WITH  BOWIE AT THE ALAMO
FREDERICK WEST
In Frederick West’s debut novel, the story of young James Thomas and his family intertwines with the story of the nascent Republic of Texas. The leading characters move from Kentucky, and West uses James as an everyman reader stand-in through whom we meet many of the great names from the Lone Star State’s history: Colonel Travis, Sam Houston, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett all get ample space to strut and speechify. We see a great many of its epic formative battles, including the famous last stand at the Alamo and the largely forgotten slaughter of Texan prisoners by the Mexicans at Goliad.
This is a long book, but it never feels like one, as West’s engaging, assured prose style pulls the many strands of his story steadily forward to conclusions the reader will already know: the Mexicans under General Santa Anna … a delightfully hissable villain who steals every scene he’s in … overrun the Alamo, but the Texans eventually win their freedom from Mexico and establish their short-lived republic. It’s a tribute to West’s abilities that nothing in his novel feels like a foregone conclusion—characters grope along day to day, not knowing how things will turn out. Once he lights out from his home and Betsy, the love of his life, James becomes a scout and a Texas Ranger and has many adventures, and through them West is able to convey a wonderful and well-researched sense of time and place. Although narrower in scope, this novel is a worthy companion to Michener’s Texas. It is a rich, informative reading experience, well recommended.

Steve Donoghue,  The Historical Novel Society
Originally reviewed under the title Things Worth Fighting For.