Texian Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution Paperback – Illustrated, January 1, 1996

The Texas Iliad provides a fair portrayal of the military history of the Texas Revolution. Texans were not supermen who could defeat Mexicans ten to one. Although Texans with rifles in a protected positions would defeat Mexicans with muskets. Weapons with three times the effective range will do that. Still Mexican cavalry would make short work of mounted Texans and shorter work of Texan infantry. Both sides had valiant soldiers. Both sides killed soldiers who tried to surrender. The Texas Revolution was a close run thing. The Texan victory depended on overextended Mexican forces; poor tactical choices made by Santa Anna ; Texas decisions that were a combination of Sam Houston's wisdom and unwisdom and the Revolutionary Army's own popular determinations; luck and surprise. As the book points out, the victory at San Jacinto was a near miraculous conjunction of factors. While not the definitive account and limited to military history, it is well worth reading.

Worth your time, if u are born, plan to die, interned, in Texas7 more words required? What else is to say?

Book was as described, and order was well wrapped and arrived rapidly. Will buy from these folk again.

I've read Hardin's Illiad twice now, and it remains to date one of my favorite books on the subject. The details regarding the uniforms and weapons are among the best there is, and the description of battle formations, why the Texas Revolution went from so much success to absolute disaster, and the details of every battle are beyond fantastic. It's a great military history, though you can hardly call the Texian forces an army. The book also takes a good look at the Mexican side of the conflict and even brings you to appreciate the common soldados, officers and generals who were torn between Santa Anna's orders that were between brilliance and utterly villainous actions, and their own personal duty and honor. There is simply no better book on the subject.However, after reading it through the second time I felt it be important to inform people about certain aspects. While still a wonderful read (and please do not think by my criticisms I'm telling you not to buy the book - if you are honestly curious, please please do), there are some issues: for the one thing, it's important for the reader to understand the Hardin has an odd personal bias - it seems - against Sam Houston, and he hardly has a kind word to say about him. Hardin seems to lean more towards the anti-Houston propaganda during the Republic period as fact, when it simply isn't. There's little way to prove such a thing, and with Houston being such a mysterious character even in our time, it felt unfair that there was such a position taken on him. Hardin takes small moments of fault Houston had, such as yelling at a young boy for doing something stupid or "taking his time" to arrive at Gonzales - and promoting them as examples of bad character. I felt that to be unfair.Also, while a wonderful military history, Hardin goes into extreme detail about certain battles and minimal detail about others. There's quite a lot in here about the Battle of Gonzales, Siege and Battle of Bexar, Coleto Creek and San Jacinto. However, there's not a lot when it comes to the Alamo (which isn't a big deal, as there are hundreds of books on the subject), and also very little on Agua Dulce, the Battle of San Patricio and the Battle of Refugio. I found more detail on the Wikipedia pages.Hardin also makes his sources a bit mysterious and seems to come to conclusions a lot for certain situations. He presents them as fact and doesn't cite them fully, which made me question him occasionally.Once again, it's a fantastic novel with so much detail that overviews the entire revolution - any student of Texas history must have this, and you simply cannot call yourself one if you don't have this book in your collection. Like any historian, there are biases and faults, but few come as near perfect as this one does.

Setting the record straight about a mythical time period and legendary players... Hardin cuts no corners and keeps you turning pages till the end.

As a Texas history enthusiast, I enjoyed this true, intriguing tale of early Houston when it was the Texas capitol. It captures the squalid details of every day life in 1837 - 1839. An array of murderers, gamblers, drunks, prostitutes, rats, mosquitoes, snakes, heat, humidity, mud, dung & dead-body-infested streets plagued the early settlement to the breaking point of finally pulling up stakes and moving to Austin in 1839. An adventurous read all the way through to find out what the hapless David James Jones did that was anything worse than what the others before him had done to make him the scapegoat. Also of note are the talented illustrations of Gary S. Zaboly.

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.

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.

I haven't read the book yet but it arrived on time in excellent condition. Thank you very much-It is appreciated.