They Say

by James West Davidson

2007 · Oxford University Press, USA

This work recounts the first 30 years in the passionate life of Ida B. Wells as well as the story of the great struggle over the meaning of race in post-emancipation America. It captures the often chaotic changes that swept the South as Wells grew up in Holly Springs, Mississippi.

A Line in the Sand

by Randy Roberts, James S. Olson

2002 · Simon and Schuster

In late February and early March of 1836, a Mexican army led by General Antonio López de Santa Anna lay siege to a mission known as the Alamo, held by a small band of rebels that included Davy Crockett, James Bowie, and William Travis. In the dark early morning of March 6, all inside the fort were dead -- and one of America's most enduring legends was born. Randy Roberts and James S. Olson retell the story of the Alamo from both the Mexican and the American perspectives, delving into the historical accuracy of such myths as Bowie's famous line in the sand, Crockett's celebrated fight to the death, and the common portrayal of the Mexicans as ruthless killers. Separating fact from fiction, they trace how and why those fictions grew, from the rapid spread of the rallying cry "Remember the Alamo!" to the "patriotic" depictions of battle in American films and television to the potency of the Alamo as a symbol in Texas politics and American culture today.