical/rhetorical analysis of the part the newspaper played in spreading information or propaganda.
  
  This is the second book by Killmeade that I have read. I have also read
  Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War that Changed American History. I hope to read more.
  
  Read as part of my nonfiction personal challenge: 21 All About Texas in 2021.
• 
  Rick

  This was an excellent telling of what happened after the slaughter at the Alamo. Sam Houston was in a position to lead a ragtag army against a very well-drilled and well-armed Mexican army led by General (and President) Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Houston was on the verge of seeing his army fall apart due to the lack of engagement on his part. However, Houston took a page from General George Washington and waited until the time was right. While the US government was not officially involved in the Secretary of War Thomas Jefferson Rusk was involved in the planning. He did not represent the US Government. Although Andrew Jackson was surely supportive of his protege Houston the US Government was neutral. The final battle was fraught with good luck and good timing on the part of the Texians. The victory led to independence for Texas as a nation which of course would become a state in the not too distant future.
  
  I highly recommend this book by Brian Kilmeade. I recommend any book he has written. His writing is excellent. His writing makes history come alive. If you enjoy history read this book you will not be disappointed.
• 
  Barbara

  I’m glad I read it.
  
  It was a good historical read. I’m traveling to San Antonio and wanted to know the history of this region before I head down there. Kept me interested unlike other history books.
• 
  Joseph

  From the host of Fox and Friends comes the epic story of Texas independence. I will respect the author's copyright by refraining from quoting this book, but this book should be required reading for all high school civics classes. It tells of the struggle for Texas independence without fluff and prose/poetry. A very satisfying summertime read.
• 
  Mark Warren

  One of the best accounts of the big picture of the fight for Texas independence that I have ever read.
• 
  Ellis Hastings

  Revisionist history. The pacing is good and it is entertaining enough, though a little cliché with the hero worship. Sam Houston, and co, while important figures, were not the unimpeachable superheroes this book childishly paints them out to be. Yes, let me reiterate: they WERE important historical figures. But they had their faults - such as fighting to make Texas a slave state to bring into the union, tipping the political scale in the USA in the slave states favor. This was just one of several crucial details Kilmeade chose to ignore. Another one is the dehumanizing simple labels on Santa Anna. Yes, he sucked, but him being portrayed as basically completely evil and brutal is a huge cop-out. Oh, and Kilmeade chose to ignore the fact that a lot of Mexicans, the Tejanos, fought with the Texans to secure independence. The support from the Tejanos was a pivotal piece in swaying the rebellion in the favor of Texas sovereignty. The writing was also on a middle school, simplistic level: not to the standards of legitimate historical writing.
• 
  Karen Ditsch

  I actually only read this because I live in Texas and figured it would be good to actually learn something about the names of some cities and counties here. I didn't like it. I'm probably losing my Texan status because I'm firmly convinced that these founding fathers were incompetent blowhards and your typical entitled white guys who just got really lucky. The narrative is very much military history and I don't really like retellings of who marched where and when. I much prefer social histories that give me perspective on how people actually lived in a particular era. So my rating may have as much to do with my personal preferences as the writing. Because I'm an entitled white woman who didn't get all that lucky with this reading choice.
• 
  Rebekah

  The book content was good, but I did not enjoy the author reading the book. The inflection was all wrong making sad events appear exciting. It just made the book hard to listen to when the author read it with the excitement of a party instead of a war. Sorry Brian. Please let someone else do the audio version next time. :-(
  
• 
  John Chapman

  Excellent! Great detail but never gets bogged down and boring like some nonfiction. A must-read for all Texans as well as anyone interested in American History.
• 
  Larry Peninger

  The history of Texas and especially the The Alamo and its brave heroes is always fascinating. As always I try to read along with the audiobook. However the ebook was not available with the audiobook.
  
  To hear Brian (the bolillio) Kilmeade murder the pronunciation of most counties and rivers is hilarious. He did his homework as far as resources and research he might have gone a step further to get the pronunciations correct.
  
  That does not take away from the book. This is a first rate book and should be read by all. Sam Houston a flawed man in his own right made up for it with bravery and leadership. After his first wife left and him abandoning his second wife and children he made Texas his life long mistress.
  
  I have not read any books on Sam Houston and really enjoyed my first. Thankfully my first focused on the battles which led to his successes. The stories did not include much if any time that he spent with the Cherokee Indians.
  
  Although with such a long career it is much easier to focus on a shorter period. And the Alamo is a great place to start.
  
  This really was a brief focused telling on the events leading up to the slaughter at the Alamo, and the slaughter at Goliad, and final Texian victory at San Jacinto. If you are looking for an on depth telling of Sam Houston's life and times this is not it.
  
  However if you want a down and dirty working making mans telling of those events. You will enjoy this .
  
  
  
  So enjoy!
• 
  Scott Rhee

  I knew very little about the Battle of the Alamo going into Brian Kilmeade’s latest historical nonfiction book, “Sam Houston & the Alamo Avengers”, and that’s a shame, because while I consider myself somewhat learned in American history, clearly there are major gaps in my knowledge. I can only imagine that the average American knows very little about it as well, unless you are a Texan, and you are probably taught it starting in Kindergarten, in which case you know everything about Texas history.
  
  I was not born in Texas, so the story of the brave men who fought and died at the Alamo Mission church in what is today the city of San Antonio, was not a major part of the curriculum of American history in school. Sure, it was mentioned briefly as a vital battle that ultimately led to Texas becoming a state of the Union, but it tended to get short shrift compared to the American Revolution and the Civil War. As a kid we were taught to “Remember the Alamo!”, but we just weren’t taught exactly what to remember it for.
  
  Kilmeade has done another fine job of telling a piece of American history in a way that makes it real and relevant. He has managed to humanize and bring to life the many colorful characters involved, including James Bowie, David “Davy” Crockett, William Travis, and El Presidente General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (a most vicious and cruel villain if there ever was one).
  
  Houston, of course, is the focal point in Kilmeade’s book. Starting with his stint, under General Andrew Jackson, at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend against marauding Red Stick Creek American Indians, where he learned a valuable lesson in leadership, Houston went on to live an extremely exciting life: living among the Cherokee tribe, winning the war against Mexico, capturing Santa Anna, becoming president of the Texas Republic before it became a state, becoming a Congressman, governor of Tennessee, and later retiring with his Cherokee friends in Arkansas.
  
  But that list of achievements tells only a small part of the fascinating story of the man and his life experiences, as well as the intersection of other fascinating people in his lifetime.
  
  I’ll be honest: I don’t normally like books about war and battles. Most of the time, it is an endless stream of boring numbers and dates---troop counts, casualties, when this happened, when that happened---and strategy that I simply don’t find interesting. While Kilmeade succumbs to this preoccupation occasionally, he keeps coming back to what I feel is the most important part of the story: the human drama, the real people and how they felt and what they believed and why they fought.
  
  This is why I felt “Sam Houston & the Alamo Avengers” was a great book. It’s certainly the best one among Kilmeade’s four other historical books he has written and co-written, all of which I have enjoyed. And while I know that there is more story to tell than the 232 pages in Kilmeade’s book, this is certainly a good starting point.
  
  If Kilmeade succeeds in merely sowing the seed of interest in American history in a reader where none existed before, then he has done a good job. I can honestly say that he has certainly ignited a passion for reading more history in me.
• 
  Blaine Welgraven

  "In the end, this isn't a story of politics, local or geopolitical. The brief war of independence is a story of redemption...." -- Brian Kilmeade
  
  An engaging narrative that clearly outlines the critical events of 1935-1936, centered loosely around the character of Sam Houston. However, Kilmeade's narrative doesn't even mention--let alone define--the substantial geopolitical issue of slavery until the last few pages of his work. Failure to discuss the nature of this issue and the role it played in Texas politics is a glaring historical oversight, and leads to an incomplete view of the motivations behind many of the key men involved in the struggle for Texas's independence from Mexico. Where Kilmeade sees a historical event ripe with heroism, redemption, and convenient parallels to the American Revolution, a more nuanced, formally trained historian would have certainly embedded the stark politics of slavery directly into the narrative of Texas' formation.
  
  For additional context, this review proved helpful:
  https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-cult....
• 
  Ryan

  Living in Texas my entire life (40+ years), history of the state is taken very seriously. We had an entire year of school (don't remember which) dedicated to Texas History. Is that weird, do other states do that? I can't see there being a Vermont history that takes up an entire school year. Anyways- I saw this book and felt I needed a refresh on the battle of the Alamo and San Jacinto. Both locations I've been to countless times over the years. But I'd forgotten a lot of the details around it aside from people died there for Texas independence. This served as a great read to do exactly that. It starts a few months before the battle of the Alamo and ends a few months after Texas secured its independence from Mexico at the Battle of San Jacinto. It's not a long book, so it's not overly detailed or anywhere near extensive but it's very informative. I recommend this if you just want to brush up on an important piece of Texas history. I think those coming in blind will need the context of a bigger opus that lays out the build-up-to a bit better.
• 
  Corey

  Am I a history nut...yes! Do I love the Alamo story...yes! So, it is natural that I liked this book. Sort of dramatic to make that point but a long winter has put me in a dramatic frame of mind. This book explores more than just the Alamo and more than just Sam Houston. It is well researched and detailed without getting boring or too dense. The battle over Texas is a critical piece of our nation's history and is often not looked at in that light. This book shines that light on the point and manages to show that even in 1836 the people who had immigrated to America had a singular will when it came to matters of liberty (and land). I am going to read more of the books written by this duo.