To summarize my opinion: Davy Crockett = full of win; Buddy Levy = not so much.

Davy Crockett was one of the many colorful figures associated with the Battle of the Alamo, and as such, his name is well-known to all Texans (though he is a native son of Tennessee). He lived an interesting and colorful life, right up until the moment of his death, defending Texas and liberty to the last.

Buddy Levy isn’t that great of a biographer, though. He spent most of the biography telling us about Davy Crockett, rather than showing us his life. Levy repeated himself a lot, attempted foreshadowing in a very ham-handed fashion, tried to tear down the legend, spent the last few pages gushing about Billy Bob Thornton’s protrayal of Davy Crockett, and in general, made the reader think more about him than about the subject of the biography. So I’d recommend you find a better biographer if you are interested in reading about Mr. Crockett.

I did learn a lot of new things about Davy Crockett, though. Interesting trivia: Davy Crockett personally insulted no fewer than three future U.S. Presidents (Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, and Martin van Buren). I knew about his break with Jackson, of course, but I didn’t realize that he also knew and disliked Polk or that he regarded van Buren with such disdain that he actually wrote a book attacking him. All hail the King of the Wild Frontier!

Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee
Greenest state in the land of the free
Killed him a b’ar when he was only three
Davy
Davy Crockett
King of the Wild Frontier!