The main argument of the book Saving San Antonio: The Preservation of a Heritage by Lewis F. Fisher is how American cities can have a feeling of living in historical and holy grounds by making the past to feel alive, as it was done in San Antonio and make billions of dollars from such activity through tourism. If the author wanted to get one idea from the book, the idea that the author would have found is on the importance of developing new eras on the old ones, so that we can save our heritage which is important for tourism attraction and be able to tell about the past using the American cities architectural and cultural soul (Fisher, 2016) . The book accomplished to tell a unique story of San Antonio which is among the American cities which have experienced major tourist attraction which is a big business through preservation of the history.
The subject of the book is Saving San Antonio: the Preservation of a Heritage. The topic originated from the efforts of the San Antonio citizens in ensuring their past still remains even in the modern days when many cities are working had to create modern cities which have no historical evidence 1 . The author managed to cover the subject adequately where he has demonstrated the uniqueness of the San Antonio city and making the readers understand that the city is different from others because of the integration of the present and the past. Throughout the book, the author has managed to address how the city in a mystique rare in America, and gave the readers a feeling of living in the historic, hence acting as a benchmark for other cities in American and other parts of the world which intend to preserve their history for the benefits of its people 2 . The other has offered all the activities and processes which helped San Antonio become what it is today. The author has managed to cover a significant part of the subject, but the cost of achieving what San Antonio has managed to create has not been addressed effectively, and also, the output of the project in terms of the economy has not received major attention from the author. In his book, Fisher used descriptive approach to tell about the history of historic preservations which may seem dull to some but he has managed to make it interesting by revealing huge facts about the past, and what the past may do to human beings in future. The approach has made the San Antonio history to look like history in the indispensable sense of the world, where the author is describing the past, a way that seems effective research and documentation were involved while addressing all the myths and fables which have been facing the entire process of each preservations effort.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The author has used evidence from different documents and research to support his argument. For example, when talking about the past of San Antonio, the author has managed to make it looks like part of the continuous process that goes back to the primitive Amerindian settlements, and went ahead to describe the Spaniards discovery of an oasis in a dusty plain, to the struggling frontiers who were holding the posters of Castile, to a city that has been destroyed many times, where it is the most fought city in Northern America, but managed to survive all the destructions into the Victorian era 3 . However, according to Fisher, San Antonio past is more than “ the Alamo and all that ;” There is no single person including the author who may have all the facts about all these events. Therefore, research and past documents played an important role in Fisher’s book saving San Antonio: The Preservation of a Heritage. The evidence provided in the book is convincing due to the use of exact dates the events took place. For example, according to the author, “The state of Texas, never tried to sell Alama. The state bought the Alama in 1883, eight years before the Daughter of the Republic of Texas was organized, and when Clara Driscoll was only two years old” 4 . For such text, it is clear that most of the activities and events described in the book took place more than one century ago , hence there is no one existing to tell the story apart from the documents and literature from different scholars. The information provided by the author in the book does not conflict with any book I have read or any courses I have taken. The evidence is time-based , and sources are indicated appropriately.
The author has used persuasive appeal in his arguments. This is seen where logos are used by deductive reasoning that starts with the generalization of the issues under discussion and then applying to the specific case. For example, the author says that “In February 192 came news that San Antonio old market house was doomed by another downtown street widening” 5 . The use of such parts in argument and other made the structure of the argument whole, where the readers were being introduced to the new historical event, and then a description of what happening in the present . The use of this structure in the argument made a lot of sense because it was easy to follow. Also, I was persuaded by the argument because of the effectiveness in understanding all the events, and the use of evidence.
The issue of preservation of heritage is an important topic today. Reading the book has helped me understand the importance of the subject not only in ensuring people live in the cities where they have a feeling of the past in the present , but also in the economic benefits associated with the activities of preservation.
Bibliography
Fisher, Lewis F. Saving San Antonio: The Preservation of a Heritage . Leeds: Trinity University Press, 2016.
