Texas Ranger Bicentennial™
Official Publications
In 2023 the legendary Texas Rangers law enforcement agency will commemorate its landmark 200th anniversary—the Texas Ranger Bicentennial™. They are the nation’s oldest statewide law enforcement agency and have served under five national flags. A publications program has been created for the Bicentennial to recognize quality works of nonfiction and reprints of classic works contributing to the knowledge and appreciation of Texas Ranger history. In this way a permanent legacy will be created for the future.
Books accepted into this program are listed below. Publishers may submit original nonfiction works, and reprints of classics, printed between January 2016 and December 2023. They are available through the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum store (1-254-750-8631) and other booksellers.
The New York Times Best Seller!
The Epic Life of Frank Hamer,The Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde by John Boessenecker
First Printing Sold Out in 90 Days!
Texas Rangers: Lives Legend and Legacy by Bob Alexander and Donaly E. Brice, Denton, University of North Texas Press, 2017.
Texas Rangers: Lives, Legend, and Legacy is the authors’ answer to these questions, a one‐volume history of the Texas Rangers. The authors begin with the earliest Rangers in the pre‐Republic years in 1823 and take the story up through the Republic, Mexican War, and Civil War. Then, with the advent of the Frontier Battalion, the authors focus in detail on each company A through F, relating what was happening within each company concurrently. Thereafter, Alexander and Brice tell the famous episodes of the Rangers that forged their legend, and bring the story up through the twentieth century to the present day in the final chapters. Hardcover $34.95 + Tax.
The Ranger Ideal, 1823–1861, Vol. I by Darren L. Ivey, Denton, University of North Texas Press, 2017.
Established in Waco in 1964, the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum honors the iconic Texas Rangers, a service which has existed since 1823. They are legendary symbols of Texas and the American West. Thirty‐one Rangers, with lives spanning more than two centuries, have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame. The Ranger Ideal Vol. 1: Texas Rangers in the Hall of Fame, 1823–1861 presents capsule biographies of the seven inductees who served Texas before the Civil War: Stephen F. Austin, “the Father of Texas,” who laid the foundations of the Ranger service, and then covers John C. Hays, Ben McCulloch, Samuel H. Walker, William A. A. “Bigfoot” Wallace, John S. Ford, and Lawrence Sul Ross. Hardcover $39.95 + Tax.
The Ranger Ideal, 1874-1930, Vol. II by Darren L. Ivey, Denton, University of North Texas Press, 2018.
In Vol. 2, Darren L. Ivey presents the twelve inductees who served Texas in the latter half of the 19th century. He begins with John B. Jones, who directed his Rangers from state troops to professional lawmen; then covers Leander H. McNelly, John B. Armstrong, James B. Gillett, Jesse Lee Hall, George W. Baylor, Bryan Marsh, and Ira Aten—the men responsible for some of the Rangers’ most legendary feats. Ivey concludes with James A. Brooks, William J. McDonald, John R. Hughes, and John H. Rogers, the “Four Great Captains” who guided the Texas Rangers into the 20th century. Hardcover $45.00 + Tax.
The Ranger Ideal Volume 3: Texas Rangers in the Hall of Fame, 1898‐1987 – by Darren L. Ivey, University of North Texas Press, 2021. 864 pages.
The last volume of Darren L. Ivey’s monumental 2,300 page study of Texas Rangers in the State Hall of Fame. In The Ranger Ideal Volume 3, Ivey presents capsule biographies of the twelve inductees who served Texas in the twentieth century.
Ivey describes the careers of the “Big Four” Ranger captains—Will L. Wright, the legendary Frank Hamer, Tom R. Hickman, and Manuel “Lone Wolf” Gonzaullas—as well as those of Charles E. Miller and Marvin “Red” Burton. Ivey then moves into the mid‐century and discusses Robert A. Crowder, John J. Klevenhagen, Clinton T. Peoples, and James E. Riddles. He concludes with Bobby Paul Doherty and Stanley K. Guffey, both of whom gave their lives in the line of duty. The three-volume set is a landmark achievement in Texas Ranger history on time for their 200th anniversary. Hardcover $55.00 + Tax.
Old Riot, New Ranger: Captain Jack Dean, Texas Ranger and U.S. Marshal by Bob Alexander, Denton, University of North Texas Press, 2018.
Jack Dean, holds the distinction of being one of only five men to serve in both the Officer’s Corps of the Rangers and also as a President‐appointed United States Marshal. His service in Texas Ranger history occurred at a time when society and law enforcement were undergoing change hastened by America’s Civil Rights Movement, landmark Supreme Court decisions, advances in forensic technology, and efforts to diversify and professionalize the Texas Rangers. His biography is packed with tales of the modern Ranger service: murders, suicides, jailbreaks, manhunts, armed robberies, home invasions, kidnappings, public corruption, sexual assaults, illicit gambling, car‐theft rings, dope smuggling, and arms trafficking. Hardcover $34.95 + Tax.
The Texas Rangers in Transition: From Gunfighters to Criminal Investigators, 1921–1935 by
In a Texas awash in Prohibition era oil, booze and crime, the Rangers found themselves riding herd on gamblers and bootleggers, but also tasked with everything from catching murderers to preventing circus performances on Sunday. Texas Rangers in Transition is the story of a time of political turmoil as the largely rural Texas was becoming urban. Law enforcement was facing an epidemic of bank robberies, an increase in organized crime, the growth of the Ku Klux Klan, and Prohibition enforcement—challenges that the Rangers met by transitioning from gunfighters to criminal investigators. The authors document the 1935 change when the Texas Rangers were moved from the governor’s control to the newly created Texas Department of Public Safety. This watershed in the Rangers’ history marked their transformation into the modern, elite investigative force that they remain to this day. Hardcover $34.95 + Tax.
East Texas Troubles: The Allred Rangers’ Cleanup of San Augustine by Jody Edward Ginn, Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 2019.
Between 1931 and 1934, San Augustine County had seen at least three murders in broad daylight, the latest developments in the decade‐long rule of the criminal McClanahan‐Burleson gang. Armed with handguns, Jim Crow regulations and corrupt special Ranger commissions from Ferguson administrations, the gang racketeered and bootlegged its way into power in San Augustine County, where it took up robbing and extorting local black sharecroppers as its main activity. In 1935, Governor James V. Allred sent a team of qualified Texas Rangers to San Augustine County to investigate organized crime. The author tells of their year‐and‐a‐half‐long cleanup of the county, which was the inaugural effort in Governor Allred’s transformation of the Texas Rangers into a professional law enforcement agency. A multifaceted history of the reform of the Texas Rangers and of an unexpected alliance between the legendary frontier lawmen and black residents of the Jim Crow South. Hardcover $29.95 + Tax.
Texas Ranger Lee Hall: From the Red River to the Rio Grande by Chuck Parsons, Denton, University of North Texas Press, 2020.
Jesse Lee Hall (1849–1911) came to Texas in 1870. Initially working as a school teacher, he became a deputy sheriff, later joining the Texas Rangers and commanding Capt. Leander McNelly’s Special State Troops on the border. He rounded up the King Fisher gang, ended the Sutton-Taylor Feud and participated in the Sam Bass gun fight in Round Rock. Chuck Parsons has authored eight books about Texas Rangers, feuds and Reconstruction. Hardcover $29.95 + Tax.
The Texas Rangers: The World’s Most Legendary Police Force [Die Texas Rangers: Die legendärste Polizeitruppe der Welt] by Dietmar Kuegler, Germany, 2020.
Kuegler’s book is now the #1 bestselling US History book on Amazon in Germany. Die Texas Rangers has been accepted into the Bicentennial Publications Program as the first overseas book. This makes two national Bestsellers—US and Germany—in the Bicentennial series.
Kuegler's book outlines the history of the Texas Rangers, one of the most legendary police organizations in the world. The Rangers are as much a symbol of the state of Texas as the "Lone Star". They represent a vital chapter of the pioneering era of the American West. Kuegler documents the Ranger's astonishing 200 year development from frontiermen into a highly qualified elite police force of the 21st century.
Firearms of the Texas Rangers: From the Frontier Era to the Modern Age by Doug Dukes, Denton, University of North Texas Press, 2020.
From their founding in the 1820s up to the modern age, the Texas Rangers have shown the ability to adapt and survive. Part of that survival depended on their use of firearms. The evolving technology of these weapons often determined the effectiveness of these early-day Rangers.
Firearms of the Texas Rangers, with more than 180 photographs, tells the history of the Texas Rangers primarily through the use of their firearms. Author Doug Dukes narrates famous episodes in Ranger history, including Jack Hays and the Paterson, the Walker Colt, the McCulloch Colt Revolver (smuggled through the Union blockade during the Civil War), and the Frontier Battalion and their use of the Colt Peacemaker and Winchester and Sharps carbines. Readers will delight in learning of Frank Hamer’s marksmanship with his Colt Single Action Army and his Remington, along with Captain J.W. McCormick and his two .45 Colt pistols, complete with photos.
Whether it was a Ranger in 1844 with his Paterson on patrol for Indians north of San Antonio, or a Ranger in 2016 with his LaRue 7.62 rifle working the Rio Grande looking for smugglers and terrorists, the technology may have changed, but the gritty job of the Rangers has not.
Tall Walls and High Fences: Officers and Offenders, the Texas Prison Story by Bob Alexander and Richard K. Alford, Denton, University of North Texas Press, 2020.
Tall Walls and High Fences is the first comprehensive history of Texas prisons, written by a former law enforcement officer and an officer of the Texas prisons. Bob Alexander and Richard K. Alford chronicle the significant events and transformation of the Texas prison system from its earliest times to the present day, paying special attention to the human side of the story.
Famous people and episodes in Texas prison history receive their due, from Texas Rangers apprehending and placing outlaws in prison to the 1974 prison siege at Huntsville. Alexander and Alford pay special tribute to the more than 75 correctional officers, lawmen, and civilians who lost their lives in the line of duty.
Texas Ranger Captain William L. Wright by Richard B. McCaslin. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2021. 416 pages.
William L. Wright (1868–1942) was born to be a Texas Ranger, and hard work made him a great one. Wright tried working as a cowboy and farmer, but it did not suit him. Instead, he became a deputy sheriff and then a Ranger in 1899, battling a mob in the Laredo Smallpox Riot, policing both sides in the Reese-Townsend Feud, and winning a gunfight at Cotulla.
His need for a better salary led him to leave the Rangers and become a sheriff. He stayed in that office longer than any of his predecessors in Wilson County, keeping the peace during the so-called Bandit Wars, investigating numerous violent crimes, and surviving being stabbed on the gallows by the man he was hanging. When demands for Ranger reform peaked, he was appointed as a captain and served for most of the next twenty years, retiring in 1939 after commanding dozens of Rangers.
Wright emerged unscathed from the Canales investigation, enforced Prohibition in South Texas, and policed oil towns in West Texas, as well as tackling many other legal problems. When he retired, he was the only Ranger in service who had worked under seven governors. Wright has also been honored as an inductee into the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame at Waco. Hardcover $34.95 + Tax.
John B. Denton: The Bigger-Than-Life Story of the Fighting Parson and Texas Ranger by Mike Cochran. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2021. 256 pages.
Denton County and the City of Denton, Texas are named for pioneer preacher, lawyer, and Texas Ranger John B. Denton.
John B. Denton was an orphan in frontier Arkansas who became a circuit-riding Methodist preacher and an early settler to North Texas. He answered a call from William B. Travis to bring Methodists to the new Republic of Texas. Denton then became a Texas Ranger on the frontier, ultimately being killed in the Tarrant Expedition near modern day Fort Worth and Arlington on May 24, 1841. Hardcover $29.95 + Tax.
Red Sky Morning: The Epic True Story of Texas Ranger Company F by Joe Pappalardo. Macmillan Publishers, 2022. 352 pages.
The explosive and bloody true history of Texas Rangers Company F, made up of hard men who risked their lives to bring justice to a lawless frontier.
Between 1886 and 1888, Sergeant James Brooks, of Texas Ranger Company F, was engaged in three fatal gunfights, endured disfiguring bullet wounds, engaged in countless manhunts, was convicted of second-degree murder, and rattled Washington, D.C. with a request for a pardon from the US president. His story anchors the tale of Joe Pappalardo's Red Sky Morning, an epic saga of lawmen and criminals set in Texas during the waning years of the “Old West.”
Alongside Brooks are the Rangers of Company F, who range from a pious teetotaler to a cowboy fleeing retribution for killing a man. They are all led by Captain William Scott, who cut his teeth as a freelance undercover informant but was facing the end of his Ranger career. Company F hunted criminals across Texas and beyond and were confident they could bring anyone to justice. But Brooks’ men met their match in the Conner family, East Texas master hunters and jailbreakers who were wanted for their part in a bloody family feud.
The full story of Company F’s showdown with the Conner family is finally being told, with long dead voices being heard for the first time. This truly hidden history paints the grim picture of neighbors and relatives becoming snitches and bounty hunters, and a company of Texas Rangers who waded into the conflict only to find themselves over their heads – and in the fight of their lives. Hardcover $17.99 + Tax.
Texas Secessionists Standoff: The 1997 Republic of Texas "War" by Donna Marie Miller. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2022. 336 pages.
On April 27, 1997, Richard Lance McLaren and his followers in the so-called "Republic of Texas (ROT)" militia held hostages inside their home at the Davis Mountain Resort, near Fort Davis, Texas, and demanded the release of jailed ROT members. McLaren's demand initiated a seven-day standoff with local law enforcement and the Texas Rangers that came to be called the "Republic of Texas War."
Opening with a foreword by the FBI negotiator who served as an on-site consultant throughout the crisis, author Donna Marie Miller presents the first full-length book treatment of the events leading up to McLaren’s “declaration of war” and its aftermath. The result is an absorbing account of manipulation by a leader as charismatic as he was deluded; of misinformed individuals motivated by desperation who aligned themselves with an extremist; and of law enforcement officials caught in the tension between their duty to protect the public and their desire to avoid a repeat of disasters like those at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and the Branch Davidian compound outside Waco, Texas.
Central to the story is Jo Ann Turner, a frantic woman drowning in debt who was drawn into the false ideology espoused by McLaren, which eventually led to her personal undoing. Based on archival research and interviews with persons involved—including McLaren, who has been incarcerated since 1998—this riveting account provides a multifaceted perspective of the historical incident and a detailed chronicle of a modern American anti-government militia, its victims, and the events that led to its eventual downfall. Hardcover $36.00 + Tax.
John S. “Rip” Ford – Texian Hero by Bill O’Neal. Fort Worth, Eakin Press, 2023. 312 pages.
Rip Ford was a bold, fearless combat leader, an expert pistoleer, and a master tactician. Ford was a ferocious warrior against the enemies of his beloved Texas. During the 1850s, Rip Ford was called upon to lead Rangers in defense of frontier Texas. Usually, he campaigned against raiders and stock thieves along the Rio Grande, but in 1858, he planned and executed a dangerous attack north into Comancheria against horseback war parties.
He came to Texas from Tennessee as a young physician and would later practice law, survey work, and journalism. He held multiple political offices, including being a part of the Texas legislative bodies and serving as the mayor of Austin and of Brownsville. Ford wrote a lengthy account of nineteenth-century Texas history, and he was a founding member of the Texas State Historical Association. Paperback $26.99 + Tax.