A Line in the Sand: The Alamo Diary of Lucinda Lawrence, 1836

Lucinda is a young girl living in the area now known as Texas, not far from the Alamo. Her life is pretty much average until trouble starts between General Santa Anna and his troops vs. the people in Texas who want Texas to be an independent state.

At the time, Texas was not American; the area belonged to Mexico. They had opened the area to settlement by people from America then tried to close the door when more people showed up then they expected. The people in the area ended up being divided into those who wanted to stay loyal to Mexico and those who wanted to gain some form of independence from Mexican rule.

The book goes on about various battles that were fought in the area, then covers the most famous of all of the battles, the fight at the Alamo. The book points out that Santa Anna fought under the "no quarters" rule, meaning that his soldiers were not to take any prisoners. Indeed, some men that had surrounded at another area were taken out and executed (something seen in World War II, being done by the Nazis in particular.)

The men at the Alamo never stood a chance, of course. They were vastly outnumbered and outgunned.

The book also points out, interestingly enough, that some of the volunteers that were arriving to fight the Mexicans in the various battles were not necessarily the nicest of people themselves, to put in mildly.

Davy Crockett, of course, is in the novel, along with Jim Bowie and William Travis.

As always, there is a historical section to help put the events in the novel in some sort of perspective. This is another good book in the series, especially in showing that not everyone supported Texan independence and that the war that was fought was conducted under conditions that would (supposedly) not be allowed today.


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