Lone Star Justice: The First Century of the Texas Rangers [Paperback]

Robert M. Utley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 2003

"A splendid, indeed brilliant new work by an outstanding historian of the American West." —Howard Lamar,  author of The New Encyclopedia of the American West, Sterling Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University

"A thorough job...a fine book." —Larry McMurtry

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Texas Rangers have alternately been described as "fearless men of sterling character" and "ruthless, brutal, and more lawless than the criminals they pursued." The truth, says Robert M. Utley in Lone Star Justice, "lies somewhere in between the extremes." The Rangers got their start in 1823, and for half a century they were "citizen soldiers periodically mobilized to fight Indians or Mexicans." They were professionalized in 1874, when they became lawmen employed by the state of Texas. Utley summarizes their colorful history under the leadership of figures like Jack Hays and Ben McCulloch. They came to national attention during the Mexican War, when they fought with distinction under Zachary Taylor at Monterey and also served as scouts throughout northern Mexico. As lawmen, they were noted for apprehending fugitives (the murdering outlaw John Wesley Hardin fell to one of their bullets) and controlling mobs, but they were less successful at putting bad guys behind bars (a problem that the author blames on "a defective criminal justice system"). At bottom, Lone Star Justice is a sober-minded but generally admiring assessment of a unique group of men. --John Miller --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Complicating the traditional portrait of the Texas Rangers as a unified force battling anyone who threatened the territory, republic or state of Texas, Utley's 13th book on Western history identifies two distinct Ranger populations. The first group, which thrived from 1832 to 1874, included ragtag citizen-soldiers who worked for brief stints and saw rangering as a chance to battle Indians or Mexicans "and then come back home." The second group, however, "drew from and molded a different order of men." These rangers, known after 1901 as the Ranger Force, evolved into career lawmen who practiced greater discipline, professionalism and accountability; they were more likely to encounter train robbers, labor strikes and vigilante mobs than Comanche horse thieves (Utley will cover this second era in a promised second volume). Utley (The Lance and the Shield) employs this previously unexplored difference to evaluate the competing images of the Texas Rangers. While older histories by Walter Prescott Webb and T.R. Fehrenbach maintain "the bright legend" of the Rangers as men endowed with "sterling traits" who did no wrong, more recent "revisionist" writings by folklorists and Chicano scholars offer a vision of the Texas Rangers as "brutal, lawless" men who indiscriminately slaughtered Indians and Mexicans. Utley's careful portrayal of the Texas Rangers' evolution from citizen-soldiers to Old West lawmen reveals the weaknesses and ulterior motives within the scholarly debate over the Rangers' legacy and offers a clear-eyed view of the Rangers themselves. His fine book ultimately explains why, "despite the continuing efforts of scholars to recast the image of the Texas Ranger," he still "rides the popular imagination." 32 b&w illus., 11 maps.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (June 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425190129
• ISBN-13: 978-0425190128
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #430,576 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book Ever on the Early History of the Texas Rangers, February 17, 2007

By 

David A. Clary (Roswell NM) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lone Star Justice: The First Century of the Texas Rangers (Paperback)

Having just read Utley's second volume on the rangers, Lone Star Lawmen (I read this book when it came out), and found it a worthy sequel to this one, excellent in every way, I decided to see what Amazon readers had said about the first volume, Lone Star Justice. It appears that some folks don't like giving up cherished myth and folklore in favor of real history. And there are one or two who have well-formed PC prejudices against the Rangers, and are equally unhappy when presented with real history; they are like those who condemn an actor for portraying a villain (so to those I say, if you don't like the Rangers, don't take it out on Utley; he's not one, he just tells their story, and it is unfortunate that the truth does not conform to your suppositions). Those readers who appreciate accurate history, well written and meticulously documented, have given Lone Star Justice five stars. So do I. This is an excellent book, rigorously accurate, always interesting, full of dramatic incidents and memorable characters arrayed in their context. If you are interested in the history of Texas, the West, law enforcement, or just a good read, you'll enjoy this book. Better yet, get the set--Lone Star Justice and Lone Star Lawmen, and follow the history from beginning to the present.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rip roaring account, January 17, 2005

By 

Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lone Star Justice: The First Century of the Texas Rangers (Hardcover)

For those who know little of the rangers but are western enthusiasts or simply interested in the American West, this is a wonderful action packed rip roaring account of the Texas rangers. The volume spands the time frame from Texas independence in 1836 through to the 1900s. The Mexican war is covered as are conflcits with Mexican bandits, and the Comanches, as well as the norms of frontier justice. This reads like a novel, but brought to you by famed historian Utley its all true and what more the writing is fantastic. This makes a wonderful present.

Seth J. Frantzman

19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the way they were, March 10, 2003

By 

Harold McInnes "haroldmcinnes" (Kensington (Philadelphia)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lone Star Justice: The First Century of the Texas Rangers (Hardcover)

I really and truely enjoyed this book. I actually got it before from my nephew and he said it was a solid histroy of the Texas rangers. Not many people really know exactly how much these brave men influenced Texas and then our country. Everyone hears about how they went after outlaws but in fact these men also pusued the Commanchees and some terrible terrible gangsters. Some say they were too brutal and maybe they were but these were brutal taimes after all. The world we live in is not black and white so when you look at the circimstances they faced my opinion is they were heroes. Read Mr Utley's book - you wont be disappointed.I am Harold McInnes ,maybe your favorite reviewer? Let me know!