1615588
9781557286109
Dry textbooks don't prepare us for Douglas Jones's rip-roaring ride through early Texas history. Sometimes There Were Heroes is the story of the brave and driven men and women who settled the Lone Star State, told against the colorful backdrop of Bexar, the tiny Spanish mission that would later become San Antonio. As witnessed through the unforgettable characters of the "Mexican Gringo" Paco Salazar, a German immigrant named Sophie, and the young Oscar Schiller, that history is made rich with intrigue, danger, murder, and love as disparate cultures clash and bond on the wild American frontier. Tonkawa Indians and Bavarian settlers, Sam Houston and Santa Ana, Mexicans and Texicans, Comanches and Anglos -- all mingle memorably in this riveting drama.The author's own pencil and charcoal drawings further enliven the novel. Jones has remained faithful to historical events -- the defense of the Alamo, the founding of the Republic of Texas, the ethic of the Texas Rangers, statehood, the Forty-Nine Gold rush, the Civil War -- while inserting his fictional characters expertly into every aspect of the fracas and the fandangoes, either as observers or participants. From prologue to epilogue, this is a suspenseful book that will be hard to put aside until it is finished.Douglas C. Jones is the author of 'Sometimes There Were Heroes', published 2000 under ISBN 9781557286109 and ISBN 1557286108.
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