Texas Rangers, Ranchers, and Realtors

Texas Rangers, Ranchers, and Realtors
Author: Thomas O. McDonald
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages: 639
Release: 2021-03-25
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 080616994X

A native Georgian, James Hughes Callahan (1812–1856) migrated to Texas to serve in the Texas Revolution in exchange for land. In Seguin, Texas, where he settled, he met and married a divorcée, Sarah Medissa Day (1822–1856). The lives of these two Texas pioneers and their extended family would become so entwined in the events and experiences of the nascent nation and state that their story represents a social history of nineteenth-century Texas. From his arrival as a sergeant with the Georgia Battalion, through the ill-fated 1855 expedition that bears his name, to his shooting death in a feud with a neighbor, Callahan was a soldier, a Texas Ranger, a rancher, and a land developer, at every turn making his mark on the evolving Guadalupe River Basin. Separately, Sarah’s family’s journey reflected the experience of many immigrants to Texas after its war of independence. Thomas O. McDonald traces the pair’s respective paths to their meeting, then follows as, together, they contend with conflict, troublesome social mores, the emergence of new industries, and the taming of the land, along the way helping to shape the Texas culture we know today. With a sharp eye for character and detail, and with a wealth of material at his command, author Thomas O. McDonald tells a story as crackling with life as it is steeped in scholarly research. In these pages the lives of the Callahan and Day families become a canvas on which the history of Texas—from revolution, frontier defense, and Indian wars to Anglo settlement and emerging legal and social systems—dramatically, inexorably unfolds.

Texas Rangers, Ranchers, and Realtors

Texas Rangers, Ranchers, and Realtors
Author: Thomas O. McDonald
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages: 560
Release: 2021-03-25
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0806169737

A native Georgian, James Hughes Callahan (1812–1856) migrated to Texas to serve in the Texas Revolution in exchange for land. In Seguin, Texas, where he settled, he met and married a divorcée, Sarah Medissa Day (1822–1856). The lives of these two Texas pioneers and their extended family would become so entwined in the events and experiences of the nascent nation and state that their story represents a social history of nineteenth-century Texas. From his arrival as a sergeant with the Georgia Battalion, through the ill-fated 1855 expedition that bears his name, to his shooting death in a feud with a neighbor, Callahan was a soldier, a Texas Ranger, a rancher, and a land developer, at every turn making his mark on the evolving Guadalupe River Basin. Separately, Sarah’s family’s journey reflected the experience of many immigrants to Texas after its war of independence. Thomas O. McDonald traces the pair’s respective paths to their meeting, then follows as, together, they contend with conflict, troublesome social mores, the emergence of new industries, and the taming of the land, along the way helping to shape the Texas culture we know today. With a sharp eye for character and detail, and with a wealth of material at his command, author Thomas O. McDonald tells a story as crackling with life as it is steeped in scholarly research. In these pages the lives of the Callahan and Day families become a canvas on which the history of Texas—from revolution, frontier defense, and Indian wars to Anglo settlement and emerging legal and social systems—dramatically, inexorably unfolds.

The Injustice Never Leaves You

The Injustice Never Leaves You
Author: Monica Muñoz Martinez
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2018-09-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 0674989384

Winner of the Caughey Western History Prize Winner of the Robert G. Athearn Award Winner of the Lawrence W. Levine Award Winner of the TCU Texas Book Award Winner of the NACCS Tejas Foco Nonfiction Book Award Winner of the María Elena Martínez Prize Frederick Jackson Turner Award Finalist “A page-turner...Haunting...Bravely and convincingly urges us to think differently about Texas’s past.” —Texas Monthly Between 1910 and 1920, self-appointed protectors of the Texas–Mexico border—including members of the famed Texas Rangers—murdered hundreds of ethnic Mexicans living in Texas, many of whom were American citizens. Operating in remote rural areas, officers and vigilantes knew they could hang, shoot, burn, and beat victims to death without scrutiny. A culture of impunity prevailed. The abuses were so pervasive that in 1919 the Texas legislature investigated the charges and uncovered a clear pattern of state crime. Records of the proceedings were soon filed away as the Ranger myth flourished. A groundbreaking work of historical reconstruction, The Injustice Never Leaves You has upended Texas’s sense of its own history. A timely reminder of the dark side of American justice, it is a riveting story of race, power, and prejudice on the border. “It’s an apt moment for this book’s hard lessons...to go mainstream.” —Texas Observer “A reminder that government brutality on the border is nothing new.” —Los Angeles Review of Books

John B. Armstrong, Texas Ranger and Pioneer Ranchman

John B. Armstrong, Texas Ranger and Pioneer Ranchman
Author: Chuck Parsons
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2007
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1603444963

As Elmer Kelton notes in his afterword to this book, "Chuck Parsons' biography is a long-delayed and much-justified tribute to Armstrong's service to Texas." Parsons fills in the missing details of a Ranger and rancher's life, correcting some common misconceptions and adding to the record of a legendary group of lawmen and pioneers.

Texas Standoff

Texas Standoff
Author: Elmer Kelton
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2011-08-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780765364777

In the ninth and final novel in the Texas Ranger series, Ranger Andy Pickard and his partner, Logan Daggett, are sent to central Texas to investigate a series of killings and cattle thefts.

Cult of Glory

Cult of Glory
Author: Doug J. Swanson
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 481
Release: 2021-06-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 1101979879

“Swanson has done a crucial public service by exposing the barbarous side of the Rangers.” —The New York Times Book Review A twenty-first century reckoning with the legendary Texas Rangers that does justice to their heroic moments while also documenting atrocities, brutality, oppression, and corruption The Texas Rangers came to life in 1823, when Texas was still part of Mexico. Nearly 200 years later, the Rangers are still going--one of the most famous of all law enforcement agencies. In Cult of Glory, Doug J. Swanson has written a sweeping account of the Rangers that chronicles their epic, daring escapades while showing how the white and propertied power structures of Texas used them as enforcers, protectors and officially sanctioned killers. Cult of Glory begins with the Rangers' emergence as conquerors of the wild and violent Texas frontier. They fought the fierce Comanches, chased outlaws, and served in the U.S. Army during the Mexican War. As Texas developed, the Rangers were called upon to catch rustlers, tame oil boomtowns, and patrol the perilous Texas-Mexico border. In the 1930s they began their transformation into a professionally trained police force. Countless movies, television shows, and pulp novels have celebrated the Rangers as Wild West supermen. In many cases, they deserve their plaudits. But often the truth has been obliterated. Swanson demonstrates how the Rangers and their supporters have operated a propaganda machine that turned agency disasters and misdeeds into fables of triumph, transformed murderous rampages--including the killing of scores of Mexican civilians--into valorous feats, and elevated scoundrels to sainthood. Cult of Glory sets the record straight. Beginning with the Texas Indian wars, Cult of Glory embraces the great, majestic arc of Lone Star history. It tells of border battles, range disputes, gunslingers, massacres, slavery, political intrigue, race riots, labor strife, and the dangerous lure of celebrity. And it reveals how legends of the American West--the real and the false--are truly made.

Tracking the Texas Rangers

Tracking the Texas Rangers
Author: Bruce A Glasrud
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2013-09-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1574415263

Tracking the Texas Rangers: The Twentieth Century is an anthology of fifteen previously published articles and chapter excerpts covering key topics of the Texas Rangers during the twentieth century. The task of determining the role of the Rangers as the state evolved and what they actually accomplished for the benefit of the state is a difficult challenge. The actions of the Rangers fit no easy description. There is a dark side to the story of the Rangers; during the Mexican Revolution, for example, some murdered with impunity. Others sought to restore order in the border communities as well as in the remainder of Texas. It is not lack of interest that complicates the unveiling of the mythical force. With the possible exception of the Alamo, probably more has been written about the Texas Rangers than any other aspect of Texas history. Tracking the Texas Rangers covers leaders such as Captains Bill McDonald, “Lone Wolf” Gonzaullas, and Barry Caver, accomplished Rangers like Joaquin Jackson and Arthur Hill, and the use of Rangers in the Mexican Revolution. Chapters discuss their role in the oil fields, in riots, and in capturing outlaws. Most important, the Rangers of the twentieth century experienced changes in investigative techniques, strategy, and intelligence gathering. Tracking looks at the use of Rangers in labor disputes, in race issues, and in the Tejano civil rights movement. The selections cover critical aspects of those experiences—organization, leadership, cultural implications, rural and urban life, and violence. In their introduction, editors Bruce A. Glasrud and Harold J. Weiss, Jr., discuss various themes and controversies surrounding the twentieth-century Rangers and their treatment by historians over the years. They also have added annotations to the essays to explain where new research has shed additional light on an event to update or correct the original article text.

The Mexican American Experience in Texas

The Mexican American Experience in Texas
Author: Martha Menchaca
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2022-01-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1477324372

A historical overview of Mexican Americans' social and economic experiences in Texas For hundreds of years, Mexican Americans in Texas have fought against political oppression and exclusion—in courtrooms, in schools, at the ballot box, and beyond. Through a detailed exploration of this long battle for equality, this book illuminates critical moments of both struggle and triumph in the Mexican American experience. Martha Menchaca begins with the Spanish settlement of Texas, exploring how Mexican Americans’ racial heritage limited their incorporation into society after the territory’s annexation. She then illustrates their political struggles in the nineteenth century as they tried to assert their legal rights of citizenship and retain possession of their land, and goes on to explore their fight, in the twentieth century, against educational segregation, jury exclusion, and housing covenants. It was only in 1967, she shows, that the collective pressure placed on the state government by Mexican American and African American activists led to the beginning of desegregation. Menchaca concludes with a look at the crucial roles that Mexican Americans have played in national politics, education, philanthropy, and culture, while acknowledging the important work remaining to be done in the struggle for equality.

The Ranger Takes a Bride

The Ranger Takes a Bride
Author: Misty Beller
Publisher:
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2015-08-13
Genre:
ISBN: 9780692492819

The bloody Las Cuevas War robbed Alejandra Diaz of her father, her fiance, and her home-and left her with an intense hatred for men in uniform. She escapes across the border with her almost-mother-in-law and finds work on a quiet Texas ranch. The place seems like the safe haven she'd been looking for. Until she meets the rancher's tall, handsome brother who wears the soldier's badge of a Texas Ranger... Edward Stewart has spent years proving his abilities as a man, separate from the overbearing protection of his family. As a Texas Ranger, he has the chance to help tame the Wild West and save the innocent. Innocents like the enchanting Mexican woman he rescued, who now lives and works on his sister's ranch. But the moment she sees his badge, she won't have anything to do with him. Can Edward prove to Alejandra that he's different from the cruel soldiers she's known before? Will Alejandra hold onto the fear ingrained from her past, or can she open her heart to the kindness of this good lawman? When danger escalates in the form of a band of desperados with deadly intent, Alejandra must fight her hardest battle yet..."

The Rancher Takes His Best Friend's Sister

The Rancher Takes His Best Friend's Sister
Author: Shanae Johnson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2020-03-24
Genre:
ISBN:

Falling for his best friend's sister is not an option when an Army Ranger is tricked into a modern day marriage of convenience. Army Ranger Griffin "Grizz" Hayes watched his mother work her fingers to the bone to provide for her family after his dad left them. Determined never to be a burden and to make his own way, Grizz decides he'll never marry. It's easy enough when the only girl who has ever held his attention is off limits. Patricia Keaton fell in love with Grizz the first time he picked her up out of her crib and played Patty Cakes with her. Her feelings only grew over the years that her brother's best friend spent more and more time with the Keaton family. Now the she's come of age, and Grizz has separated from the army, she's sure it's time to get her man. But when a dark figure puts Patty in danger, Grizz does what he never thought he'd do; he agrees to marry Patty and be her shield against the menace. Only with a ring on her finger, Grizz has no good reason to keep his distance, and Patty has every reason to play her role as wife to the fullest of the job description. Will Grizz take on the spousal privilege offered him by the woman of his dreams? Or will he continue to keep his best friend's sister at arms length through their whole marriage of convenience.