Amazing, amazing read. Utterly fascinating. Almost impossible to put down (except when you have to work. Stupid work). Sam Houston should get more discussion in any history class. I recommend this to all.

“Remember the ladies.” Not in this case.

I greatly appreciate that Brands avoids the trap of either carrying forward legends or tearing them down. His is a more authentic history-telling based on evidence. Where there are differing details in the record, he says so. Many of the Texas history stories focus on the lives of the “heroes” after they arrived in the area. Brands presents their backgrounds in proportionate detail, which puts their later actions and beliefs into a larger context.

Regretfully, however, he has conveniently disregarded the role of any women in the Texas story. I’m not calling for political correctness, but the historical truth. Focusing only on the men distorts the story of Texas history.

Given that missing element, I still recommend this book over many others on the formation of Texas.

Like all Texans who went to Jr High in the public school system, I had a Texas History course. Battles at Gonzalez, Alamo, Goliad, San Jacinto, some politics, a new republic, the end. The primary characters were remote paragons of Western self-reliance and sacrifice. If that history class had been taught with THIS book, it would've been so much more interesting. Brands does a good job painting Austin, Travis, Bowie and Houston as real people - warts and all. He also paints Santa Anna, Gen. Urrea, Gen DeLaPena and others as people - warts and all. The story reads like a grand epic full of characters you understand. The battle plans always felt disjointed and confusing - here they're explained and presented in a rich context that sets the scene so well you understand it all. This is a great read for those new to the subject and it is so well written that Texas History buffs will enjoy revisiting their favorite subject.

Lone Star Nation by H.W. Brands
This is a nice easy-going history of the revolution fought by Texans to gain their independence from Mexico 1835-36. It goes into how and why the war began, who the major players were, including Crocket, Travis, Fannin, the Austins—father and son, Bowie, Santa Ana and Sam Houston, even Menchaca, who is a distant relative of mine.t.

Brands is generous but disciplined in giving us a good picture of these characters and the typical Tennessee frontier fighter along with the trained but poorly led Mexican soldier. Having grown up near the San Jacinto Battlefield just outside Houston and stayed nearly drunk on Texas history during elementary school through college, I still found that “Lone Star Nation” enlightened me on what really happened and how it affected the formation of the United States.

“Lone Star Nation” can be read in tandem with “Three Roads to the Alamo: The Lives and Fortunes of David Crockett, James Bowie, and William Barret Travis” by William C. Davis, which I have reviewed on Good Reads, both of which should give fellow Texans and other interested parties a clearer picture of Texas’ difficult beginnings as a nation, then a state within a nation.

Based on the reading of Brands’ “Lone Star Nation” and before that his “The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush…” I feel safe in agreeing with Brands that there would not have been a California had there not been a Texas first.

There have been several TV and movie presentations of the battle for Texas Independence and this book is essential to understanding of the trials and turmoil that transformed Texas to a republic and then a state. The book deals with all the players of the conflict between the Texians and the Mexican government and the peoples of Mexico.

What a story and what a History of this great area of the world. The battles and conflicts of the conflict are covered in this book. The personalities of the characters in this turmoil are covered and represented by the narrative and do justice to the importance of the conflict and the times. The Alamo was important but the rest of the effort to create a new state independent from Mexico was the theme that held the narrative together.

I found myself skimming through this one and reading highlights only. I added to my list a couple of years back after seeing one of the Alamo movies, but it couldn't hold all of my attention when it came up again.

This book traces the history of Texas from the earliest explorations by the Spanish through the establishment of the republic and the annexation into the United States. It details the efforts by Moses Austin to get a land grant from the Spanish and the beginnings of settlement under his son Stephen.
It follows the efforts of Mexico to get independence from Spain and the efforts to set up their republic. It then traces the conflict between Texas and Mexico that results in the Texas war for independence. It details the parts played by Houston, Travis and Crockett in the fight. It carries the story through the annexation by the United States.

Great history! Very well researched and written. Brands provides a fresh insight to Texas independence and the men who brought it about.

Brands does a splendid job narrating the story of Texas from the early settlements of Austin in the 1820s to the successful revolution of 1835-36. His sympathies are definitely strongest for the American presence, particularly Austin in the outset and Houston later, but Brands is generally fair and complimentary of most of the Mexican military and political figures, only having it out on the megalomanicial Santa Anna. I found myself wanting a discussion on the book's biggest begged question: suppose the 1824 Constitution had been honored in Mexico City, and that the Austin-esque strategy of good Mexican citizenship paid off? Would much of American and Mexican history been extremely different? A solid book, if a bit unbalanced.

I am not ashamed to be a lover of history, especially mid 19th century history. having read some Texas history, I continue to stand in awe of Brand's treatment of history.

Some was a little too detailed, but still, I got to know the participants in more detail than in past readings. That is valuable to me.

I enjoyed this one in audio version. It sure makes a road trip across the desert fly!

This is a strong effort, very readable, and a good history of how Texas became a destination for American settlers and later became independent from Mexico, subsequently annexed by the United States. This does not include the strident jingoism that seems to pervade movies about the Alamo - the book even points out that the proud claim in Texas textbooks about the state being an independent country is misleading, as there was always a prevailing expectation that Texas would become part of the United States. In fact it seems that Texas was not annexed anywhere near as quickly as might have been expected.

Sources are balanced, many and detailed, including extensive sources from Mexico, and it becomes easier to understand that the emergence of Texas was as much a part of Jacksonian western expansion as anything. While the people emigrating to Texas did expect to become Mexican citizens, as shown by Stephen Austin's example, the mindset became American, and even the Mexicans perceived that the bounteous country was being developed by American entrepreneurism, not by Mexican landholders. Another element that the book particularly brings to the fore is the lack of organization of the army fighting against Santa Anna, that this was a motley group of volunteers who might or might not take orders - quite a contrast to Santa Anna's trained army, which reflects the discipline and organization, also tactics, of European armies at the time (so badly dispelled later in WW1).

I read this in anticipation of a trip to San Antonio, Austin, and the region, and it was a good choice.

Tried reading this off and on over a few years and just couldn’t finish. Not sure why since Texas is one of my favorite places!