Books, history, and controversy on a cool Saturday

 

I have the patio doors open and just turned off the a/c because I was cool. Were my family home tonight, they would object, but they are more sensitive—susceptible?—to heat than I am. I remember a Fourth quite a few years ago when my Houston daughter-in-law was here, bemoaning that she hadn’t brought a sweater. It’s not quite that cool tonight, but we are being blessed with a cool spell. I keep waiting for the temperature to shoot up.

If you’re in Texas, you already know about the latest flap about a banned book. If you’re not in Texas and you believe the cultural climate here can’t get any worse, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says, “Hold my beer!” Except he probably doesn’t drink beer. There’s a new book about the Alamo, titled, Forget the Alamo. The authors—Chris Tomlinson, Bryan Burrough, and Jason Stanford—were to present a virtual discussion one night this week co-sponsored by the Bullock Texas State History Museum and the Writer’s League of Texas.

Two hours before the presentation was to start, the Bullock Museum withdrew its support. Guess who pressured the board of directors? None other than Dan Patrick, the politician ever on the alert for corruption and unpatriotic beliefs. In an appalling affront to everything about freedom, like the right to free speech, the directors succumbed to this pressure. They should be ashamed of themselves for a long time to come. Patrick, however, feels smugly justified. Were he still with us, Bullock would never have countenanced such stupidity.

In an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram this morning, columnist Bud Kennedy coined a wonderful phrase, “Banned at the Bullock!” and went on to explain, “Texas is absolutely fascinated with itself.” He interviewed Chris Tomlinson, one of the authors, who said the book essentially claims that the battle at the Alamo was not about freedom from Mexico but about slavery. Texans wanted to be free to own slaves, and Mexico had forbidden that in its territories.

I happen to have studied a bit about the Alamo, though I am not the scholar that many are. Still, my book, The Second Battle of the Alamo, led me down some paths about the first battle, and I would readily agree that slavery was a factor. Just not the only factor. By the time hostility with Mexico erupted, a whole lot of motivations propelled the vigorous Texas patriotism.

But one thing Tomlinson’s comments made clear to me was that the whole flapdoodle about cancel culture and critical race theory comes down to a disagreement about whether our country was founded on Christianity or slavery. There again, I don’t think there’s one clear-cut answer, but that simple dichotomy cleared up some confusion for me. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the critical race theory, but I think it’s a good thing, as opposed to cancel culture, which is dumb.

And Dan Patrick once again stumbled over his own feet in his zeal to be a conservative Christian. After he created this cancellation mess, the book’s sales ratings shot up. Today, on Amazon it ranks #1 in history of Mexico, #1 in history of the southwestern U.S., and #1 in history of nineteenth-century U.S. Good job, Patrick. Think you’d like to attack any of my books? I’d be ever so grateful.

Fourth of July is not my favorite ever holiday. Ever since my kids were old enough to be semi-independent, they have gone off to spend the day with friends, usually at a lake or someone’s pool, and I am home alone. So it was today, though it was good because I had several deadlines and could spend a lot of time reading a manuscript I am to blurb.

Last night, we had a small group of neighbors for a pot-luck dinner. This group used to have frequent get-togethers, including brinners (breakfast for dinner), but last night was the first since quarantine. It was fun and good to be together, but all the loud voices (yes, they do get loud) kind of got me wired, and I didn’t sleep well. So tonight’s quiet is a blessing. So is a good helping of leftover Doris’ casserole, the family favorite Jordan served last night. She is a most gracious host, sets a lovely table, and sees that everyone is served and happy. It was a good evening.

Happy Fourth! Please remember to lock your pets up, watch out for veterans for whom fireworks bring bad memories, and for old folks who just plain don’t like the noise. Me? I like it from a distance.