For the Liberty of Texas . By Edward Stratemeyer . Lathop, Lee &Shepard Co., Boston, 1909.
This is a juvenile book written some ten years ago, and is the first of a series of three romantic stories known as the Mexican War Series, published by Dana Estes &Co., but now reissued by the Lathop, Lee &Shepard Co. The struggle of the Texans for freedom from Mexico forms the historical background. Two boys, Dan and Ralph Radbury, living with their father in “a typical frontier home in the heart of Texas, close to the Guadalupe River, and about ten miles from what was then the village of Gonzales,” are the youthful heroes of the many wild adventures, hairbreadth escapes, and thrilling rescues which go to make up the book.
The historical material is of an elementary character and is accurate enough for the general purposes of fiction. It is touched up, of course, with the romantic colors so fascinating to young readers, and there is no question but that any healthy, normal lad of ten to fifteen years will become intensely interested in the narrative of the exciting personal adventures of these two boys of similar ages. They had all the usual romantic adventures of thrilling fights with Indians, Mexicans, wild animals, marvelous escapes from hotly contested battles and fierce personal encounters, sometimes through their own prowess and sometimes through that of their friends whose knowledge of secret passages and unblazed trails often stood them in good stead. The story of the fall of the Alamo and the account of the final victory of General Houston over Santa Anna at San Jacinto supply the subject-matter for the final chapters.
The book is only fairly written so far as literary style goes, but the readers to whom Mr. Stratemeyer appeals ask for nothing more than a thrilling and engrossing tale full of red Indians and wild western life, and that they certainly have in this volume.
L. W. P., Jr.
How to cite:
L. W. P., Jr., "For the Liberty of Texas", Volume 014, Number 1, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 79 - 80. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v014/n1/review_21.html
[Accessed Fri Nov 21 13:29:16 CST 2008]
