Remember the Alamo

I have no words. This book yanked my heart out and turned it over and inside out by the time I reached the last page.

There can be no peace while tyranny roams. Freedom is the only way that peace can exist in the world, for tyranny never allows for the peace of the individual. Freedom to think one's own thoughts and choose one's actions are always a threat to a society ruled by a Collective Mind or a dictator or a theocracy. But tyranny is ever a coward; the right to keep and bear arms, an American tradition, is one of the first things a conquering government wishes to suppress, followed quickly by a dictate of religion and a taking of personal property.

Few books illustrate this so boldly as this one. Dr. Worth and his friends recognized that the order to disarm the Americans was but the prequel to the outlawing of their religious rights and of their right to hold their personal property. He who had been all his life a peaceable man, friends with many, has to make the stand and begin to arm himself in public.

Next, after the order to disarm the Americans, an army is sent against them. After an initial repulse comes Santa Anna, with his famous march against the Alamo. Do you know the significance of the last stand at the Alamo? Men went in, knowing they would die, prepared to give as good an account of the enemy as possible. Americans had settled in the area under the treaty of 1824 and now were being required to submit to a disarming that left them unable to defend their homes and families against attacks by Indians and marauders. Rather than give in to a breaking of this treaty, they would fight overwhelming numbers and freely give their lives to defend their homes and families. These men were heroes, and because of their stand, the despot Santa Anna was tumbled from power.

This book will wring your heart with what the people faced and what a choice was made. A must-read for anyone interested in American history, but especially for anyone who wishes to visit the Alamo.