Perhaps no other figure in American history is more shrouded in myth and legend than David Davy Crockett, the Tennessee frontiersman whose death at the Alamo in 1836 ensured his place in the Valhalla of American heroes. The truth of Crockett's life, as William Groneman emphasizes, this book in the Forge American Heroes series, was far more fascinating than the myth. His hunting and exploration adventures, his service as a soldier under Andrew Jackson, his rise politics to the United States Congress, his incessant search for elbow room that took him to Texas-these were the real fabric of a heroic life. In writing of the historical Crockett, Groneman dispels the myths and discovers the genuine hero beneath them. He writes at length of the defence of the Alamo, describes how Crockett's reputation and heroism have been tainted by revisionist historians, and presents new evidence that the Tennessean's heroics during the siege have, if anything, been understated.