Sleuthing the Alamo: The Recollection of Horrific Battle

In James E. Crisp’s book, Sleuthing the Alamo, he accomplishes his overall goal of uncovering and debunking myths within Texas history. Every generation within the 21st century has had the opportunity to become educated about Texas history. Crisp tries to relate with his readers as he mentions his own upbringing and how it shaped him into a true Texan. While being educated about Texas history, it is on a rare occasion that anyone would question what they are being taught. Those that are being educated know that they are not knowledgeable about Texas history, so they do not challenge those who are teaching them of past major events. This is quite different for Crisp as he takes the time to further analyze historical events or documents that he feels were unclear or incomplete. Crisp’s personal narration of his thoughts and ideas throughout the book has given valuable insight on there being more than one way to interpret history and to not always believe what is presented at firsthand.

One major aspect of the book is Crisp’s narration of his opinions throughout his analysis of books and documents related to the past.

Although history is usually hard to interpret, Crisp’s approach to including his own narrative makes it easier for readers of the present-day to follow along and understand the mentioned historical context. It is when Crisp’s introduces, for example, parts from Jose Enrique de la Peña’s diary in the second chapter where he takes the time to translate quotes meticulously. For phrases that have more than one meaning, Crisp includes both definitions and explains which translation fits his discovered quote best. Through this, Crisp’s analysis of texts within his primary and secondary resources are clearly understood by his readers. It is notable as well since it strengthens his arguments. Crisp is fairly concise with methods to his research. He makes sure to not leave out any details of his process when thoroughly searching for evidence that could answer his self-made questions. As in-depth as Crisp is with his research, it is within the second chapter that he gets too detailed about his personal life that does not pertain to his analysis. For example, he mentions which cities he plans to go to during the summer, which city he is currently leaving, and a cancelled family trip, all of which are not relevant to the information presented beforehand. This is one of the few identifiable flaws within Crisp’s book as he fails to stay on course with the topic at hand. However, it is commendable at how quick Crisp is able to switch back to the subject he mentions before his own disruption in a specific chapter.

Even though Crisp is extremely vocal about his personal opinions, he is able to hold them back when presenting historical facts or a timeline of the past in a neutral tone. In the prologue, Crisp mentions that out of all the Anglo-American heroes within the Texas Revolution, he takes a liking to Sam Houston the most. It is in chapter one where Crisp expresses his disappointment when realizing that Houston’s speech to the soldiers at Refugio is racist as it contradicts the heroic image Crisp has of Houston. Trailing right after his realization, Crisp’s tone loses its color and becomes neutral as he strips of any bias he has to present historical context of racism within the Texas Revolution. It is a prime example of Crisp’s ability to not let his feelings affect a rising topic that would upset or sadden his readers. As Crisp’s bias does not cloud the points he tries to make neutral for the readers, he is a credible author. It is Crisp’s narrative that gives this book a distinct voice as it is easy to read and interpret by the readers. Crisp’s writing style is fairly traditional when speaking about Texas history and when giving background to each topic he mentions, but this is fairly plausible as it helps him support his claims. Crisp also adds color to this book when he gives his own input on how he personally feels towards a particular subject or event. By exposing various emotions such as disappointment, anger, or confusion, readers are able to relate to Crisp as they take the time to read this book. By relating to the author, the readers are able to have a different perspective in order to interpret the historical topics in a variety of ways.

Another particular feature that is quite commendable is Crisp’s organization in developing this book. When taking apart Crisp’s book, he has a prologue, four chapters, and an afterword. These sections of the book fall into place very well, as he keeps the historical context in chronological order. He begins with his upbringing as a typical Texan, and from there he builds his own character. Not only are the readers able to see how Texas history has changed over time, but they witness Crisp grow as a person. For example, as Crisp grows up, he starts to understand racism and how it affects the people of color within the community. As Crisp brings his readers along his journey of self-discovery, they get to have a better understanding of him and his interpretations of each Texas myth mentioned. Aside from Crisp’s self-character development, his organization helps his credibility. From the beginning of the book to the end, Crisp does not fail to include his primary and secondary sources in chronological order. By mentioning Crisp’s evidence of research in order, it lets him develop each of his chapters. Specifically for when Crisp revealed the truth on how David Crockett actually died after the Battle of the Alamo, it took Crisp two full chapters to explain the event and his evidence. By extending chapter two’s topic into chapter three, it makes this part of Crisp’s book both effective and ineffective. As Crisp goes in-depth with his research on Crockett’s true death, his research fills up two chapters of the book. Crisp fully explains the background and events that leads up to Crockett’s death, and also takes the time to break down other authors’ works that Crisp believes were faulty. Crisp answers the essential questions of who, what, when, where, why, and lastly how. Even though Crisp manages to create a strong argument for how Crockett truly dies, readers will grow tired of how much Crisp dragged on the storyline within two chapters. By extending Crisp’s research within two chapters over only one topic, Crisp’s book lacks consistency of being concise and straightforward within his organization. In other aspects, Crisp does make up for this flaw as he manages to present an imprecise historical event within each chapter and later correcting it. In the prologue, Crisp’s perception of him against colored people is erroneous due to how he was taught by his mother and education system.

As he develops into a grown man, he realizes how wrong his racial views are and takes the time to correct that and becomes someone who opposes racial discrimination. Through his own experience of false teachings of ideas within history, Crisp is driven to disprove the myths within Texas history and to present truth to his readers. In the following chapters after the prologue, Crisp executes his task fairly well as he exploits, for example, Houston’s speech at the Refugio to be racist in chapter one. With this continuous pattern in each section of Crisp’s book, readers will know what to look for at the beginning and end of each chapter. Crisp’s organization of his book is quite appealing to readers as it is easy to read and understand. It is also when Crisp organizes cartoons, photographs, and photocopies of written documents in between his texts that he makes his book more attractive to his readers. With these inserts, it prevents Crisp’s readers from feeling overwhelmed with the amount of text they see and are able to breathe while reading. Outside of his consistent writing style, Crisp manages to modernize a traditional informative Texas history novel to be more alluring with his organization. By organizing historical context and events in an orderly manner, it allows the reader to easily follow along his narration of the past and through the processes of his myth busting.

Overall, two very important elements that Crisp uses to his full potential is his personal narration and organization in Sleuthing the Alamo to achieve his main goal of falsifying myths and revealing only truths within Texas history. Crisp’s self-portrayal within his own work gives readers a different perspective of the historical text they intend to read. By presenting the backgrounds of Texas history through his own views, he helps the reader feel more connected to the book. It is also through Crisp’s clever organization of content that smoothly guides the reader to have a clear interpretation of what Crisp tries to convey. His approach of presenting a flawed historical fact and his process of exposing the real truth behind such myth makes it easier for the reader to know what to expect. All while following Crisp’s narration of his thoughts and analysis readers have more faith in Crisp’s credibility as he does not leave the reader to question his proven claims. Crisp’s ability to be direct and clear through his writing puts the reader’s mind at ease as they merely put any effort into interpreting the meaning behind his words. The novel itself is well-written as Crisp effectively relays the message for his readers to go in-depth with what they are taught in order to find the truth for themselves.