I want a good and easy to read book about the Alamo as a gift for someone without a great deal of historical background. I was asked for one by a Fox News host, but I don't think that would be a very good source. My field isn't American History, so any suggestions would be great! Thank you.
As a Texas Historian, the best source on the Texas Revolution is Stephen Hardin’s “Texian Iliad”. It offers an extremely good, and in-depth, academic study of both the Texan and Mexican side of the war. It’s also fantastically written and was the only non-fictional source on the Texas Revolution that I literally could not put down.
If you’re looking for just the Alamo, then my personal suggestion is “Three Roads to the Alamo”. It’s an extensive study of the lives and fortunes of David Crockett, William Barrett Travis, and James “Jim” Bowie. Great book!
I would not recommend the newly released book about Houston’s vengeful army of Texans. It is a poor choice that even some of the most adamant Texas Historians are warning people not to buy. In the book, the author even has a diagram of the Alamo fortress with its parapet...which was not there at all during the battle.
I will also recommend the following:
“Eighteen Minutes”
“A Time to Stand”
“The Lion of the West”
“Blood of Heroes”.