First of all, the book is well-researched and quite entertaining. However, Long goes too far in his efforts to knock the Texas heroes from their pedestals. Instead of deifying them, he takes the exact opposite extreme with the end result being just as unrealistic and unbelieveable. The tone of the description on the cover is also quite arrogant, proclaming the possible execution as described in the book as a proven fact, ignoring the inconclusive nature of the evidence.

The book itself is full of good information, yet stretches the reader's imagination to believe that Sam Houston was nothing more than a lucky, bumbling fool who essentially did nothing and led nowhere and that the Texas Army was nothing more than a roving band of inhuman animals whose lust for land and money was responsible for the "massacre" at San Jacinto. Once again, the cover description seems to suggest that Long is the first to discover the "true nature" of the battle, as if no one else had previously figured it out. Additionally, the Mexican atrocities at the Alamo and Goliad are mentioned, but Long seems to only hold Santa Anna accountable for the slaughter at those events.

Essentially, it could have been a good book if the author was not attempting to prove an impossible point. Long had an opportunity to give a realistic portrayal of the epic conflict and failed by making Crockett, Houston and the Texas Army just as unbelievable as the demigods that they have been made out to be in the past.

About two-thirds through this work, I wondered why I was reading it. Houston is so thoroughly painted with a Hamlet-like melancholy that the book becomes lifeless. Indeed, according to Long, Houston was impotant in command and in character: unable to win over his officers and fearful of the mob that was his army. When placed in a position to administer justice, he waivers. He becomes a bystander to the events that stretch between the battles of the Alamo and of San Jacinto. Chapter after chapter foreshadows the battle of San Jacinto as a massacre brought on by the barbarity of the American volunteers. Yet Long (as Houston) also cries for the lost innocence of these settlers and fortune-seekers. But when the battle finally comes, Houston's actions are buffoonish. The killing is labeled criminal, but seldom described so. And perhaps that is the real flaw. There is a lack of description of events. There is a lot of wailing about death and the scattering of bones, but no action. Long wants to work both ways. He wants to condemn the events at San Jacinto - register it as the mark of Cain on the forehead of Texas, but he neither faults Houston nor the Texan army. The former is incapable of handling his men. The latter are no more than undisciplined children. Of other interest, there is a dramatic prologue featuring Davy Crockett at the Alamo, a ridiculous sexual encounter between Houston and a wealthy refugee, and of course the almost required parting shot at Santa Anna as an egomaniacal fop hated even by his aide.

This is a very enjoyable work of historical fiction. The character of Sam Houston is one of those American originals that seem so perfect for fiction that it is hard to believe he ever really lived. The exaggerated aspects of character - the dramatic costumes, high intelligence, temper, ambition, sensitivity, appitite and energy - all seem to be perfectly Texan, perfectly larger than life. Any number of good accounts of his life could be, and have been, written. What makes this retelling of the period of his life when he fought the Battle of San Jacinto significant is that it isn't simply a tale of the good guy Texans getting revenge on Santa Anna and the bad guy Mexicans. In this more balanced and reasoned telling of the tale, that great variety of human ambitions and greed that spark most wars and revolutions, is shown as a prominant part of the struggle to wrest Texas from Mexico.

The cast of characters is interesting and the depiction of that early period in Texas history seems realistic and believable. The climactic battle of San Jacinto is told in hard detail and the probably over bloody response to the surprised Mexican forces shows that whatever cruelties the Mexicans were willing to meet out to those at the Alamo, their avengers were capable of as well.

A really interesting and satisfyfing book. I don't know if Texans would go for it, but this Tennessean sure did.

I had no prior experience with a foreign language and have been stuck with this book at my local community college for 3 semesters. It is extremely advanced and difficult to follow. After purchasing additional tapes, CD-ROM, verb conjugator and a Spanish/English dictionary, I am still unable to translate some sentences. This book goes beyond confusion, it is almost impossible to learn from. As a matter of fact, if you are not already fluent in the Spanish language, I wouldn't recommend this book at all! It is horrible! And definitely not for beginners!

I wouldn't recomend this book for learning spanish if there were no other evidence of the spanish language on earth

I'm bilingual, and teaching children. This book is GOOD!

I've never been a big Michener fan, but in this tome, he does an adequate job of comparing the lives and personalities of Santa Anna and Sam Houston. Riding on the hype of the Texas Sesquicentennial, Michener takes the reader on an informal tour of early Mexico and Texas. He touches on events in the U.S. as well as in Europe where they apply to the story. What I really enjoyed most were the excellent drawings by noted artist Charles Shaw. He is among the best!

The Prologue tells about his past writings, and why he kept writing into his 80s: his job is to tell stories. This book was intended to be a chapter in his novel 'Texas', but was dropped because it was history and not part of the novel. Michener's reject can stand alone as a concise history of these men. Pages 29-30 notes his solid rules of work at 80: rise at 7:30, eat a frugal breakfast, write until 12:30. Eat a light lunch, take a nap, do research and teaching, then a brisk mile walk at dusk. Supper, the evening news, maybe TV, and the day ends. Michener lived to a ripe old age, after a quintuple heart by-pass, new left hip, dental rebuilding, and vertigo. Like an old apple tree, he kept on growing and producing. These pages are worth reading in themselves.

The book gives a concise history into the parallel lives of Santa Anna and Sam Houston. Both were destined to be famous politicians in their countries, but never did overcome their flaws. But how many of out politicians do when the historians release the uncensored facts?

Santa Anna won renown by his military action against the many rebellions. They were put down by executing most of the captured rebels, or making them imprisoned slaves. Santa Anna's talents lay in knowing just when to change sides. One morning Santa Anna led his troops against the rebels and was promoted to Lt Colonel. After lunch, he joined the rebels and was promoted to full Colonel! Santa Anna later supported Emperor Iturbide and became a General. All this suggests the Founding Fathers were right to require a small standing Army, and keep the professional military out of politics. This book does not explain who Santa Anna was fronting for; you'll need to read a more detailed history book. Page 112 tells of Santa Anna's use of double agents: military officers who pretended to defect to the Zacatecans, then betrayed the Zacatecan forces who also rebelled against the coup de etat.

The Mexican defeat at San Jacinto led to the capture of Santa Anna. Houston showed his political wisdom by getting Santa Anna to sign a treaty to be released. A live Santa Anna would try to justify his actions, and prevent another general from becoming ruler, and maybe starting another war against the smaller Texas. Houston became President of Texas, US Senator, then Governor. Houston opposed the Confederacy, and was removed from office. What would have happened if Houston used Union troops to stay in office? Could it have succeeded? At 68 Houston must have felt he had done as much as he could do in one lifetime. Houston retired to his farm and died in 1863 at 70 years.

Santa Anna was recalled from exile to lead Mexico into the war with America. Their defeat led to the loss of huge areas. Santa Anna was the most expensive President Mexico ever had! (I wonder if Santa Anna was a member of a Secret Society and a double agent? That would explain a lot.) Ever the opportunist, he backed the conservatives who invited Maximilian to be Emperor of Mexico. When the reign of Maximilian was on the wane, Santa Anna switched sides yet again. His one gift to America was to introduce chewing gum, a substitute for the ubiquitous chewing tobacco. Santa Anna returned to Mexico City a few years before his death to live in poverty and obscurity.

This is not one of Michener's better books. Apparently it stems from a chapter he orginally wrote for his novel Texas and later excised. For some reason he calls this book a novel, but why isn't at all clear, as it seems to be nonfiction. The illustrations are poor. And the book is simplistic and not particularly well written. The book was written towards the end of Michener's writing life, and he includes a long prologue that sounds like an old man reminiscing about his past, what he has found worthwhile in his life. I did find this of interest.

The book is worthwhile as a quick overview of Santa Anna, "the Eagle," and of Sam Houston, "the Raven." A much better book about Sam Houston, though, is Sword of San Jacinto, by Marshall De Bruhl. And Jeff Long's account of the Alamo, Duel of Eagles, offers a much superior portrayal of Santa Anna.

Sadly, I can find very little to recommend this book for. Consisting of barely 80 pages, it starts with a short introduction of the nature of Maya writing and its decipherment, both of which you will find in more comprehensive and understandable form in Michael Coe's "Breaking the Maya Code". It then switches very fast to some rather specialist examples completely unsuited for the beginner. In the end, you get 1 (read:one) sample text, and that's about it. On the positive side, which is as thin as the book itself, Houston mentions some interesting details, like the stylistic variations among glyphs of different regions, which are rarely found in other volumes, but these tidbits of valuable information hardly constitute a reason to purchase this book. One for completists only.

As the author of this slim book I should probably respond to the annoying review by Kuhn. First of all, the book's length was established by the British Museum Press -- I had nothing to do with this decision. "Maya Glyphs" forms part of a series, all of which are volumes of equal length. Second, the manuscript was prepared in 1988. Obviously I would not write precisely the same book today. The Press has never allowed me to revise the book, and it certainly needs to be replaced. Mike Coe will soon publish, with Mark Van Stone, an introductory volume that should please and instruct readers. Most other books on Maya glyphs cannot be recommended at this time.

A very concise description of maya writing. Really useful for beginners trying to understand the mechanics of the mayan writing system. But in some sense it lacks some deepness. It stays on the surface, even though its author is one of the big names on mayan epigraphy.

The book, in handbook format, covers warm and cool season grass diseases, most of which have pictures. About the first ten pages are dedicated to sharing causes and diagnostic procedures. Another short section covers developing disease control strategies.

The book is a good material for learning about specific warm and cool season grass diseases, but it is more conducive to reference due to its handbook format. A limited ten page section covers causes and diagnostic procedures for diseases. A section on developing integrated disease control strategies is also included.

Like the old Chilton manuals for car repair. They're great if you already know how to repair your car. Long on click here, short on why or when.

I admit I expected more from this author, especially after reading his excellent book about the Donner party, _The Snow Mountain Passage_.

The story unfolds around Monterey Bay, California on a ranch inland on the San Andreas faultline. The owner of the ranch, Monty, lives quiely with his wife in a nice home with large acreage, renting out another home to an artist. The story opens with the return of their youngest son from the Vietnam war. Not sure what to expect, they anticipate his arrival with a house party and even welcome the unexpected girlfriend on his arm when they pick him up at the airport.

It becomes blatantly obvious that the son has changed. His behavior is bizarre and unpredictable. Not only do his parents fret about the returning Vietnam vet, but his older brother does as well.

His return coincides with a series of shocking murdurs in the area, and with some analysis it appears the murdurer is closely in the vicinity of the ranch and is actually burying his victims on the fault line.

In panic, the parents fear the worse when the girlfriend turns up murdered and they are unable to locate their son. Monty especially feels the chill of this heinous crime as he was freshly intimate with this woman in the field the evening prior to her death.

Unfortunately, the relationship of Monty and his wife is contaminated by Monty himself as he falls victim to his sexual urges and violates himself and the vows of his marriage. The murder investigation takes a fevered pitch and Monty plots out on a map that they are at risk as the murderer is apparantly following a clear path along the fault line and they are right on it.

The mystery is fairly predictable, but since the author is of high standing in his other books, I would recommend this one, although it is clearly not one of his best.

This book is a solid review of UH football until 1977, but that's when it ends. The "Wiz" Wizig needs to update the book or write another one that details what has been happening since. It's a great coffee table book, though because no one knows it's out there!

This book, an adult comic, focuses on the aspects of Sam Houston's life concerning his relationshiip with Indians, the Cherokees in particular. The narrative is a useful overview of Houston's life as it pertains to the Cherokees, but the drawings are mediocre.

Houston lived with the Cherokees for the first time when he ran away from home at 16. He stayed three years and then left to enlist in the War of 1812. He returned for a year in 1817, when he was 24, serving as an agent of the federal governent to try to convince the Cherokees to move west. He lived with the Cherokees for another 3 years in 1829, when he was 36. He came to the Cherokees as a refuge after his brief marriage to Eliza Allen fell apart and he resigned as governor of Tennessee. During this time he took an Indian wife, Tiana. He left for Texas in 1832, leaving Tiana behind.

The book does not whitewash Houston's failings, but clearly Jackson regards him as a hero because of his commitment to the welfare of the Indians. In notes at the end, Jackson says: "Whatever the man's failings, to me they are redeemed by one aspect of his personality alone: Houston's dedication to the concept that Indians were human beings with diverse cultural traits that should be respected by the dominant society. Rare was the white man of his era who entertained such notions, but rarer still was the politician who championed them (and managed to stay in office). Houston did both, and continued to do so throughout his lifetime."

Jackson's book is a useful depiction of why Houston was a larger-than-life person, and at least with respect to his attitudes towards Indians, way ahead of his time.

Oh please, read the book, wasn't thrilled. It had it's amusing points, but I think that Mr. Ammons has a vendetta against Whitney and this is the payback. I am no where near a Whitney houston fan and I read this with the intention of having more fuel to add to my fire- but this was no kerosene. I often got the impression that though this was supposed to be a "tell-all", Mr. Ammons was reluctant to diverge a lot of information he could have told. Maybe he's saving that for a follow-up, who knows? who cares? This book is best left in the store.

Sounds to me like Kevin wrote this book to make a quick buck and to get back at Regina. And Kevin was just as scanless as Regina he had a wife and children, however, was having an affair with Regina because of the promise of a record deal. Most of the things that were written about Whitney was not original. I could have wrote this book myself based on gathering information from previous articles written on Whitney. He should have wrote a novel about him and Regina and their scanless ways. I am glad that I waited for this book to come out in paper.

I enjoyed this book on Whitney Houston and I know personally that a lot of what Kevin Ammons says in the book is true. I took away one star, as the latter part of the book sounds like research and not first hand knowledge.