The Men Who Wear the Star: The Story of the Texas Rangers

by Charles M. Robinson III

In 1935, Walter Prescott Webb first told about them in his classic The Texas Rangers , but not until now do we have a modern retelling of this storied organization, based on new material and written with the encouragement of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame.

Most narratives of this colorful story, even Webb's, leave out several important eras in the history of the Rangers--the Civil War years, for instance, simply don't exist, and there is little acknowledgment of the Reconstruction period, from 1866 to 1874. In addition, though these previous chronicles concerned themselves primarily with the Rangers since their formal organization in 1835, the earlier years, when the "Ranging" defense force was established by Stephen Austin, are significant and exciting. And while most stories about the Texas Rangers treat them uncritically and uniformly as heroes, this was not always the case, to say the least.

The Texas Ranger captured the imagination of the American public like no other individual. Here is his colorful story, told anew, by the highly praised author of A Good Year to Die .

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History

400 pages, Hardcover

First published March 21, 2000

About the author

Charles M. Robinson III was an American author, illustrator, and adventurer. He was a history instructor with South Texas College in McAllen, Texas, until early 2012 and was a member of the 2010 Oxford Round Table. He was a graduate of St. Edward's University and the University of Texas–Pan American.

He wrote several books that focused on the American Old West, as well as the American Civil War and the Spanish conquest of Mexico. He also wrote magazine articles on seafaring, sailing, hunting, guns, and antique automobiles. In 1993 he was awarded the T. R. Fehrenbach Book Award by the Texas Historical Commission.

Robinson passed away in 2012 due to complications from lung cancer.

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you grow up in Texas, you revere the Texas Rangers. In this book you see them not only as the gods we believe them to be, but also as men, some of them quite un-godlike. It has alot of information about early Texas and it's transformation (not that it's changed alot, we tend to cling to what we believe to be Texan). This book is somewhat unbiased and seems to be somewhat historically accurate. The author is a Texas native and a graduate of St Edwards University, which gives him a special place in my heart. -My daughter graduated from St Ed's- It's a book for everyone. If you grew up in Texas, you'll like it; if you didn't, I'm sorry. But you can change. My own father is a "Born Again Texan" from Michigan, and my husband, unable to resist the pull, has become a convert from Boston.

[LA · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is helpful in the sense that it attempts to offer an overview of the history of the Texas Rangers. However, the most glaring shortcoming is that Robinson fails to point out any of the controversies surrounding the Rangers. Specifically, those populations such as Mexicans and Mexican-Americans who were abused by the Texas Rangers is never addressed. Also, no correlation between the Ku Klux Klan and the Rangers was ever made, which was certainly present. The author does a fine job of offering a start to the conversation of how and why the Rangers are formed. There is still much to be done in order to reveal the true history of this group and a lot of this history is distasteful, painful, and objectionable.

[Randy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Drawn out, somewhat boring...not much excitement in this book. Each chapter seemed to eventually just devolve into the same as the prior one...rangers go after Indians...Indians slaughter settlers...border war here...border war there...perhaps that's the way it was but it could have been told in a short story rather than a 400 page book.

[Pierre Stolte · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was a bit dry and jumped around quite a bit both in time and space. There was little effort in telling a coherent and engaging narrative.

But far more impactful was that it exploded the myth of the Texas Rangers, showing that far too many of them were just thugs and then providing a summation that lauds their contributions to Texas. I'm sorry, what?! Did the author not read his own book? And, seeing that so many innocent bystanders were robbed or killed by the rangers, largely for being Hispanic, undercut the notion that they were ever a force for good (even the Army hated working "with" them). As a fan of Lonesome Dove, I walked away disappointed at Larry McMurtry for romanticizing the Rangers and making them seem noble.

And, as a side note, I knew very little about Texas's history, so was surprised to learn that the state which doesn't want anyone to tread on them begged the U.S. to annex them. Multiple times ('cause they were broke). And Remember the Alamo? Why would Americans care about the Alamo? It wasn't even in America, it was part of Mexico, and became part of the Republic of Texas, which only lasted around ten years [see above for what happened next!].

[Jerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book if you are extremely interested in the Texas Rangers. Full of facts from before their formal formation until current times. The Bibliography shows an incredible amount of research but this book is not for the casual reader.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just an amazing look into our past. Boy how times have changed lol. Really interesting and informative.

[Noah Hendrickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely positively awesome

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wouldn't recommend this book to just anyone. It takes a special sort... namely, someone who never quite recovered or made peace with 7th grade Texas history. It also brought to mind a best friend's dad who told battle stories everytime we crossed a river - dry or with water - on road trips across the Lone Star state, all while my friend slept and I stayed up, reading and asking for definitions of the longer words in my book.

[Eddie Hodges · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book though a bit dry. The author seemed more interested in presenting dates and numbers than going into any depth of the more colorful aspects of the history of the Texas Rangers. Given that the legends of such
Westerners as John Wesley Hardin, Judge Roy Bean and Bat Masterson were all connected to the Rangers in one way or another a little more emphasis on the personalities involved would have made this much more fun.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was alright, I thought it was going to be better, but it wasn't. A little dry in some areas, but wanted to do something different after reading a bunch of WWII stuff.

[Theresa Lange · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting