The Alamo Remembered: Tejano Accounts and Perspectives
The first full-scale collection offers a rich insight into the formation of Mexican American identity in San Antonio. . . . [The book] speaks eloquently to a general audience trying to gain a more balanced perspective of the storied conflict [at the Alamo]. (Review of Texas Books1996-03-01)Matovina's message is that historians who concentrate on the question of which side [Tejanos] joined or did not join miss the larger point: for the Tejanos themselves, the choice of sides during the revolt was not the overriding issue of their lives, nor was it the touchstone of their identity. What the Tejano accounts of the Alamo show, Matovina argues, is that the divisions engendered by the revolution failed to destroy what remained 'an amazingly cohesive community' in which families, friends, and neighbors split apart by the war reunited in harmony in its aftermath. (Southwestern Historical Quarterly)Matovina's collection of Tejano memories of the Alamo not only proves essential in shedding light on the battle and its aftermath but, more importantly, contributes to an understanding of an understudied culture and that culture's effect on the most romanticized story of Texas history. (Journal of the American Studies Association of Texas)A valuable addition to the already abundant [Alamo] literature. . . . Ordinarily, the battle of the Alamo is considered in a traditional adversarial manner—Santa Anna and his troops against the band of defenders. But there were many other people in the area, primarily Tejano citizens of San Antonio. These accounts both directly and indirectly deal with what was inevitably an ambivalent and uncertain dilemma of these people who were caught in circumstances beyond their control. It is an aspect of the battle of the Alamo too long ignored. (Journal of the West1998-01-01)