Sam Houston: A Biography of the Father of Texas

Colorful and elusive, Sam Houston (1793-1863) is popularly remembered as the hero of San Jacinto and the first president of the Republic of Texas. An ardent Unionist, he withdrew from the U.S. Senate to serve as governor of Texas in hopes of preventing its secession and, when that state left the Union in 1861, his refusal to swear loyalty to the Confederacy cost him his post. But, as Williams ( A Great and Shining Road ) stresses in this comprehensive biography, Houston was ``contradiction incarnate,'' a man who failed to take risks and to seize promising opportunities to realize his professed ambitions of conquering Mexico and seeking the U.S. presidency. Scandal attached itself to him: in 1829, when he was governor of Tennessee, his wife left him after less than three months of marriage; rumors of fraud and filibustering persisted throughout his lengthy political career. In his well-reasoned analysis of documents, letters and other records, Williams concludes that the controversies surrounding his subject arose from his ``penchant for secrecy'' and his ``chronic vacillation at crucial moments.'' Photos not seen by PW. (Jan.)