Star of Destiny: The Private Life of Sam and Margaret Houston

Roberts, a great-great-granddaughter of Sam Houston and his second wife, Margaret, joins John Hoyt Williams, author of Sam Houston (Nonfiction Forecasts, Nov. 30) and Marshall De Bruhl, author of Sword of San Jacinto (Nonfiction Forecasts, Jan. 11) in writing books to commemorate the 200th birthday of the so-called Father of Texas, who died in 1863. Her biography rests mainly on extensive quotations from the couple's correspondence, and although Margaret Houston (1819-1867) burned ``untold numbers'' of documents and others were later lost or destroyed, Roberts was able to assemble several hundred letters. These reach back to 1839, when the couple fell in love ``at first sight,'' and cover--without illuminating--Sam Houston's service as president of Texas, as a U.S. senator and as the governor of Texas. In the language of romance novelists, Roberts glosses the letters to present the Houston marriage as a partnership, with Margaret steering Sam away from alcohol and into the Baptist Church. It is unlikely, however, that those outside the family will share the author's intense absorption in her forebears' mail. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Feb.)