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Rating:  -
Until this book the best book on the Texas Rangers was he Webb book. Utley is a modern historian and those who prefer to live in the past in their culture will be disappointed in this book. It is a modern rendition for modern readers. That is not to say it is weak in research or in bringing the past to life. What I mean is this book is written in the now and doesn't adhere to the old rules of whitewash.
A major benfit of this work is the ointroduction to many of Edmund J. Davis, cast as the worst governor in Texas history. A Reconstruction governor responsible for the formation of the Texas Rangers as a force to enforce Reconstruction policy as he saw it and fight the elements that became the Ku Klux Klan.
This is a refreshing and interesting work on the taming of the old west.
Rating:  -
The book is not only quite detailed in the description of the exploits of the early Texas Ranges, it maintains the air of education without the normally associated dullness or boredom found in many textbooks.
Mr. Utley paints a straight-forward, no-holds approach to telling the facts as he has found them. Gone are the visions that our hero's of old are without fault, quite the opposite, you find that our hero's from this era are simply common men with some interesting virtues and a belief that right is right. It would be rather refreshing to find some of this level or morals in today's society.
The book is an excellent read. One any Texican-file will find quite interesting.
Rating: -
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.
Rating: -
The problem with this book, aside from the fact that it's just a rehash of the last dozen or so Ranger histories, is Utley's bizarre fascination with racism: namely, all Texas Rangers are evil racists whose actions can only be explained by racism. Case in point:
Rangers are after a Mexican bandit who killed a Ranger. They find two mexicans and try to halt them, whereupon the two take off, then ambush and kill a Ranger. Utley breaks in and says, Oh that's okay. They were scared that the racist rangers would have hung them.
The Brownsville incident, where the black Army troops shoot up the town? Utley concurs that they probably did it--but, the town was full of racists, so they were justified.
Every single event involving the Rangers in this book is written off as racist fervor. This PC attitude, frankly, is just sickening.
Only in the last few pages does Utley mention that we should keep an open mind about the subject; but by then, the reader has probably thrown the book away in disgust, or come out of it thinking the Texas Rangers were the militant wing of the KKK.
Rating: -
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
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