Reviews for Remember the Alamo

The average rating for Remember the Alamo based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-04-11 00:00:00 Alicia Erickson I think I expected much more from this book than I should have, somehow. With as rich a subject as Andrew Jackson, it should be almost easy to write something captivating and imaginative and full of fire and movement. Byrd...did not, really. He gets in his own way a lot, with odd and entirely unnecessarily obscure word choices (he spends the better part of a chapter having a mild affair with variances on the word "cthonic"), as well as repetitive phrasing--not to the point of being a nuisance, but just often enough to be noticeable, to recognize something and be not ready to read it again. And I think having the jumps between book about Jackson, book about the guy writing about Jackson, book about the book about Jackson and so on is almost clumsy and the switches are ill-handled. All in all, I would look elsewhere for a Jackson biography--this one doesn't quite have its hat on its head to go riding.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-04-06 00:00:00 John Love This is a historical novel. It is a bit more historical than novel, meaning Byrd leaves the story of Jackson's life and his 1828 campaign for President so much that it is difficult to follow the story. Andrew Jackson rarely appears in the story in person, though his is talked and written about. David Chase, the main character, has been commissioned by Sarah Hale (author of the poem, "Mary had a little lamb and editor of "Ladies Magazine") to do a biography about Jackson with the intent to expose scandals about his life that will cause him to lose the election to John Q. Adams, who is running for reelection. Chase is to pick up where a writer, Hogwood, left off because Hogwood's work was substandard. Emma, Hogwood's daughter who is a writer/editor, is to oversee and edit Chase's work. Chase, Emma, Hogwood, and Emma's fiancé, Senator Seller are all fictional characters. Alexander Hamilton Jr. and John Coffee are Jackson supporters who try to influence Chase's work to be pro-Jackson. These characters constantly take the reader off the main story plot into situations that reveal interesting information about how the people lived and thought in those early days of the country. It not only highlights the differences between North and South, but East and West. Some reviewers were put off by the constant wandering from the story, but for me, this seemed appropriate in a historical account. Bryd's ramblings reveal such things as two possible sources of the term, "OK," the various types of feather quills for writing, how they were made and used, and how they stacked up against the newer steel-pointed pens and other interesting (to me) facts about how people in various parts of the country lived, ate, dressed, and interacted. Through Chase's book, Byrd provides a detailed account of the lead up to the Battle of New Orleans, the battle itself, and the aftermath. His characters delve into the events leading to Jackson's marriage to Rachel. He was accused of stealing another man's wife because she was married at the time Jackson and Rachel first married. There was much confusion about that story. It was hoped that Chase would be able to find proof a scandal in this relationship. The anti-Jackson people were so intent upon sinking his bid that they were willing to reach back before Rachel ever met Jackson to impugn her character. Ultimately, Chase will have decide if he will go that far to help defeat Jackson. As I read, I felt like I was back in the time frame when there were many people still living who had vivid memories of the founding fathers. I enjoyed the book, along with its many wanderings.