Most people are familiar with the siege of the Alamo in 1836, but many do not realize that there was a second battle in the early twentieth century. In 1903, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas began fighting a large eastern company for the old warehouse that was once the mission convent. With the property secured, infighting between two factions of the DRT, led by Clara Driscoll and Adina de Zavala, divided the organization and endangered the Alamo again. At one point, Adina de Zavala barricaded herself inside for three days to protect the building from demolition.Alamo Heights is a fictional account of the battle to protect the Texas landmark. More than simply a book on history, it is a story about the people behind the events. Each character has a hidden agenda, and the tension and battles between them represent the larger conflict between Anglo and Hispanic cultures. The novel addresses the assimilation of Tejanos in a racially divided, increasingly Anglo state.