Texian Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution: Texas Classics

As someone who is trying to learn more about the Texas Revolution, this book serves as very informative and easy to read. He tactical and strategic detail woven together with the politics and “on the ground” accounts were very interesting. The very last paragraph of the book, however, threw me. Hardin tells us to arm ourselves (current Texans) with “ tolerance and understanding” and explains that Texas is ripe with “racial enmity” that still exists from 150 years ago. As a Texan and moreover an American, this is an obsurd statement. As he stated in his own book, democracy corrected itself. No laws exist in this country (or state) that expressly denies people equal rights due to race. Please save your virtue signaling for other venues Dr. Hardin. Except for this puzzling paragraph at the end of the book, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Hardin does a good job in analyzing the military history of the Texas Revolution. He effectively goes over the importance of the smaller engagements of the short conflict that encapsulated the revolution as a whole while not being overshadowed by more prominent battles such as the Alamo and San Jacinto. gives a good detailed account from the officers and soldiers who fought in the conflict in both sides. Straightforward and simple writing that doesn’t bog down the reader. Highly recommend for people wanting to study military history, the early stages of Manifest Destiny, or simply wanting to learn more about the Founding Years of America.

Easy detailed read of Birth of Texas and Alamo.Bought as Alamo reference mostly but got the full package plus learned that Colonel JC Neill was a greatly under appreciated hero who fired cannon from Gonzales come and take it to San Jacinto suffering severe injury there taking fire while rescuing Shermans unauthorized Calvary charge personnel.Everything I hoped for and much more. Good job!

After reading most of the reviews on Texian Iliad, I notice a recurring point of concern and general agreement from several who spoke to this point....that is, the negative portrayal of Sam Houston by the author, Hardin. In reading the book I did not necessarily gain the impression of a flawed author's presentation of Houston, but in retrospect cannot fully disagree with this assessment. Not knowing the full knowledge that these reviewers have for Houston, I will hazard a suggestion for anyone seeking a fair analysis of Texian Iliad, and specifically a fair assessment on Sam Houston. For those who have not done so, I would suggest some background on Houston in the form of two biographies (in no certain order of importance): the first, Sam Houston by James Haley; the second, The Raven by Marquis James. Both books delve deeply into the extremely enigmatic Houston, who often appeared complex, contradictory, and an amalgam of total failures and overwhelming successes. The Texian Iliad measured up to what the author claimed the book was intended to be, a military history. As such, it did not present full character evaluations of the many participants in the struggle. This is just a suggestion for those who may require further light upon an often mysterious and difficult man to discern and understand.

Stephen L. Harden's "Texian Iliad" is a military history of the Texas Revolution. He delves into such details as the inferior quality of the gun powered used by the Mexican army. "As one veteran noted: "On examining the powder, we found it little better than pounded charcoal..."" Harden also tries to identify who these participant solders were and what was their background. The most pleasant surprise to me was the illustrations by Gary S. Zaboly. Mr. Zaboly does an excellent job in bring humanity the revolution through his illustrations, then describes them in detail. This is a great book by itself, the illustrations make that much better.

I've loved the story of how and why Mr. Hardin created this book about the events of the Texas Independence struggle that Icve purchased several copies for friends and family. Living here in the Johnson City/Dripping Springs area makes this book irresistable! Much of the story happened almost literally "in our back yards"!

Brilliant book about a pivotal event in Texas and American history. Essential book for all who are interested in how Texas was formed and how the Alamo siege and assault happened. Wonderful accurate drawings by Gary Zaboly.

Gift

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. I have a great interest in American History. I have always been of the opinion that Houston was unwilling to fight the battle at San Jacinto. This book helps explain that.

For an Italian student of American History an illuminating source to understand the causes of the Mexican American War and the consequent USA annections of former mexican territories and following American Civil War.