Unsettled Land: From Revolution to Republic, the Struggle for Texas

Winner of the: Philosophical Society of Texas Book Prize (Nonfiction) * Ramirez Family Award, Texas Institute of Letters * "Best Books of 2022," Foreign Affairs * Finalist, David J. Weber Prize, Western Historical Association * Tullis Memorial Award, Texas State Historical Association * Kate Broocks Bates Award, Texas State Historical Association * Otis Lock Award, East Texas Historical Association * Tejano Book Award, Tejano Genealogy Society of Austin * TOMFRA Book Prize, Texas Old Missions and Forts Restoration Association * Finalist, Writers' League of Texas Book Award (Nonfiction)A bold new history of the origins and aftermath of the Texas Revolution, revealing how Indians, Mexicans, and Americans battled for survival in one of the continent's most diverse regions  The Texas Revolution has long been cast as an epic episode in the origins of the American West. As the story goes, larger-than-life figures like Sam Houston, David Crockett, and William Barret Travis fought to free Texas from repressive Mexican rule. In Unsettled Land, historian Sam Haynes reveals the reality beneath this powerful creation myth. He shows how the lives of ordinary people—white Americans, Mexicans, Native Americans, and those of African descent—were upended by extraordinary events over twenty-five years. After the battle of San Jacinto, racial lines snapped taut as a new nation, the Lone Star republic, sought to expel Indians, marginalize Mexicans, and tighten its grip on the enslaved.  This is a revelatory and essential new narrative of a major turning point in the history of North America. Read more