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The Saga of the Texas Rangers #1
They Rode for the Lone Star, Volume 1
Charged with the mission of operating beyond the boundaries of civilization with minimal support and no communication from higher authority, they lived and often died by the motto, "Order first, then law will follow." In this first volume of his fully illustrated history of the Texas Rangers, Thomas Knowles brings to life the genesis of the Lone Star's legendary lawmen. Discover their origins as the first defenders of the Alamo and as Stephen F. Austin's ideal of mounted volunteers, and track their service on the longest and deadliest frontier in the history of the American West. Along the way, meet some of the dedicated men who served with the early Juan Seguin, Noah Smithwick, Jose Toribo Losoya, Samuel Walker, Benjamin and Henry McCulloch, Young Chief Flacco of the Lipan Apache, John S. "R.I.P." Ford, and the most revered of Ranger captains, Jack Hays. They Rode for the Lone Star burns away the myths to expose the rich and detailed history of the Rangers' first decades of service, as their organization evolved to meet the demands of a young and turbulent Texas. The men who answered the Lone Star's call came from all walks of life and from diverse ethnic backgrounds-hopeful new immigrants from Europe, eager colonists from the young United States, proud Tejano vaqueros, fierce Native American horsemen-and studied combat and survival in the harsh, unforgiving school of the bloody border wars. Usually outnumbered and often alone, they confronted the terrible challenges of the frontier with the skills and weapons they adapted to their needs. They learned to "ride like Mexicans, track like Indians, shoot like Tennesseans, and fight like the very Devil himself." They patrolled the uncharted fringes of the colonies, clashed with the armies of Santa Anna in the struggle for Texas independence, guarded the borders of the Republic, served as special forces for the United States in Mexico after annexation, and rode into combat under the Confederacy's banners against guerrillas, Indians, and invading Union troops. The living legend of the Texas Rangers has inspired countless stories, novels and motion pictures, but few of the fictional accounts have done justice to the dramatic reality. With a historian's broad perspective and a novelist's imagery and characterization, Knowles renders a vivid and accurate depiction of the Rangers' deeds and development. The stories and larger-than-life personalities that fill the pages of They Rode for the Lone Star give ample proof of the Rangers' ability to spark the imaginations of those who love tales of Texas and the American West. This revised trade paperback edition features an expanded "killed-in-action" list that takes into account new research and information gathered by the author since the original hardcover publication. The original 1998 hardcover edition was selected by the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum to commemorative the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Texas Rangers by Stephen F. Austin.
- GenresHistory
260 pages, Perfect Paperback
Published October 30, 2009
1 person is currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
Thomas W. Knowles
6 books44 followersThomas W. Knowles has worked as a reporter, photographer, columnist, and news editor, as a program coordinator and instructor at Texas A&M University, and as a technical editor and engineering designer in industry and for consulting firms. His short fiction, technical articles and non-fiction articles, photo-interviews, essays, columns and reviews have appeared in Mystery Scene, New Destinies, Persimmon Hill, Southwest Art, Starlog, The Texas Aggie, Texas Books In Review, Texas Sportsman, Past Lives-Present Tense, and many other newspapers, anthologies, journals, and magazines. As a freelance interviewer for national and regional magazines, he published a series of photo-interviews with many Texas celebrities, including Lyle Lovett, Kinky Friedman, Linda Ellerbee and John Henry Faulk.
Along with fellow Texan Joe R. Lansdale, he edited a critically-acclaimed series of anthologies published by Random House—the first detailed the history of the American West in The West That Was (1993); the second examined the genesis of the myth of the Wild West inWild West Show! (1994). Contributors to the series included most of the best-known fiction and non-fiction authors in the genre--Max Evans, Don Coldsmith, Dee Brown, Elmer Kelton, among many others. In 1996 the American Library Association picked Wild West Show! for their special recommended reading list of the 30 all-time best non-fiction books on the American West, a list that included Stephen Ambrose’s Undaunted Courage, Mark Twain’s Roughing It, Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, and John Nieheardt’s Black Elk Speaks. In conjunction with the ALA, PBS, and the NEA, the Newbery Library includedWild West Show! in their two year, 44-library exhibition of the listed books and relevant artifacts, “The Frontier in American Culture.”
The first book in his acclaimed multi-volume history of the Texas Rangers, They Rode for the Lone Star (Taylor Publishing, 1998), was chosen by the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Rangers by Stephen F. Austin. Subsequent to the appearance of this first volume, he introduced and narrated part of the Discovery Channel documentary, “Texas Rangers, Legendary Lawmen,” which first aired in 2000. He is presently working to complete the series, to relate the history of the Texas Rangers up to the present day, as well as other projects.
His interest in the American West stems from his heritage as a fourth generation Texan—he can claim ancestors from both sides of the long and bloody conflict between the Comanche and the Texas Rangers, as well as from both sides in the American Civil War. When he’s not writing, he hunts, fishes, engages in period re-enactments, and camps out with his son. He occasionally teaches the creative writing course he originally designed while working for Texas A&M University, but he’s more likely to be found wandering the back roads of his native state, photographing ruins, old farmhouses, antique churches, abandoned cemeteries, and small town streets, stopping occasionally to sample the local beer or to pass the time with farmers, ranchers, and oil-field workers.
Tom is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America and the Western Writers of America, and is an honorary life member (along with Chuck Norris and Clayton Moore) of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco, his old home town. He lives with his wife, Barbara,and his son, James in Bryan-College Station, Texas.
Tom is also the founder and managing editor for Event Horizon Publishing Group (eventhorizonpg.com).
Along with fellow Texan Joe R. Lansdale, he edited a critically-acclaimed series of anthologies published by Random House—the first detailed the history of the American West in The West That Was (1993); the second examined the genesis of the myth of the Wild West inWild West Show! (1994). Contributors to the series included most of the best-known fiction and non-fiction authors in the genre--Max Evans, Don Coldsmith, Dee Brown, Elmer Kelton, among many others. In 1996 the American Library Association picked Wild West Show! for their special recommended reading list of the 30 all-time best non-fiction books on the American West, a list that included Stephen Ambrose’s Undaunted Courage, Mark Twain’s Roughing It, Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, and John Nieheardt’s Black Elk Speaks. In conjunction with the ALA, PBS, and the NEA, the Newbery Library includedWild West Show! in their two year, 44-library exhibition of the listed books and relevant artifacts, “The Frontier in American Culture.”
The first book in his acclaimed multi-volume history of the Texas Rangers, They Rode for the Lone Star (Taylor Publishing, 1998), was chosen by the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Rangers by Stephen F. Austin. Subsequent to the appearance of this first volume, he introduced and narrated part of the Discovery Channel documentary, “Texas Rangers, Legendary Lawmen,” which first aired in 2000. He is presently working to complete the series, to relate the history of the Texas Rangers up to the present day, as well as other projects.
His interest in the American West stems from his heritage as a fourth generation Texan—he can claim ancestors from both sides of the long and bloody conflict between the Comanche and the Texas Rangers, as well as from both sides in the American Civil War. When he’s not writing, he hunts, fishes, engages in period re-enactments, and camps out with his son. He occasionally teaches the creative writing course he originally designed while working for Texas A&M University, but he’s more likely to be found wandering the back roads of his native state, photographing ruins, old farmhouses, antique churches, abandoned cemeteries, and small town streets, stopping occasionally to sample the local beer or to pass the time with farmers, ranchers, and oil-field workers.
Tom is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America and the Western Writers of America, and is an honorary life member (along with Chuck Norris and Clayton Moore) of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco, his old home town. He lives with his wife, Barbara,and his son, James in Bryan-College Station, Texas.
Tom is also the founder and managing editor for Event Horizon Publishing Group (eventhorizonpg.com).
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 27, 2010
The usual criteria on most sites that sponsor book giveaways, is that you have posted reviews of similar books in the past. This is good for the giveaway sponsors. They are assured that you have actually read the books and that you post reviews. But it’s frustrating for reviewers who wish to widen the type of book that they read and review. I find myself reading and writing reviews for the same type of book, over and over again.
Not so with the giveaways on GoodReads. They continually surprise me with their choices for me, starting with the very first book, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I had no science fiction works in my "library". They Rode for the Lone Star is another surprise. I have no "westerns" in my library.
I signed up for this book on a whim. I know very little about Texas and thought that the whole Texas Ranger "mystique" was one of those "everything is bigger and better in Texas". I am happy to report that I was wrong. The Texas Rangers are, and were, much more than a state police force.
They have a long, proud history that dates back to the first settlement of Texas by colonists from the fledgling United States. Texas Rangers were initially a militia force, defending "Texians" from hostile Native Americans and Mexicans who also claimed Texas. Rangers fought in the battles for independence from Mexico, in the Mexican War after Texas achieved statehood and then in the Civil War, on both sides of the conflict. The author ends this, the first volume of his history, at the end of the Civil War.
The history of Texas and the Rangers is covered in detail, sometimes too much detail, and includes discussions of uniforms, weapons, tactics and seemingly every move in every battle fought by every ranger. And yet, despite all of that detail, a lot of knowledge is assumed on the part of the reader. I found myself wanting more information on important events like the fall of the Alamo, which admittedly fall outside of the scope of this book.
I was a little confused by the use of numerous watercolors by the artist Bruce Marshall. Since he is a contemporary artist and not someone living during the time period covered in this book, I was unsure why his imagined scenes of battles and equally imaginative depictions of Texas Rangers, their dress, weapons and horses were used in a serious historical work. Much better are the paintings, photos, daguerreotypes and woodcuts from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries portraying the actual persons and scenes as they appeared at the time.
This is an excellent book for any student of Texas and Texas Ranger history. The narrative, which can be daunting, is broken up by sidebars with details on people, places, battles and weapons, mentioned in the text and by illustrations of same.
Happily for me, the book I was sent was autographed by the author. I collect books signed by their authors and am pleased to add this one to my collection.
Not so with the giveaways on GoodReads. They continually surprise me with their choices for me, starting with the very first book, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I had no science fiction works in my "library". They Rode for the Lone Star is another surprise. I have no "westerns" in my library.
I signed up for this book on a whim. I know very little about Texas and thought that the whole Texas Ranger "mystique" was one of those "everything is bigger and better in Texas". I am happy to report that I was wrong. The Texas Rangers are, and were, much more than a state police force.
They have a long, proud history that dates back to the first settlement of Texas by colonists from the fledgling United States. Texas Rangers were initially a militia force, defending "Texians" from hostile Native Americans and Mexicans who also claimed Texas. Rangers fought in the battles for independence from Mexico, in the Mexican War after Texas achieved statehood and then in the Civil War, on both sides of the conflict. The author ends this, the first volume of his history, at the end of the Civil War.
The history of Texas and the Rangers is covered in detail, sometimes too much detail, and includes discussions of uniforms, weapons, tactics and seemingly every move in every battle fought by every ranger. And yet, despite all of that detail, a lot of knowledge is assumed on the part of the reader. I found myself wanting more information on important events like the fall of the Alamo, which admittedly fall outside of the scope of this book.
I was a little confused by the use of numerous watercolors by the artist Bruce Marshall. Since he is a contemporary artist and not someone living during the time period covered in this book, I was unsure why his imagined scenes of battles and equally imaginative depictions of Texas Rangers, their dress, weapons and horses were used in a serious historical work. Much better are the paintings, photos, daguerreotypes and woodcuts from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries portraying the actual persons and scenes as they appeared at the time.
This is an excellent book for any student of Texas and Texas Ranger history. The narrative, which can be daunting, is broken up by sidebars with details on people, places, battles and weapons, mentioned in the text and by illustrations of same.
Happily for me, the book I was sent was autographed by the author. I collect books signed by their authors and am pleased to add this one to my collection.
July 19, 2010
I received this book as a First Read. From the day I received it, I've had trouble keeping track of it. My husband immediately grabbed it and tried to keep it hidden from me so he could read it. I found the book very interesting and very easy to read and understand. One does not need to have a history degree to enjoy this book and all of those historical people from Texas history. My only problem with the book was it's size, almost the size of a coffee table book. It was very difficult to carry with me as I traveled around. However, I would not let the size hinder me from reading it or it's sequel.
June 29, 2010
looking forward to reading this book. great subject.
Read
July 1, 2010Cant wait to read it!
June 28, 2020
An excellent book that covers the Texas Rangers through 1865. It also does a good job informing the reader what is going on in the republic or state at the same time. Plenty of interesting pictures. I enjoyed this book very much
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews