Sam Houston Review
Autor: Joshua • February 5, 2019 • 1,504 Words (7 Pages) • 798 Views
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He also continues to defend the claims of Houston being a racist, he believes that Houston carried for every human life equally. (Krystyniak, Frank), Houston did own slaves but because he apart of the natives lives and he opposed the expansion of slavery and predicted the downfall of slavery due to the economy he shouldn’t he considered a racist, he just a union member with slaves. This is one of the key points that highlights how biased Haley is because if someone truly felt every human life was equal they would not own slaves and treat someone as if they were beneath them.This book was not meant for someone attempting to discover their own unbiased opinion. Haley writes with an ode of respect or expression on love about Sam Houston. Haley believes that Houston was a monumental piece to not only Texas History but a major part of American history and it shows in the admiration in his writing. Although his opinion does give this biography a different voice than most historical biographies I found it hard to express my own opinions on Sam Houston because shortly after he speaks about a downfall Haley expresses his reasoning on to why Houston may have did what he done and the other factors in the situation, deterring you from Houston.
The way Haley writes it would be presumed that he expected his readers to already have basic knowledge of Sam Houston’ s life. This book was written for the readers who want more detail into his life. The major events in his life were not written with any climax. Instead Haley briefly sets up the moment in his life and then begins to analyze the present situation and the running background details that lead him to that point. It was hard to read at first without the prior knowledge of all the things he had done in Texas, I didn’t find myself truly interested in this book until after I did my own research on Sam Houston. Because he writes like this it can become a hard read for others who don’t know a lot if anything about his history causing confusing and no interest I believe if Haley were to write more to a general audience with basic knowledge on Houston this book would be a great read for anyone interested in Texas History and the government .
Overall I really enjoyed this book, Haley took a unique take onto a historical biography. This book was filled with many different sides of Sam Houston’ s life and all the friends, enemies, lovers and family members in his life , because of this it peaks the interest of many. In this book you’re able to see the politician, war hero, husband, part time Indian and southern man inside him. was able to capture the attention of someone who doesn’t know a lot about Texas History and make me more apt to look up Sam Huston in the future and possibly go visit his museum. The mixture of history, engaging narrative, and extensive research called for a well written book.
Sources:
Dan Monroe. Review of Haley, James L., Sam Houston. H-Tennessee, H-Net Reviews. June, 2004.
Haley, James L. Sam Houston. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004.
Krystyniak, Frank. Sam Houston Biography Author Haley to Speak at Ceremony http://www.shsu.edu/~pin_www/T@S/2002/HaleyBook.html
"SAM HOUSTON." Jim Haley. http://www.jameslhaley.com/samhouston.html.
Sam Houston Memorial Museum.. http://samhoustonmemorialmuseum.com/history/faq.html.
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