Veteran American historian Tucker brings the bad news that almost everything Americans know about the Alamo is not only wrong, but nearly antithetic to what actually happened during the 1836 battle. Worse still, it is not very cinematic. If all the defenders died in that heroic last stand against Santa Anna's Mexican Army, he wonders, how do we know what happened. He has a different story, which passes through land and slaves as the prizes, Napoleonic influences, defense of the Alamo, fatal overconfidence, an ineffective siege, the predawn assault, flight rather than fight, the Alamo's most bitter legacies, and flames rising high. This is a paperbound reprint. The cloth edition was published in 2010. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)