When Phil Collins was a kid growing up in a London suburb, he would often watch an amazing show on his family television. There, in black and white, was Fess Parker as Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier. As he matured, Collins not only acted out the exploits of his new hero, but he often refought the Battle of the Alamo with his toy soldiers. Even though music came to dominate his life, it was this love of history--and Davy Crockett and the Alamo in particular--that was always near by. On one musical tour, Collins encountered his first David Crockett autograph--for sale at a store called the Gallery of History. "I didn't know this stuff was out there, that you could own it," the rock-n-roll legend said. "It had never occurred to him. Later, he received a birthday-present that would change his life: a receipt for a saddle signed by an Alamo defender. From that point forward, the drummer began building his impressive Alamo and Texas Revolution collection. Here, for the first time in history, are the artifacts, relics, and documents that compose the Phil Collins collection, available in a beautifully designed color book shot-through with stunning photography and crisply rendered illustrations. Collins’s prose takes the reader through the joys of being a collector as he lovingly describes what each piece in this impressive assemblage means to him.
PHIL COLLINS, drummer, actor, singer, producer, and now author, has been constantly active in all manner of contradictory and unlikely projects. His history with Genesis is well documented from their art-house beginnings to multiplatinum status as the band grew up. Collins launched his solo career twenty-nine years ago, picking up numerous awards that include eight Grammys, three Oscar® nominations, and two Golden Globes. Collins has written songs for Disney's Tarzan and Brother Bear. "You'll Be in My Heart" from Tarzan won a Golden Globe Award for "Best Song Written for a Film." This song, in addition to the soundtrack, was also nominated for Grammys and won for "Best Original Song in a Movie." Collins also won an Oscar for the same song in March 2000. An avid student of the battle of the Alamo since his boyhood, Collins has now turned his gifted pen to writing history. His first book, The Alamo and Beyond: A Collector's Journey, takes this passion and tells the story of the Texas Revolution through artifacts and documents from his private collection.
Photographer Ben Powell of Austin brought these items to vivid relief, and artist Gary Zaboly’s masterful pen-and-ink drawings breath life into the items.
Essays by Texas historians Bruce Winders, Don Frazier, and Stephen Hardin provide the historical background to the collection and help make this into a work of art that also serves handily as a serious research tool.
416 pages. Cloth (with dust jacket). Index. 150 Artifacts. 150 Illustrations. 2 Maps. 10 Photographs.
"Fans of Texas will find much to love in this book. I was enthralled." —Jake Silverstein, editor, Texas Monthly
"In the quest for information about the Alamo, Collins has elevated himself from merely an interested history buff (who happens to be an internationally known recording star) to someone who is a serious contributor to our knowledge of the Alamo and its participants. There should be no doubt that Phil Collins—child musical prodigy, international star, and gentleman scholar—continues to Remember the Alamo." —Richard Bruce Winders, Ph.D., curator and historian, The Alamo
"This book is a serious contribution to Texas history. By sharing his collection with the 'people of Texas and all Americans in the world,' Collins achieves his goal: He has made an original contribution to knowledge. —Stephen L. Hardin, Ph.D., author of Texian Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution and The Alamo 1836: Santa Anna's Texas Campaign
"The poet-historian Collins is perhaps uniquely qualified for this new journey. He brings an outsider's clarity to the expedition, having amassed an amazing collection of manuscripts to accompany his impressive array of artifacts. From Collins's documents, Texas enthusiasts, Mexican patriots, schoolteachers, and even 'blokes who like history' will encounter the people who lived those famous days." —Donald S. Frazier, Ph.D., editor of The U.S. and Mexico at War: Nineteenth Century Expansionism and Conflict and coauthor of Frontier Texas: History of a Borderland in 1880
"Phil Collins' The Alamo and Beyond: A Collector's Journey is more than just a stunning presentation of impressive primary source documents and artifacts from the Texas Revolution; it is an important research source which helps us better understand the life and times of those who helped create the Texas Republic." —William R. Chemerka, founder of the Alamo Society and editor of The Alamo Journal
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