Maps on endpapers.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [551]-563) and index.

Part 1: The banks of the Brazos (to 1828) -- The promised land -- El Camino real -- The people of the horse -- Don Estevan -- The three hundred -- Part 2: Ravenous democracy (1828-1834) -- Love and war -- To defend the revolution -- What will become of Texas? -- A conspiracy of volunteers -- The general is friendly -- Part 3: Blood on the sand (1835-1836) -- The sword is drawn -- Lexington on the Guadalupe -- Behind Ben Milam -- The army of operations -- Victory or ... -- At discretion -- Runaway -- A people in arms -- Part 4: Lone Star and Union (1836-1865) -- Victor and vanquished -- Slavery and freedom -- Andrew Jackson dies happy -- The trial of Sam Houston.

"Lone Star Nation is the story of Texas's precarious journey to statehood, from its early colonization in the 1820s to the shocking massacres of Texas loyalists at the Alamo and Goliad by the Mexican army, from its rough-and-tumble years as a land overrun by Comanche to its day of liberation as an upstart Republic." "H. W. Brands tells the story of Texas through the eyes of a colorful cast of characters who have become a permanent part of the American landscape: Stephen Austin, the state's reluctant founder; Sam Houston, the alcoholic former rising star who came to lead the Texas army in its hour of crisis and glory; William Travis, James Bowie, and Davy Crockett, the unforgettable heroic defenders of the doomed Alamo; Santa Anna, the Mexican generalissimo and dictator whose ruthless tactics galvanized the colonists against him; and the white-haired President Andrew Jackson whose expansionist aspirations loomed large in the background. Beyond these luminaries, Brands unearths the untold stories of the forgotten Texans - the slaves, women, unknown settlers, and children left out of traditional histories, who played crucial roles in Texas's birth."--BOOK JACKET.