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Title: An incomparable work of historical fiction
Review: Texas, like Israel, is reexamining its founding myths, and this novel is a constructive contribution to that process. It brings an epic down to earth in an unsparing yet wholly engaging manner. The historical characters are rendered as accurately as contemporary scholarship can manage; the fictitious characters are fully-realized and not out of place to the least degree. In particular the author humanizes the Mexicans -- from Santa Anna on down -- and tells their side of the story with rare sympathy.
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