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Cult of Glory: The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers
“Swanson has done a crucial public service by exposing the barbarous side of the Rangers.” —The New York Times Book ReviewA 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.
480 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 9, 2020
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September 19, 2025
“The Rangers’ action-packed and unique history includes no shortage of…rectitude and heroism. But the movies, TV shows, museum exhibits, and adulatory accounts usually skip past a big part of the story. Across the centuries, the Rangers did this too: They were the violent instruments of repression. They burned peasant villages and slaughtered innocents. They committed war crimes. Their murders of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans made them as feared on the border as the Ku Klux Klan in the Deep South. They hunted runaway slaves for bounty. They violated international law with impunity. They sometimes moved through Texas towns like a rampaging gang of thugs. They conspired to quash the civil rights of black Americans. They busted unions and broke strikes. They enforced racial segregation of public schools. They botched important criminal investigations. They served the interests of the moneyed and powerful while oppressing the poor and disenfranchised. They have been the army of Texas’s ruling class…”
- Doug J. Swanson, Cult of Glory: The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers
The Texas Rangers rank among the most famous and well-known law enforcement agencies in the world. Over its colorful history, Rangers have warred with Indian empires, patrolled the border with Mexico, and chased bandits and outlaws of all disposition. Its makes for compelling drama, and the Texas Rangers have been the subject of countless films, television shows, and novels good and otherwise.
Of course, you don’t achieve the level of name-recognition enjoyed by the Texas Rangers without a little mythologizing. And by little, I mean a lot. There is no doubt that certain Texas Rangers were brave, clever, hardy, tough, well-intentioned, and ferocious in battle. There is also no doubt, however, that some were cruel, racist, vengeful, and murderous.
In Cult of Glory, Doug J. Swanson sets out to scrape away the outer layer of whitewash to expose what lies beneath. The result is a serviceable, generally entertaining mix between popular history and journalistic expose.
***
Cult of Glory starts in the earliest days of the Texas Rangers, and ends with a superficial look at its present-day posture. Despite this chronological overlay, this is not intended as a comprehensive institutional examination. Instead, it is a collection of episodes strung loosely together, which serve to illustrate the Rangers’ highs and lows. This makes for an exceptionally fast-paced narrative centered on memorable personalities and incidents, but one that sometimes feels lacking in context.
***
Informally, the birth of the Texas Rangers took place with Texas still a part of Mexico, their remit from Stephen F. Austin to protect American settlers in the wake of the Mexican War of Independence. Following the Texas Revolution and the formation of the Republic of Texas, the Rangers took on a more official form, with the creation of companies under command of a captain. In their early days, they served as a paramilitary organization, less a police force than guerilla fighters who took on local Indian tribes using similar tactics.
During the Mexican-American War, the Texas Rangers served as super-auxiliaries to the United States Army. In many respects they were quite good at fulfilling their missions. Yet their lack of discipline and violent excesses did not go unnoticed by the military.
Though it faced many foes, the Texas Rangers’ most formidable opponent was the Comanche. Reinventing themselves into an imperial force by acquisition of the horse, the Comanche bedeviled Spain, Mexico, Texas, and the United States for decades. The larger part of Cult of Glory is focused on the Rangers’ attempts to eradicate the Comanche, aided by Samuel Colt’s revolver and implacable commanders such as John “Rip” Ford and John Coffee Hays.
In many ways, and for many years, the Texas Rangers and Comanche Indians were evenly matched. Both sides were comprised of hard-riding killers not averse to slaughtering noncombatants. As the Comanche sun set, however, the Rangers entered a far grimmer period as border patrolman. Well into the twentieth century, the Texas Rangers tangled with both Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. Sometimes, this involved actual lawbreakers. At other times, the victims of the Rangers’ fury were simply people who were in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong ethnicity.
The farther we get into Cult of Glory, the more the Ranger bloom fades. On many occasions, the Texas Rangers acted as an enforcer for the executive branch. On others, they were used to block integration or break strikes, maintaining the status quo for those most benefiting from the status quo. There is also a ludicrous “public corruption” charge in 2017, focusing on a district clerk who threw away an abandoned refrigerator costing between zero and fifty dollars.
***
Cult of Glory succeeds on the basis of storytelling. There are a lot of remarkable tales within these pages, and it’s tough to go wrong when you have guys like Frank Hamer and Billy Sol Estes on stage.
Swanson is less effective at tying all the strands together, or in providing a sufficient framework to understand the big picture. For instance, the Texas-Mexico border war of the early 1900s, which occurred as an offshoot of the Mexican Revolution, is not super-well explained, meaning that it sometimes feels like things are happening in a vacuum.
***
Swanson attempts to be fair in his portrayal of the Texas Rangers, but there is no doubt that Cult of Glory has an angle. This often involves focusing on the Rangers’ flaws, rather than their virtues. At a certain level, the negative attention makes perfect sense, since this is a work of deconstruction that presupposes you’ve already heard all about the positives. Still, there are times in which Swanson seems a bit too eager to find any flaw, no matter how small. He also spends far too much time patting himself on his back regarding the dirt he uncovers.
With that said, Cult of Glory has received a lot of criticism that does not withstand scrutiny. In short, it has received the dreaded indictment of being “woke.” This is really a word that has lost all meaning, but as applied against Swanson, the epithet apparently signals a belief that the Texas Rangers are being defamed or otherwise unfairly judged based on twenty-first century standards.
The only problem with this argument is that truth is always a defense against defamation. The descriptions of slaughtered women and children, slave hunting, and extralegal lynchings are factual. Moreover, these are not actions that seemed right at the time, but look different through our modern eyes. Rather, they have always been considered outside conventional ethics, and shocked even contemporaries.
The best thing that Swanson does in this realm is to use the actual words of the participants. For example, he quotes at length from the reminisces of Ben Dragoo, a Ranger who rode with Sul Ross during the recapture of Cynthia Ann Parker, kidnapped as a child by the Comanche. Charging pell-mell into a Comanche camp, Dragoo recalled that he “rushed in among” the Indians, “shooting right and left.” Then comes the kicker: “I dashed alongside an Indian woman…mounted and carrying a babe in her arms. I was just in the act of shooting her when, with one arm, she held up the baby and screamed ‘Americano!’”
These are not the words of a man under duress. Dragoo did not reveal this information under torture. It was a statement given freely and voluntarily to the Frontier Times in 1929. A statement in which Dragoo confessed an intent to blow apart a woman holding an infant – I was in the act of shooting her – but did not, because she was white. There’s just no way to spin that.
***
It can be hard to be confronted with the oft-ruthless reality of history. This goes not only for Americans in general and Texans in particular, but for people all over the world. When I stayed with a host family in Germany in the late 1990s, the literal first words the father spoke to me was an apology for the Second World War, which I duly accepted while drinking my first beer.
Life is tough enough without trying to shoulder the burdens of the past or the psychological guilt of others. Illusions ease this strain and give us comfort. It’s simpler to believe that all Texas Rangers were like the humane, perceptive, irascible-yet-deadly Augustus McCrae from Lonesome Dove, or the honor bound Ranger-cum-martial artist played by Chuck Norris.
Alas, ease is no excuse for ignorance. Ignoring yesterday’s misdeeds make tomorrow’s far easier to commit. Furthermore, there is something satisfying in embracing complexities, and in accepting that existence is messy.
- Doug J. Swanson, Cult of Glory: The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers
The Texas Rangers rank among the most famous and well-known law enforcement agencies in the world. Over its colorful history, Rangers have warred with Indian empires, patrolled the border with Mexico, and chased bandits and outlaws of all disposition. Its makes for compelling drama, and the Texas Rangers have been the subject of countless films, television shows, and novels good and otherwise.
Of course, you don’t achieve the level of name-recognition enjoyed by the Texas Rangers without a little mythologizing. And by little, I mean a lot. There is no doubt that certain Texas Rangers were brave, clever, hardy, tough, well-intentioned, and ferocious in battle. There is also no doubt, however, that some were cruel, racist, vengeful, and murderous.
In Cult of Glory, Doug J. Swanson sets out to scrape away the outer layer of whitewash to expose what lies beneath. The result is a serviceable, generally entertaining mix between popular history and journalistic expose.
***
Cult of Glory starts in the earliest days of the Texas Rangers, and ends with a superficial look at its present-day posture. Despite this chronological overlay, this is not intended as a comprehensive institutional examination. Instead, it is a collection of episodes strung loosely together, which serve to illustrate the Rangers’ highs and lows. This makes for an exceptionally fast-paced narrative centered on memorable personalities and incidents, but one that sometimes feels lacking in context.
***
Informally, the birth of the Texas Rangers took place with Texas still a part of Mexico, their remit from Stephen F. Austin to protect American settlers in the wake of the Mexican War of Independence. Following the Texas Revolution and the formation of the Republic of Texas, the Rangers took on a more official form, with the creation of companies under command of a captain. In their early days, they served as a paramilitary organization, less a police force than guerilla fighters who took on local Indian tribes using similar tactics.
During the Mexican-American War, the Texas Rangers served as super-auxiliaries to the United States Army. In many respects they were quite good at fulfilling their missions. Yet their lack of discipline and violent excesses did not go unnoticed by the military.
Though it faced many foes, the Texas Rangers’ most formidable opponent was the Comanche. Reinventing themselves into an imperial force by acquisition of the horse, the Comanche bedeviled Spain, Mexico, Texas, and the United States for decades. The larger part of Cult of Glory is focused on the Rangers’ attempts to eradicate the Comanche, aided by Samuel Colt’s revolver and implacable commanders such as John “Rip” Ford and John Coffee Hays.
In many ways, and for many years, the Texas Rangers and Comanche Indians were evenly matched. Both sides were comprised of hard-riding killers not averse to slaughtering noncombatants. As the Comanche sun set, however, the Rangers entered a far grimmer period as border patrolman. Well into the twentieth century, the Texas Rangers tangled with both Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. Sometimes, this involved actual lawbreakers. At other times, the victims of the Rangers’ fury were simply people who were in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong ethnicity.
The farther we get into Cult of Glory, the more the Ranger bloom fades. On many occasions, the Texas Rangers acted as an enforcer for the executive branch. On others, they were used to block integration or break strikes, maintaining the status quo for those most benefiting from the status quo. There is also a ludicrous “public corruption” charge in 2017, focusing on a district clerk who threw away an abandoned refrigerator costing between zero and fifty dollars.
***
Cult of Glory succeeds on the basis of storytelling. There are a lot of remarkable tales within these pages, and it’s tough to go wrong when you have guys like Frank Hamer and Billy Sol Estes on stage.
Swanson is less effective at tying all the strands together, or in providing a sufficient framework to understand the big picture. For instance, the Texas-Mexico border war of the early 1900s, which occurred as an offshoot of the Mexican Revolution, is not super-well explained, meaning that it sometimes feels like things are happening in a vacuum.
***
Swanson attempts to be fair in his portrayal of the Texas Rangers, but there is no doubt that Cult of Glory has an angle. This often involves focusing on the Rangers’ flaws, rather than their virtues. At a certain level, the negative attention makes perfect sense, since this is a work of deconstruction that presupposes you’ve already heard all about the positives. Still, there are times in which Swanson seems a bit too eager to find any flaw, no matter how small. He also spends far too much time patting himself on his back regarding the dirt he uncovers.
With that said, Cult of Glory has received a lot of criticism that does not withstand scrutiny. In short, it has received the dreaded indictment of being “woke.” This is really a word that has lost all meaning, but as applied against Swanson, the epithet apparently signals a belief that the Texas Rangers are being defamed or otherwise unfairly judged based on twenty-first century standards.
The only problem with this argument is that truth is always a defense against defamation. The descriptions of slaughtered women and children, slave hunting, and extralegal lynchings are factual. Moreover, these are not actions that seemed right at the time, but look different through our modern eyes. Rather, they have always been considered outside conventional ethics, and shocked even contemporaries.
The best thing that Swanson does in this realm is to use the actual words of the participants. For example, he quotes at length from the reminisces of Ben Dragoo, a Ranger who rode with Sul Ross during the recapture of Cynthia Ann Parker, kidnapped as a child by the Comanche. Charging pell-mell into a Comanche camp, Dragoo recalled that he “rushed in among” the Indians, “shooting right and left.” Then comes the kicker: “I dashed alongside an Indian woman…mounted and carrying a babe in her arms. I was just in the act of shooting her when, with one arm, she held up the baby and screamed ‘Americano!’”
These are not the words of a man under duress. Dragoo did not reveal this information under torture. It was a statement given freely and voluntarily to the Frontier Times in 1929. A statement in which Dragoo confessed an intent to blow apart a woman holding an infant – I was in the act of shooting her – but did not, because she was white. There’s just no way to spin that.
***
It can be hard to be confronted with the oft-ruthless reality of history. This goes not only for Americans in general and Texans in particular, but for people all over the world. When I stayed with a host family in Germany in the late 1990s, the literal first words the father spoke to me was an apology for the Second World War, which I duly accepted while drinking my first beer.
Life is tough enough without trying to shoulder the burdens of the past or the psychological guilt of others. Illusions ease this strain and give us comfort. It’s simpler to believe that all Texas Rangers were like the humane, perceptive, irascible-yet-deadly Augustus McCrae from Lonesome Dove, or the honor bound Ranger-cum-martial artist played by Chuck Norris.
Alas, ease is no excuse for ignorance. Ignoring yesterday’s misdeeds make tomorrow’s far easier to commit. Furthermore, there is something satisfying in embracing complexities, and in accepting that existence is messy.
June 13, 2020
With the possible exception of the FBI, no law enforcement agency in America has done more to craft its own legend into an historical saga than the Texas Rangers. They had become the supermen of the American West almost a century before Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster published their first comic book in the Superman series in 1938 and almost 20 years after silent film star Tom Mix had played a Texas Ranger on the silver screen. As Doug Swanson points out frequently in Cult of Glory, the 19th and 20th century crafters of the legend of the Rangers seldom if ever let the truth or facts get in the way of their efforts of molding the dominant superheroes of Western lore. But the meticulous research effort mounted by Swanson revealed more warts in the legend and cracks in the statues than the official writers of the "history" of this fabled troop of lawmen have been offering since the 1820s. Don't jump to the conclusion that the truth written in Swanson's account is boring. It's actually even more riveting than the spinners of yarns about Texas Rangers have presented. And Swanson has something to offer that most of the earlier chroniclers have presented: brilliant, concise writing. I won't pretend that Lonesome Dove doesn't represent great writing, but I point out that Larry McMurtry was given the freedom the novel offers. Not many historical accounts are better written than Cult of Glory. The book is filled with quotations from contemporary newspaper stories, letters, diary accounts and pulp Westerns that make this volume of history conversational without dumbing it down. Doug Swanson gives his readers an unadulterated look behind the curtain of the Texas Rangers, the colony, country and finally the state they protected and served and sometimes misserved. Most of the time, Cult of Glory doesn't seem very much like the Lone Ranger, the radio hero I idolized as a young child. But once in a while, a real Texas Ranger in Swanson's account comes pretty close. One thing for certain: Doug Swanson didn't "print the legend."
June 19, 2021
If most of my waking hours weren’t taken up with a full-time job, I’d have devoured this compelling history of the Texas Rangers in a fraction of the time it took me to read it.
In his prologue, Doug Swanson makes his position clear: there’s a massive gulf between the myth of noble, heroic Rangers keeping (white) Texans safe and the reality of violent Ranger companies hellbent on destroying Native American nations and Mexican and Mexican-American communities. Swanson’s matter-of-fact tone in the ensuing chapters and his avoidance of overheated language when describing atrocities committed by both the Rangers and their adversaries - including the Comanches - strike exactly the right note.
Burying unpleasant history ultimately serves no one well. As President Joe Biden said at the centennial commemoration of the Tulsa race massacre, “We can't just choose what we want to know, and not what we should know.” In this masterfully-written book, Swanson ensures that we know what we should know about the Texas Rangers.
In his prologue, Doug Swanson makes his position clear: there’s a massive gulf between the myth of noble, heroic Rangers keeping (white) Texans safe and the reality of violent Ranger companies hellbent on destroying Native American nations and Mexican and Mexican-American communities. Swanson’s matter-of-fact tone in the ensuing chapters and his avoidance of overheated language when describing atrocities committed by both the Rangers and their adversaries - including the Comanches - strike exactly the right note.
Burying unpleasant history ultimately serves no one well. As President Joe Biden said at the centennial commemoration of the Tulsa race massacre, “We can't just choose what we want to know, and not what we should know.” In this masterfully-written book, Swanson ensures that we know what we should know about the Texas Rangers.
December 31, 2024
I found this book fascinating. Written by an investigative reporter, it most definitely does not glorify the history of the Texas Rangers. It reads more like an exposé, always interesting, frequently excoriating. In these pages, the Rangers come off looking like fame seeking, racist clowns at best, or out of control paramilitary death squads at worst. There is the occasional nod to bravery and genuine heroics, but overall this is not a flattering account of the Texas Rangers. It is, however, a ripping good yarn, as the saying goes.
January 11, 2021
This book advertises to tell the history of the Texas Rangers. Instead this is a book to discredit the Texas Rangers. If you have lived in Texas and studied Texas history you know that while there were some Texas Rangers who acted in a despicable way and there are many accounts of the Texas Rangers distinguishing themselves. Swanson ignores all times that the Texas Rangers behaved in honorable ways.
June 9, 2020
Thanks to Viking, Penguin Publishing Group and Edelweiss for letting me read this and to get to know the hisytory behind the Texas rangers. Cult of Glory is a well written book with lots of quotations with original spelling that makes it so much fun to read. I also like the fact that Doug J. Swanson hasn't sugar coated the legend. Really good.
July 13, 2020
The legendary Rangers are a glorified state police force, unique to Texas. Established in 1823, when Texas was part of Mexico, the storied Rangers have been celebrated by countless movies, television shows, and pulp novels as an elite league of law enforcement responsible for conquering bad guys and the frontier, taming oil boomtowns, and protecting the Mexican border.
Almost all of that is bullshit.
In reality, the Rangers are an organization whose history is rife with misdeeds, blunders, and massacres. Yet, their relentless propaganda machine—with an assist from an ignorant public—managed to spin their transgressions into fables of patriotic triumph. And, in true Southern fashion, the Rangers became legend as one generation’s lies transformed into the next generation’s traditions, and the next generation’s truth—like a religion.
The real truth, as laid out in this masterfully researched book, is that the Texas Rangers massacred thousands of Native Americans and Mexicans, protected the institution of slavery, harassed laborers, and intimidated Black students who were attempting to desegregate the Texas public school system after Brown v. Board of Education.
In the modern era, the Rangers have attempted to reform and professionalize. Yet, their hapless handling of purported serial killer Henry Lee Lucas—not to mention the vicious vindictiveness in which the Rangers threatened and slandered anyone who dared to question their foolish tactics—could make for a second text (or miniseries: see Netflix’s “The Confession Killer”).
The timing of this book couldn’t be better. As the United States grapples with some of the more unsavory aspects of its past, certain themes and questions bubble to the forefront. One of them is, should we honor people and organizations who openly tolerated or promoted racial injustice—and excuse them as unimpeachable products of their time and space?
Almost all of that is bullshit.
In reality, the Rangers are an organization whose history is rife with misdeeds, blunders, and massacres. Yet, their relentless propaganda machine—with an assist from an ignorant public—managed to spin their transgressions into fables of patriotic triumph. And, in true Southern fashion, the Rangers became legend as one generation’s lies transformed into the next generation’s traditions, and the next generation’s truth—like a religion.
The real truth, as laid out in this masterfully researched book, is that the Texas Rangers massacred thousands of Native Americans and Mexicans, protected the institution of slavery, harassed laborers, and intimidated Black students who were attempting to desegregate the Texas public school system after Brown v. Board of Education.
In the modern era, the Rangers have attempted to reform and professionalize. Yet, their hapless handling of purported serial killer Henry Lee Lucas—not to mention the vicious vindictiveness in which the Rangers threatened and slandered anyone who dared to question their foolish tactics—could make for a second text (or miniseries: see Netflix’s “The Confession Killer”).
The timing of this book couldn’t be better. As the United States grapples with some of the more unsavory aspects of its past, certain themes and questions bubble to the forefront. One of them is, should we honor people and organizations who openly tolerated or promoted racial injustice—and excuse them as unimpeachable products of their time and space?
February 24, 2021
"The wise are unimpressed by hagiography. Idealising and idolising people and institutions, airbrushing every possible flaw, is unpersuasive. And the same is true of hamartography, which is the nearest I could find to an antonym for hagiography. Where the one can find no flaw, hamartography can find nothing else: it provides an account of a person or an institution as fatally flawed, totally in error, scarred by sin."
That sums up this book. Hamartography. And, it's terrible.
The author appears to have done the work (research) on the topic. Though his ability to express the history of the organization from 1823 until now is limited by his obvious hatred for the subjects of his book. His bias is so profound he can't find the ability to highlight that his enmity spurs from an organization that is currently staffed by roughly 175 folks and spent many years in the prior two centuries staffed by less than 50 people.
That's a lot of guff for such a small group in such a large frontier, and then country and now, state.
After wading through his spewing poor, white, male guilt over subjects he has no direct involvement with, it was interesting to read his acknowledgements. Not a single woman mentioned by name. No obvious hispanic surnames, ...
Save your time, don't waste it on this faux history.
Or, go ahead and read it. But, keep a scorecard. Keep track of how many times you see anything suggesting balance in his thematic presentation.
That sums up this book. Hamartography. And, it's terrible.
The author appears to have done the work (research) on the topic. Though his ability to express the history of the organization from 1823 until now is limited by his obvious hatred for the subjects of his book. His bias is so profound he can't find the ability to highlight that his enmity spurs from an organization that is currently staffed by roughly 175 folks and spent many years in the prior two centuries staffed by less than 50 people.
That's a lot of guff for such a small group in such a large frontier, and then country and now, state.
After wading through his spewing poor, white, male guilt over subjects he has no direct involvement with, it was interesting to read his acknowledgements. Not a single woman mentioned by name. No obvious hispanic surnames, ...
Save your time, don't waste it on this faux history.
Or, go ahead and read it. But, keep a scorecard. Keep track of how many times you see anything suggesting balance in his thematic presentation.
July 13, 2021
Cult of Glory is a mediocre history at best. Though Swanson is a decent historian, he is unashamedly critical of the Rangers. His writing has strong notes of deconstructionalism and critical race theory. Swanson works diligently to destroy the image of the Rangers right in line with contemporary efforts to dismantle all of America’s heroes. Granted the Rangers were imperfect people who were often prone to make grievous mistakes, it would have been nice to have seen more acknowledgement of the difficulties of the job, especially in these historical and geographic milieus. On one hand it is refreshing to see an honest report of history that doesn’t paint a perfect story book ending, though we shouldn’t be so quick to demonize men who were in positions we can never fully grasp!
September 22, 2020
As a history book, this was quite readable. After reading it, I’m amazed that the US (Texas) has any positive relationship with Mexico even now. The relationship was brutal on both sides, and the Rangers were part of that brutality. Harsh realities of civil rights violations against Native Americans, Mexican Nationals, Mexican Americans, and black Americans are presented without a sugar coating. There is a lot here to make the reader better understand the atrocities of the past, and as a result shed light on entrenched attitudes that influence current injustices.
May 6, 2021
This book filled in the (many) gaps in my education on the renowned Texas Rangers — and also plenty of general Texas history information. It’s well worth the read.
(I published a longer review on my website.)
September 13, 2022
There have been plenty of paeans to the Texas Rangers, a unique and select band of lawmen whose exploits have been featured in film, song, and fiction.
Doug J. Swanson’s Cult of Glory acts as a bracing tonic, showing us not just the Rangers’ mistakes, but the crimes committed by their more corrupt members. Where the legends stand and claim one man fended off ten, or a hundred, he’s happy to show that nothing of the sort happened.
That’s just the thing, though. Swanson is a bit too happy to act as an eviscerating iconoclast. You can almost see him gleefully rubbing his hands together as he prepares to take those swaggering lawmen down a peg or two. He’s content to spend a page or two describing encounters in which the courage and tenacity of the lawmen was proven beyond a doubt, and to dwell, like a schoolmarm, on the inexpiable sins of our age, like racism, for ten times as many pages.
I like a “warts and all,” picture of any group of men, who, at the end of the day, are fallible, and subject to corruption. But there’s too much “warts” and not enough “all,” here.
The book doesn’t start out giving that impression, however. It begins auspiciously, taking the reader through the history of the brutal conflicts between Anglos, Tejanos, Mexicans, and American Indians, each battling for domination of the plainlands. It’s all cruel, brutal, sometimes outright genocidal war to the knife, to the last man, woman, and yes, child.
But the ugly, blood-soaked history is related in a kind of evenhanded manner that occasionally reaches the level of the poetic. The larger-than-life characters—the psychos, desperadoes, upstanding men who live by a code—all come across as larger than life, Cormac McCarthy-esque grotesques who sought out the savagery of the wild because it mirrored their own inner turmoil.
But it tends to fall apart, however, as the battle for the frontier in the eighteenth century, and then the closing down of the same, finally leads to a hokey, anti-climactic denouement in the modern era. The rotten lawmen of course deserved to be called out, but the brave deserved better than Swanson merited them. With copious photos.
Doug J. Swanson’s Cult of Glory acts as a bracing tonic, showing us not just the Rangers’ mistakes, but the crimes committed by their more corrupt members. Where the legends stand and claim one man fended off ten, or a hundred, he’s happy to show that nothing of the sort happened.
That’s just the thing, though. Swanson is a bit too happy to act as an eviscerating iconoclast. You can almost see him gleefully rubbing his hands together as he prepares to take those swaggering lawmen down a peg or two. He’s content to spend a page or two describing encounters in which the courage and tenacity of the lawmen was proven beyond a doubt, and to dwell, like a schoolmarm, on the inexpiable sins of our age, like racism, for ten times as many pages.
I like a “warts and all,” picture of any group of men, who, at the end of the day, are fallible, and subject to corruption. But there’s too much “warts” and not enough “all,” here.
The book doesn’t start out giving that impression, however. It begins auspiciously, taking the reader through the history of the brutal conflicts between Anglos, Tejanos, Mexicans, and American Indians, each battling for domination of the plainlands. It’s all cruel, brutal, sometimes outright genocidal war to the knife, to the last man, woman, and yes, child.
But the ugly, blood-soaked history is related in a kind of evenhanded manner that occasionally reaches the level of the poetic. The larger-than-life characters—the psychos, desperadoes, upstanding men who live by a code—all come across as larger than life, Cormac McCarthy-esque grotesques who sought out the savagery of the wild because it mirrored their own inner turmoil.
But it tends to fall apart, however, as the battle for the frontier in the eighteenth century, and then the closing down of the same, finally leads to a hokey, anti-climactic denouement in the modern era. The rotten lawmen of course deserved to be called out, but the brave deserved better than Swanson merited them. With copious photos.
September 14, 2023
The good, the bad and the ugly of the Texas Rangers
This is a great book, period, and don't let some triggered wingnut snowflakes who read fake news tell you otherwise.
(Edit and update, Sept. 13, 2023: Three years on Swanson continues to face a high-grade smear job from the director of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, the director of the nonprofit Texas Ranger Bicentennial 2023 and fellow travelers of these folks. And, at least one somebody violated Texas state law as part of this smear.)
First, per my header, especially in its more recent years, Swanson does document the good, as well as the bad and the ugly of the Rangers. And, even it its early days, the Rangers weren't all bad, especially given the budgetary constraints laid upon them.
But?
There's a lot of bad and a lot of ugly in their history, and it's not all old history.
Much of the ugly is racism based. In dealings with Hispanics, whether Mexican nationals or Tejano U.S. citizens, that involved vigilante lynch justice in many cases. Some of them, it involved robbery, rape or both along with the lynch killings.
I was familiar with a fair amount of the "receipts" from the Mexican War. I was less familiar with the details on the El Paso Salt War (which the Rangers helped exacerbate) and the Cortina War in the Valley.
With African-Americans, it includes failure to investigate, or to charge people, in lynch justice against blacks. Or, in the case of Sherman, where Frank Hamer did a decent original job but, after George Hughes was lynched by firebombing, Hamer basically was AWOL, leaving Sherman and not returning in time to prevent the burning of Sherman's black district. Hamer later hired himself out as a union-busting gun. John Boessenecker's light treatment of some of this lost his book a star.
It also includes Rangers egging on Teddy Roosevelt, himself a racist, into the dishonorable discharge of all black troops stationed in Brownsville.
Finally, the Rangers in the 1950s and 60s actively abetted resistance to segregation. And, for the tender wingnut snowflakes, even somebody as crusty as Frank Dobie called them out for this.
On Indian Wars? Both sides committed atrocities. In the case of the Karankawa, that starts with Stephen F. Austin himself.
Again, though, with Texas really not even having a state militia, much of the Indian Wars fighting, while not good, was not necessarily anything worse than the U.S. Army.
In modern times, namely, post-1980, the Rangers have achieved a reasonable degree of professionalism. But, they largely have yet to abandon their gloryhounding. The department's strange relationship with not-so-serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, to which Swanson rightly devotes a full chapter, is proof positive of this.
And, again, wingnut snowflakes, by this time, conservative mainstream papers were calling them out.
In a brief epilogue, without stating an opinion, Swanson lets the reader wonder if the Rangers shouldn't be disbanded. A state law based on their cult prohibits that, but to this reviewer, it's questionably as to whether future legislatures can be "bound" by a previous one.
This is a great book, period, and don't let some triggered wingnut snowflakes who read fake news tell you otherwise.
(Edit and update, Sept. 13, 2023: Three years on Swanson continues to face a high-grade smear job from the director of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, the director of the nonprofit Texas Ranger Bicentennial 2023 and fellow travelers of these folks. And, at least one somebody violated Texas state law as part of this smear.)
First, per my header, especially in its more recent years, Swanson does document the good, as well as the bad and the ugly of the Rangers. And, even it its early days, the Rangers weren't all bad, especially given the budgetary constraints laid upon them.
But?
There's a lot of bad and a lot of ugly in their history, and it's not all old history.
Much of the ugly is racism based. In dealings with Hispanics, whether Mexican nationals or Tejano U.S. citizens, that involved vigilante lynch justice in many cases. Some of them, it involved robbery, rape or both along with the lynch killings.
I was familiar with a fair amount of the "receipts" from the Mexican War. I was less familiar with the details on the El Paso Salt War (which the Rangers helped exacerbate) and the Cortina War in the Valley.
With African-Americans, it includes failure to investigate, or to charge people, in lynch justice against blacks. Or, in the case of Sherman, where Frank Hamer did a decent original job but, after George Hughes was lynched by firebombing, Hamer basically was AWOL, leaving Sherman and not returning in time to prevent the burning of Sherman's black district. Hamer later hired himself out as a union-busting gun. John Boessenecker's light treatment of some of this lost his book a star.
It also includes Rangers egging on Teddy Roosevelt, himself a racist, into the dishonorable discharge of all black troops stationed in Brownsville.
Finally, the Rangers in the 1950s and 60s actively abetted resistance to segregation. And, for the tender wingnut snowflakes, even somebody as crusty as Frank Dobie called them out for this.
On Indian Wars? Both sides committed atrocities. In the case of the Karankawa, that starts with Stephen F. Austin himself.
Again, though, with Texas really not even having a state militia, much of the Indian Wars fighting, while not good, was not necessarily anything worse than the U.S. Army.
In modern times, namely, post-1980, the Rangers have achieved a reasonable degree of professionalism. But, they largely have yet to abandon their gloryhounding. The department's strange relationship with not-so-serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, to which Swanson rightly devotes a full chapter, is proof positive of this.
And, again, wingnut snowflakes, by this time, conservative mainstream papers were calling them out.
In a brief epilogue, without stating an opinion, Swanson lets the reader wonder if the Rangers shouldn't be disbanded. A state law based on their cult prohibits that, but to this reviewer, it's questionably as to whether future legislatures can be "bound" by a previous one.
September 9, 2020
l ove the myth of Texas and embrace it. There is nothing wrong inherently with myth making or so I thought. That is how I always envisioned the Rangers. An elite police unit that epitomizes professionalism and the best of what makes Texans so unique. You may have read more than a few reviews that called this a hack job, or a left wing screed. What I would want to ask them is are they afraid of the truth, or are they more scared that the ethos and myth of Texas may be built on a pile of horse shit. To defend the Rangers after reading this is to ignore their culpability in numerous mass murders, genocidal ethnic cleansing, and propping up white supremacy You also will choose to frame the myth and ethos of Texas in a very narrow view, from an Anglo perspective. Should we incorporate the pain that Native American's, Tejanos, slaves and then Freemen felt in Texas? My guess is that they would have very different answers from an Anglo perspective what our history means, and what is a Texan.
This is a wonderfully researched and impeccably told story. Mr. Swanson is not out to "get the Rangers", he is a truth teller. I never felt like he was applying 21st century morality or norms to the Rangers behavior. Many of the acts that he depicted can be seen as far outside the norm and beyond reproach when they occurred. He does a wonderful job throughout the story of showing the power of the victor's. The Rangers either dictated their own history, or had many enablers do it for them. What he is doing is critically important to how we understand our past. The is a story that deconstructs a myth that should have never existed, because it didn't. The mystique of the Ranges was built in embellished half truths, exaggerations, and lies and he calls them out for it. There were still men that exhibited great heroism and were selfless in the service of their interests and that of the State of Texas. The Texas Rangers protected and helped prop up a Texas that was a myth to anyone that was not a white, Christian Anglo. This book is for them as much as it is for anyone else. It can finally acknowledge the pain and misery inflicted upon them, and the Rangers should confront that as strongly as Mr. Swanson does.
This is a wonderfully researched and impeccably told story. Mr. Swanson is not out to "get the Rangers", he is a truth teller. I never felt like he was applying 21st century morality or norms to the Rangers behavior. Many of the acts that he depicted can be seen as far outside the norm and beyond reproach when they occurred. He does a wonderful job throughout the story of showing the power of the victor's. The Rangers either dictated their own history, or had many enablers do it for them. What he is doing is critically important to how we understand our past. The is a story that deconstructs a myth that should have never existed, because it didn't. The mystique of the Ranges was built in embellished half truths, exaggerations, and lies and he calls them out for it. There were still men that exhibited great heroism and were selfless in the service of their interests and that of the State of Texas. The Texas Rangers protected and helped prop up a Texas that was a myth to anyone that was not a white, Christian Anglo. This book is for them as much as it is for anyone else. It can finally acknowledge the pain and misery inflicted upon them, and the Rangers should confront that as strongly as Mr. Swanson does.
July 14, 2020
I found the last part, from roughly the deplorable stance on the wrong side of history in the Civil Rights movement to the farce of the Henry Lee Lucas debacle, to be captivating and worth the read. Sad to say that up until that, very late and last, section of the book it was an interminable slog. It was almost like they were two different books, and the good one unfortunately about one fifth the length and coming at the tail end.
You know how annoying it is to have some blowhard tell gawldamn stories about how all-fire great he used to be in the good ole days, right? Now imagine a couple dozen of those stories, episodically, repeatedly, repetitively told over and over chapter after chapter except followed by “except it really wasn’t like that, it actually was banal and sucky and awful” at the end of each anecdote. I mean, I absolutely agree with the premise of a necessary corrective to the toxic lie of the Texas Ranger, whose history has been almost exclusively thuggish, criminal incompetence embellished into legend. But goddamn is it a slog to get through the telling. Points for merit, and no kidding points for an excellent last fifth or so of the book. I’m glad I didn’t follow my instincts and give up on the book, I only wish I had started at around year 1950something because somehow the writing got a lot better after that.
You know how annoying it is to have some blowhard tell gawldamn stories about how all-fire great he used to be in the good ole days, right? Now imagine a couple dozen of those stories, episodically, repeatedly, repetitively told over and over chapter after chapter except followed by “except it really wasn’t like that, it actually was banal and sucky and awful” at the end of each anecdote. I mean, I absolutely agree with the premise of a necessary corrective to the toxic lie of the Texas Ranger, whose history has been almost exclusively thuggish, criminal incompetence embellished into legend. But goddamn is it a slog to get through the telling. Points for merit, and no kidding points for an excellent last fifth or so of the book. I’m glad I didn’t follow my instincts and give up on the book, I only wish I had started at around year 1950something because somehow the writing got a lot better after that.
February 23, 2021
So, interesting book. This was well written and a lot of new/uncovered/not previously revealed "dirt" and/or misdeeds (bordering on atrocities) by the Texas Rangers. Taking the shine off a much revered institution (by even myself). But, I did have a lot of things about this book I didn't like.
Look, there is no doubt that some of the Rangers' early days involved some terrible/savage incidents, but the book seems to have a double standard for the Rangers versus Mexican Bandits and/or Indians/Native Americans of those days who also inflicted terrible death, torture and mutilation on Texas farmers, settlers, etc. The book seems to apply today's standards to the Texas Rangers' activities of the early to mid-1800's instead of the what was happening in those times.
We can (and should) definitely examine the issues (colonization/land ownership/minority rights/etc), but again those issues are all viewed in today's prism of cultural appreciation and protection. None of that existed in the 1800's.
I don't ever mind the light shining on the truth to get a better perspective of the good AND the bad of history, but this felt more like a hit job on the Texas Rangers. Even given all that, I recommend reading the book as part of a well-rounded view of the Texas Rangers.
Look, there is no doubt that some of the Rangers' early days involved some terrible/savage incidents, but the book seems to have a double standard for the Rangers versus Mexican Bandits and/or Indians/Native Americans of those days who also inflicted terrible death, torture and mutilation on Texas farmers, settlers, etc. The book seems to apply today's standards to the Texas Rangers' activities of the early to mid-1800's instead of the what was happening in those times.
We can (and should) definitely examine the issues (colonization/land ownership/minority rights/etc), but again those issues are all viewed in today's prism of cultural appreciation and protection. None of that existed in the 1800's.
I don't ever mind the light shining on the truth to get a better perspective of the good AND the bad of history, but this felt more like a hit job on the Texas Rangers. Even given all that, I recommend reading the book as part of a well-rounded view of the Texas Rangers.
January 17, 2024
DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME ON THIS ONE. Although well researched, the author could not contain his disgust and hatred for Texas, Texans, and especially the Texas Rangers. Did the rangers, at times, commit atrocities? Of course, they did. But so did the Indians, and so did the Mexicans. But, the author only targets the rangers and scaithingly tears them down over and over and over again. The author’s hatred is so blatant. So palpable. It started to get old real fast. This is an extremely biased portrayal of the rangers. It only serves the author’s own bigotry and prejudice. The author obviously has been caught up in the liberals’ agenda of “white guilt”. And THAT is a farce and a ploy. No thank you.
June 8, 2023
A total SLAY from King Doug ! 👑👑👑👑👑👑
July 8, 2020
I’m ecstatic. I’ve read two books in a row that showcase exemplary research: First, Michelle McNamara’s “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,” and now “Cult of Glory,” Doug J. Swanson’s epic tale of the Texas Rangers. With a subtitle of “The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers,” one would expect factual information that both exemplifies glory and nefariousness in the background of a legendary heroic band of lawmen that ordinarily brooks no nonsense in the relating of their memoirs. Swanson delivers and his research is astounding. Not only are the heroic deeds chronicled, he shows no compunction at outlining missteps in their behavior. Don’t expect apologies or soft-pedaling of their macho lapse of gentlemanly demeanor. Puffery is not Swanson’s writing style.
The early days of the Rangers found them embroiled in fighting hostile Native Americans, bad men of the turbulent West, living through white supremacy, often disparaging Black Americans and their quest for recognition. The Rangers were all men of the South, fully projecting the prejudices that came with them. They were woefully inept, at times, and wonderfully adept at others, earning the tributes they received and deserving their criticism. Their supervision was lax and politically not correct at the time.
Swanson’s narrative is lyrical and fun to read. Dry historical facts are overshadowed by human reaction and colorful reminiscence found in historical records. The author’s careful research brings it all to life. And it’s a rousing life, full of bravado and derring do. I found it to be a thrilling and informative read, bringing to life many of my childhood western heroes.
June 21, 2024
Society was crazy back then
October 31, 2024
A good read. Would have loved to hear more about the good Rangers. Swanson makes it sound like there were none.
February 5, 2021
Well written and likely authoritative, but I soon tired of bold and brutal. Texas Rangers' mythology aside, the Rangers killed a lot of indigenous people, Mexicans, and whoever else happened in their gun sights. Did I mention that no matter what the did, they got away with it because they had and have a great PR machine?
November 22, 2020
Swanson makes the case that the Texas Rangers “cult of glory” was nothing more than a public relations machine that cloaked the racism, brutality and dark moments of Ranger history.
It’s hard for Swanson to name a period when the Rangers were forces for good. Formed in 1823, the early Rangers were little more than vigilantes driving the Comanches out of Texas and into oblivion. Certainly both sides were vicious, but the Rangers certainly were bad guys. They wiped out native tribes, often committing what now we’d call war crimes.
The Comanches learned what the Mexicans and then the newly freed blacks would learn: The Texas Rangers wanted this land to be safe for white folks.
In decade after decade, Rangers put themselves on the wrong side of history - turning a blind eye to lynching of blacks, squashing labor unions, and fighting school desegregation. Lawmakers who questioned their methods found themselves as targets.
My misgivings about going all in on “Cult of Glory” are two-fold, one major and one minor:
The slog: Atrocity after atrocity, bad Ranger after bad Ranger, for 410 pages makes for tedious reading.
Fair and balanced: Swanson’s investigative background works against him. As a reporter, operating under the rules of “new” journalism, his job is to marshal the facts and argue his case with blinders on. He tell us the Rangers were wicked and cruel, almost without exception. Contrary evidence is not even noted.
But is it accurate? I don’t know. A good history, as opposed to a biased, polemical narration, would give me a sense of the era, the context of events and two-dimensional personalities.
Swanson’s journalism is interesting to read, thoroughly researched and documented. He proves his point which is that the truth about the Texas Rangers as heroes of law enforcement is mostly myth.
But, as history, it’s a flawed book. His single-minded approach leads to biased conclusions and ignoring the context of the times is unfair history.
It’s hard for Swanson to name a period when the Rangers were forces for good. Formed in 1823, the early Rangers were little more than vigilantes driving the Comanches out of Texas and into oblivion. Certainly both sides were vicious, but the Rangers certainly were bad guys. They wiped out native tribes, often committing what now we’d call war crimes.
The Comanches learned what the Mexicans and then the newly freed blacks would learn: The Texas Rangers wanted this land to be safe for white folks.
In decade after decade, Rangers put themselves on the wrong side of history - turning a blind eye to lynching of blacks, squashing labor unions, and fighting school desegregation. Lawmakers who questioned their methods found themselves as targets.
My misgivings about going all in on “Cult of Glory” are two-fold, one major and one minor:
The slog: Atrocity after atrocity, bad Ranger after bad Ranger, for 410 pages makes for tedious reading.
Fair and balanced: Swanson’s investigative background works against him. As a reporter, operating under the rules of “new” journalism, his job is to marshal the facts and argue his case with blinders on. He tell us the Rangers were wicked and cruel, almost without exception. Contrary evidence is not even noted.
But is it accurate? I don’t know. A good history, as opposed to a biased, polemical narration, would give me a sense of the era, the context of events and two-dimensional personalities.
Swanson’s journalism is interesting to read, thoroughly researched and documented. He proves his point which is that the truth about the Texas Rangers as heroes of law enforcement is mostly myth.
But, as history, it’s a flawed book. His single-minded approach leads to biased conclusions and ignoring the context of the times is unfair history.
February 21, 2021
This had the chance to be a really good but but the authors clear agenda mongering ruined any chance of that.
I have no problem pointing out the dark but if you are honest you point out the light as well. Instead Swanson takes every chance to paint the Rangers in a poor light, gloss over what went right and present his own opinion as fact.
The other major issue is the application of 21st century morals to a 19th world. That and the constant implication that a force that would be reduced to 30 Rangers in the early 20th Century was somehow responsible for all the racial anyimous of the early decades of the 1900s.
Sorry I wasted my time.
I have no problem pointing out the dark but if you are honest you point out the light as well. Instead Swanson takes every chance to paint the Rangers in a poor light, gloss over what went right and present his own opinion as fact.
The other major issue is the application of 21st century morals to a 19th world. That and the constant implication that a force that would be reduced to 30 Rangers in the early 20th Century was somehow responsible for all the racial anyimous of the early decades of the 1900s.
Sorry I wasted my time.
April 2, 2025
Very interesting and detailed history of not only the Texas Rangers but also Texas and the settlement of the west in the 19th century.
My problem with this book is that while the author does a very good job showing the many times the Rangers fell short of the mythos they created --(multiple times they literally walked away from a riot), the author does not provide any examples of their successes. As I was reading, I kept thinking "did they do anything right"?
It was not until I listened to an interview with the author on NPR's Fresh Air that I was aware of any of the Texas Rangers' successes.
My problem with this book is that while the author does a very good job showing the many times the Rangers fell short of the mythos they created --(multiple times they literally walked away from a riot), the author does not provide any examples of their successes. As I was reading, I kept thinking "did they do anything right"?
It was not until I listened to an interview with the author on NPR's Fresh Air that I was aware of any of the Texas Rangers' successes.
July 23, 2021
3.5 rounding up
September 16, 2021
Debunking some of the larger myths surrounding the Rangers, some prior knowledge would have been nice as the book sticks to a handful of stories surround specific Rangers rather than giving a large overview of the organization as a whole.
September 9, 2020
This is a no-holds-barred look at the famous law enforcement agency, the Texas Rangers, that we all were led to believe were the good guys of law enforcement in the white hats, who opened the doors for the ladies, did all the right things. It would seem we've all been led down the Primrose Lane when we should have been going down the Highway to Hell.
There have been - now - two exhaustive books on the Rangers. The first saw print in the 1930's and glossed over all their misdeeds, but you have to remember, it was the 1930's and glorification of the lawmen was important because you had all these desperadoes such as Bonnie and Clyde and John Dillinger to name a couple roaming the land and raising hell. Now, over 80 years later we got Doug Swanson's highly readable and enjoyable book on the Rangers that doesn't gloss over anything.
There isn't a page in this book which doesn't mention either a Ranger who was somewhat of a character, or the "bad guys" they took out, or both and it's quite a list. Unlike it's predecessor, we find that the original Rangers were more like a gang of vigilantes than they were a law enforcement agency, and they remained that way for some time. If you were Indian, Mexican, or Black, your chances of surviving an encounter with one of the early Rangers were about as good as mine are of being elected President - nonexistent. Early Rangers - not nice people.
If you grew up in the 1950's you no doubt watched the TV series "Tales Of The Texas Rangers" or watched any of the countless films that had come out a few years earlier glorifying the Rangers. There's nothing like a little whitewash. The real Rangers would just as soon kill you as look at you if they could think of a good enough reason - and it didn't have to be much.
That's not to say today's Rangers are ready to shoot you for spitting on the sidewalk - thanks to legislation passed in Texas they have become a super-elite (or so they would have you believe) legendary law enforcement agency much like others in other states such as the Illinois Bureau of Investigation.......a step above the State Police who are out there writing speeding tickets, but even now, not exactly the role models they could be.
One of the best non-fiction books of 2020, it's must reading for everyone with an interest in the Old West, law enforcement (and we'll use that term loosely) in the Old West, and who just wants a rip-snortin' good read that's a page-turner. Slightly illustrated with one photo at the start of each chapter - it would have been nice to have had an insert featuring more photos, but that doesn't detract from the fact this is a very enjoyable, readable book.
There have been - now - two exhaustive books on the Rangers. The first saw print in the 1930's and glossed over all their misdeeds, but you have to remember, it was the 1930's and glorification of the lawmen was important because you had all these desperadoes such as Bonnie and Clyde and John Dillinger to name a couple roaming the land and raising hell. Now, over 80 years later we got Doug Swanson's highly readable and enjoyable book on the Rangers that doesn't gloss over anything.
There isn't a page in this book which doesn't mention either a Ranger who was somewhat of a character, or the "bad guys" they took out, or both and it's quite a list. Unlike it's predecessor, we find that the original Rangers were more like a gang of vigilantes than they were a law enforcement agency, and they remained that way for some time. If you were Indian, Mexican, or Black, your chances of surviving an encounter with one of the early Rangers were about as good as mine are of being elected President - nonexistent. Early Rangers - not nice people.
If you grew up in the 1950's you no doubt watched the TV series "Tales Of The Texas Rangers" or watched any of the countless films that had come out a few years earlier glorifying the Rangers. There's nothing like a little whitewash. The real Rangers would just as soon kill you as look at you if they could think of a good enough reason - and it didn't have to be much.
That's not to say today's Rangers are ready to shoot you for spitting on the sidewalk - thanks to legislation passed in Texas they have become a super-elite (or so they would have you believe) legendary law enforcement agency much like others in other states such as the Illinois Bureau of Investigation.......a step above the State Police who are out there writing speeding tickets, but even now, not exactly the role models they could be.
One of the best non-fiction books of 2020, it's must reading for everyone with an interest in the Old West, law enforcement (and we'll use that term loosely) in the Old West, and who just wants a rip-snortin' good read that's a page-turner. Slightly illustrated with one photo at the start of each chapter - it would have been nice to have had an insert featuring more photos, but that doesn't detract from the fact this is a very enjoyable, readable book.
January 31, 2021
Cult of Glory
“The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers”
By Doug J. Swanson
What do Stephen F. Austin - “The Father of Texas”, John Wesley Hardin - a notorious 19th Century Outlaw and The. 2017 NFL Super Bowl Champion Quarterback Tom Brady - all have in common?
The answer - well - aside from being in this book, each had a direct involvement with The Texas Rangers.
Young Stephen Austin birthed the idea of settling a portion of Mexico, today known as TEXAS. Through his urging and endeavors to create a new Republic of Texas, the Rangers were created.
John Wesley Hardin was born in Indiana, were he began his career as a murderous outlaw at the age of 15. He migrated westward to Texas - killing and plundering as he traveled. Which brought him to his widely publicized capture by The Texas Rangers - and an accompanied by a Pinkerton Special agent and an East Texas Sheriff.
That leaves Mr. Tom Brady, then quarterback for the 2017 Super Bowl Championship New England Patriots. How did a great guy like Tom Brady get mentioned with a killer outlaw like John Wesley Hardin????!!!
Well - actually - it was Mr. Brady’s uniform that he wore during the game. Someone stole it out of the Patriot’s locker room after the game.
The Texas Rangers were immediately assigned to the case - and - as is noted in the annals of history; solved the case. The uniform was safely returned and the perpetrator caught.
The BOLDNESS of Mr. Swanson, in painting a picture with words, is sometimes overtly strong. Racial slurs - quite common place in 19th Century Texas - are quoted word-for-word in relaying stories of Ranger adventures.
The book is packed with stories, legends and quoted newspaper articles; ranging from the very early 1800s to modern day times. The author covers the sentiment felt by the citizens of Texas, Mexico and the world, very vividly.
The book is a fascinating history of a very colorful and very involved group of men - the were called Texas Rangers. The book and the characters detailed within, left quite an impression upon me.
Five Stars - I highly recommend this book to lovers of history and those seeking to unveil a different side of this group of men from the Lone Star State.
“The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers”
By Doug J. Swanson
What do Stephen F. Austin - “The Father of Texas”, John Wesley Hardin - a notorious 19th Century Outlaw and The. 2017 NFL Super Bowl Champion Quarterback Tom Brady - all have in common?
The answer - well - aside from being in this book, each had a direct involvement with The Texas Rangers.
Young Stephen Austin birthed the idea of settling a portion of Mexico, today known as TEXAS. Through his urging and endeavors to create a new Republic of Texas, the Rangers were created.
John Wesley Hardin was born in Indiana, were he began his career as a murderous outlaw at the age of 15. He migrated westward to Texas - killing and plundering as he traveled. Which brought him to his widely publicized capture by The Texas Rangers - and an accompanied by a Pinkerton Special agent and an East Texas Sheriff.
That leaves Mr. Tom Brady, then quarterback for the 2017 Super Bowl Championship New England Patriots. How did a great guy like Tom Brady get mentioned with a killer outlaw like John Wesley Hardin????!!!
Well - actually - it was Mr. Brady’s uniform that he wore during the game. Someone stole it out of the Patriot’s locker room after the game.
The Texas Rangers were immediately assigned to the case - and - as is noted in the annals of history; solved the case. The uniform was safely returned and the perpetrator caught.
The BOLDNESS of Mr. Swanson, in painting a picture with words, is sometimes overtly strong. Racial slurs - quite common place in 19th Century Texas - are quoted word-for-word in relaying stories of Ranger adventures.
The book is packed with stories, legends and quoted newspaper articles; ranging from the very early 1800s to modern day times. The author covers the sentiment felt by the citizens of Texas, Mexico and the world, very vividly.
The book is a fascinating history of a very colorful and very involved group of men - the were called Texas Rangers. The book and the characters detailed within, left quite an impression upon me.
Five Stars - I highly recommend this book to lovers of history and those seeking to unveil a different side of this group of men from the Lone Star State.
July 20, 2020
The first American Settlers of Texas under Stephen Austin moved into a land claimed by Mexico but occupied by tribes of Indians who were not eager to welcome the encroachment of their traditional territory. The first ragtag bands of Texas Rangers were formed for the express purpose of eliminating the threat. The history that followed was one of ineptitude and bravado, massacre and barbarism.
For much of the 1800s bounties existed creating a trade in Indian Scalps and if Rangers ran out of Indians, Mexicans would do. Rangers dealings with Indian Tribes have a lot of modern day parallels. If the tribes weren’t hostile before they met they certainly were after. Another thing that becomes very apparent is that there’s nothing new about spin.
Having eliminated Indians from Texas by eviction or massacre the Texas Rangers moved on to Mexicans, (greasers), nor did they care much for Buffalo soldiers. After decades of executions or just plain massacres without thought of arrest, judge or jury it was determined that rangers lacked even the power of arrest.
If you wonder at the actions of these men consider the conditions in which they operated. Paid but irregularly, poorly fed they were expected to provide their own horses, weapons and ammo. The men and boys attracted to this life of adventure were often illiterate and qualified because they’d already killed. If you consider their behaviors in a region where law and order rarely existed their attitudes should not surprise. The conditions in which modern day police operate and the men hired for the task should not make the events we read about in the news surprising.
Of course if you believe in the divine right of White Texans to run and own Texas then this book is a hatchet job. In the end the Rangers did what they were paid, rather poorly, to do; many it would seem performed with undo enthusiasm for the task at hand. For the right to kill Indians and greasers many were willing to work for free and did.
For much of the 1800s bounties existed creating a trade in Indian Scalps and if Rangers ran out of Indians, Mexicans would do. Rangers dealings with Indian Tribes have a lot of modern day parallels. If the tribes weren’t hostile before they met they certainly were after. Another thing that becomes very apparent is that there’s nothing new about spin.
Having eliminated Indians from Texas by eviction or massacre the Texas Rangers moved on to Mexicans, (greasers), nor did they care much for Buffalo soldiers. After decades of executions or just plain massacres without thought of arrest, judge or jury it was determined that rangers lacked even the power of arrest.
If you wonder at the actions of these men consider the conditions in which they operated. Paid but irregularly, poorly fed they were expected to provide their own horses, weapons and ammo. The men and boys attracted to this life of adventure were often illiterate and qualified because they’d already killed. If you consider their behaviors in a region where law and order rarely existed their attitudes should not surprise. The conditions in which modern day police operate and the men hired for the task should not make the events we read about in the news surprising.
Of course if you believe in the divine right of White Texans to run and own Texas then this book is a hatchet job. In the end the Rangers did what they were paid, rather poorly, to do; many it would seem performed with undo enthusiasm for the task at hand. For the right to kill Indians and greasers many were willing to work for free and did.
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