Bryan Burrough on Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth

Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI Radio in New York

(7/7/21/) Every nation needs its creation myth, and since Texas was a nation before it was a state, it's no surprise that its myths bite deep. But no piece of history is more important to Texans than the Battle of the Alamo, when Davy Crockett and a band of rebels went down in a blaze of glory fighting for independence from Mexico, losing the battle but setting Texas up to win the war. Yet, as Vanity Fair correspondent Bryan Burrough reveals in his new book Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth, co-authored with Chris Tomlinson and Jason Stanford, that so-called historical retelling is nothing more than a fantasy. Join us for a clear-eyed look at this legendary chapter in American history in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.