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Post by neferetus on Oct 23, 2007 11:03:07 GMT -5
I was going to start a thread about Alamo books NOT to get, but decided against it.
INEZ: A Tale of The Alamo by author Augusta J. Evans was written around 1885. Far from 'a tale of the Alamo', this sorry excuse for literature is an unabashed bashing of the Catholic church. Miss Evans literally devotes entire chapters to the evil influences of the Pope and his church on the citizens of Mexico. According to the story, the Texans revolt from Mexico in order to shake off the cancerous bonds of Rome. Only about three pages of the book mention the Alamo itself and one gets no clear picture of what is actually transpiring, as the author descends into flowery, poetic language that seeks to inspire. It doesn't.
Poor Inez is a comely young Mexican girl whose only fault is her devotion to the church in Rome. Through the intercession of her Texan friends however, Inez is brought to realize the error of her ways. Steered to the right path to glory and away from the damning clutches of the Roman Catholic church, Inez dies, while her priest tries in vain to give her the last rites. Inez refuses the rites and is buried in unconsecrated ground. The author considers this a triumph of spirit.
Such goes this 'tale of the Alamo'. I keep the book in my library as a curiousity of a time long past. Notwithstanding, the book seems to have been wildly popular in its time and there are at least a dozen copies of it on eBay at any given time---all different editions, to boot.
So, avoid INEZ: A Tale Of The Alamo, if you can. I wish I had.
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Post by Greg C. on Oct 23, 2007 16:58:57 GMT -5
Did I mention how I hate ignorance? Especially when an author publsihes it...
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Post by neferetus on Oct 23, 2007 21:56:59 GMT -5
Did I mention how I hate ignorance? Especially when an author publsihes it... "Look at the brighter side of life", Greg. At least she didn't say that the Texans were fighting to keep their slaves, as Nickleodeon asserts.  |
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Post by neferetus on Oct 25, 2007 11:48:36 GMT -5
This short biography of author Augusta Evans should shed some light on where she's coming from. Judging from the biography, it would seem that INEZ: A TALE OF THE ALAMO must've been written before the Civil War, as it was her first propaganda novel and one of her later propaganda novels was banned by the Union army.
Augusta Evans Wilson has been called the "foremost Southern novelist of her time." Certainly she was the finest in Alabama, writing for the best-seller lists Inez, Beulah, St. Elmo, Infelice, Vashti, At the Mercy of Tiberius, A Speckled Bird, and Devota.
But she achieved fame in other areas as well. As a propagandist she wrote, unsigned, a series of fiery articles that appeared in the Mobile newspaper in the fall of 1859. Her most famous piece of propaganda was Macaria, a novel smuggled into the North for publication, slipped into the hands of Union troops and subsequently burned and banned by their commanders. Critics of Mrs. Wilson's novels and their merits have failed to agree. Whether or not her writings possessed the flame of greatness, there has been no question that she depicted the glow and warmth of real people; a tribute to her being the insubordination caused by Macaria among the ranks of the federal army in Tennessee.
Mrs. Wilson began a nursing career during a yellow fever epidemic in Mobile. Her bedside experiences inspired much of the script of Beulah and so fired her with compassion for the sick and wounded that she later established a small hospital on the outskirts of Mobile. After the war she married, and became mistress of "Ashland," a typical Southern mansion with stately drive, luxuriant shrubbery, and lavish hospitality; just such a Southern home as she wrote best and most about. There she became the favorite hostess of the City of Mobile and invitations to her home were sought after through the remainder of her life.
A Staunch supporter of the Confederate cause, her novel Macaria was banned by Union commanders and burned when found. A staunch disparager of the Catholic Church, her first novel, Inez, was embraced by the predominantly Protestant South.
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Post by Greg C. on Oct 25, 2007 15:55:28 GMT -5
Did she die a slow and painful death by any chance?
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Post by Bromhead24 on Nov 16, 2007 12:20:42 GMT -5
I must be evil because of my devotion to the Roman Catholic church.
And being a master mason. Thats a double whammy.
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Post by neferetus on Nov 16, 2007 19:55:59 GMT -5
It's a good thing you're not living back in the 1850s then. How did the general population of the U.S take to Masons in those days?
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Post by Greg C. on Nov 17, 2007 19:20:28 GMT -5
I must be evil because of my devotion to the Roman Catholic church. And being a master mason. Thats a double whammy. A Catholic can't be a mason? |
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Post by Bromhead24 on Nov 17, 2007 19:48:25 GMT -5
I must be evil because of my devotion to the Roman Catholic church. And being a master mason. Thats a double whammy. A Catholic can't be a mason? Thats not true, there are 60 members of my lodge and a good half of them are Catholics.  |
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Post by Bromhead24 on Nov 17, 2007 19:55:21 GMT -5
 It's a good thing you're not living back in the 1850s then. How did the general population of the U.S take to Masons in those days? Masonry was very secret back then and the only way to join up was by invitation and before you got invited, you where investigated by the members. It was also very popular and if you made thru the third degree and sworn in, you had it made. It wasn't and isn't a "Class" thing. As far back as the American Revolution, the British and American soldiers would delay a "Scheduled" battle in order to hold lodge and both sides attended. When General Armistead was wounded during Picketts charge, he called out the masonic words of distress and was attended to by union masons. It was very popular back then.. Just some trivia....
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Post by Greg C. on Nov 17, 2007 20:24:37 GMT -5
It's a good thing you're not living back in the 1850s then. How did the general population of the U.S take to Masons in those days? Masonry was very secret back then and the only way to join up was by invitation and before you got invited, you where investigated by the members. It was also very popular and if you made thru the third degree and sworn in, you had it made. It wasn't and isn't a "Class" thing. As far back as the American Revolution, the British and American soldiers would delay a "Scheduled" battle in order to hold lodge and both sides attended. When General Armistead was wounded during Picketts charge, he called out the masonic words of distress and was attended to by union masons. It was very popular back then.. Just some trivia.... Now that is some trivia! Of course the movie Gettysburg didnt show that...  |
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Post by neferetus on Aug 24, 2008 11:36:15 GMT -5
This book will just not go away. As I type, there are 15 copies of INEZ on eBay. What's worse is that some of them are a brand new trade paperback version, all fresh and pretty to poison the minds of its pending readers.
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Post by seguin on Aug 24, 2008 21:17:44 GMT -5
This book will just not go away. As I type, there are 15 copies of INEZ on eBay. What's worse is that some of them are a brand new trade paperback version, all fresh and pretty to poison the minds of its pending readers. I don´t intend to buy it, but maybe you could get a good laugh out of reading it. On the other hand, it´s probably just another anti-catholic book... |
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Post by neferetus on Aug 25, 2008 0:01:46 GMT -5
As I mentioned above, there are entire chapters in INEZ detailing the evils of the Church in Rome. They have nothing to do with the story and do not advance it one whit. It is merely Augusta Evans spewing her propaganda as only she knew how. As to the "Tale Of The Alamo", the following two pages are all that address that subject in the book. (So, in effect, you now have the book.)  |
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Post by neferetus on Aug 25, 2008 0:02:05 GMT -5
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Post by seguin on Aug 25, 2008 18:19:48 GMT -5
Jezuz! She certainly has a way with adjectives. She uses way too much pathos for my taste.
If those three pages are all there is about the Alamo, then it does´nt even qualify as a book about the Alamo.
I´m glad I saved my money for something else...
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Post by neferetus on Aug 25, 2008 20:27:58 GMT -5
...it does´nt even qualify as a book about the Alamo... No, it does not. But then the Alamo has always been good as a selling point, in this case, a selling point by which to sell her propaganda. |
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Post by neferetus on Sept 8, 2010 20:54:49 GMT -5
I don't know what it is about INEZ, but this book will not go away. On eBay alone, I just counted 17 copies for sale---several of them brand new reprints! Don't the sellers know what poison they are spreading by selling this junk, or don't they care?
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Post by Greg C. on Sept 9, 2010 0:45:03 GMT -5
I'm surprised it's as well known as it is.
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