Interview with Bill Groneman
AS : How has the buzz been about your new book, David
Crockett: Hero of the common man?
BG: It has received favorable mention in Kirkus Review,
Library Journal, Book List, and a very good review in
the Western Writers of America’s Roundup magazine. I
was in the local rare book shop today and they told me
that none other than the candidate for Texas governor,
Kinky Friedman, bought a copy yesterday, so don’t be
surprised if he starts using some of Crockett’s
campaign tactics.
My interview with Bill Groneman, author of Hero of the Common Man, took place in early December of 2005.
AS : How were you introduced into the Alamo?
BG: I was introduced to the Alamo in stages — Walt
Disney, John Wayne, Robert Penn Warren, and Walter
Lord.
AS: What did you do through creativity to show your
interest in the famous battle?
BG: The only thing I did through creativity has been to
write about the Alamo. I never made paintings or
drawings, or wrote songs, or made dioramas, or films
– strictly through writing.
AS: Is there any Alamo film that is your favorite?
Why?
BG: John Wayne’s film is probably my favorite if I had to
choose. I reMember seeing it as a child and was
impressed by the scope of the film. You really had a
feeling of the wide open spaces of Texas and for the
physical Alamo. The music, the striking color, and by
1960 standards the action, violence, stunts, and blood
were very impressive.
AS: How many articles and books to date have you
written surrounding the Alamo?
BG: I don’t know how many articles I’ve written. I have
enough trouble reMembering the Alamo. My Alamo
related books are:
Alamo Defenders;
Defense of a Legend;
Battlefields of Texas;
Death of a Legend;
Eyewitness to the Alamo, and its revised edition, and;
David Crockett — Hero of the Common Man.
AS : How has the buzz been about your new book, David
Crockett: Hero of the common man?
BG: It has received favorable mention in Kirkus Review,
Library Journal, Book List, and a very good review in
the Western Writers of America’s Roundup magazine. I
was in the local rare book shop today and they told me
that none other than the candidate for Texas governor,
Kinky Friedman, bought a copy yesterday, so don’t be
surprised if he starts using some of Crockett’s
campaign tactics.
AS: What makes it so different from your earlier books
on the famed Alamo defender?
BG: In my earlier books I concentrated on exploring all
the controversies surrounding Crockett’s death. The
new book is about his whole life.
AS: What would be your most cherished Alamo event or
memory?
BG: There are a couple. One, I guess would be the first
time I walked onto Alamo property back in May 1975. I
reMember walking up on the curb right across from the
fountain in the intersection near the Crockett hotel.
Another one would be when I was invited to speak at
the DRT’s Alamo Courier’s chapter at night, inside the
Alamo church a few years ago. That was very
impressive. Another would be when I met Fess Parker
at the Alamo Society’s meeting in the Emily Morgan
hotel a few years back.
AS: Any future projects in the future?
BG: This has been a busy year. In addition to the
Crockett book, I contributed a chapter on the Alamo
the book “The Way West — True Stories of the American
Frontier,” edited by James Crutchfield. I also have
an article on John Steinbeck in the December issue of
Roundup Magazine. For those interested, that can be
seen on-line at http://www.westernwriters.org. Since the
first of the year I have been working on a novel of
the New York City Fire Department.
AS: What is your main goal as an Alamo historian?
BG: I don’t think I have a main goal. Right now I am not
that much interested in what happened at the Alamo.
I’m more interested in finding out why we have come to
believe certain things about the Alamo.
Thanks to Bill Groneman for taking part in the interview! I was glad to finally meet him at the Alamo Symposium on March 3rd, 2007.
~Wade