The Texas Rangers: Images and Incidents

San Antonio, Texas: The University of Texas Institute of Texan Culture, 1991. BF4 - A revised edition paperback book in very good condition that has some bumped corners, some scattered patches chipped/scuffing on the front and spine, light tanning and shelf wear. 11"x8.5", 171 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. The origins of today's Texas Ranger Division trace back to the first days of Anglo-American settlement of what is today the State of Texas, when it was part of the Province of Coahuila y Tejas belonging to the newly independent country of Mexico. The unique characteristics that the Rangers adopted during the force's formative years and that give the division its heritage today - characteristics for which the Texas Rangers would become world-renowned - have been accounted for by the nature of the Rangers' duties, which was to protect a thinly populated frontier against protracted hostilities, first with Plains Indian tribes, and after the Texas Revolution, hostilities with Mexico. Texas historian T.R. Fehrenbach explains the Rangers' uniqueness: The Rangers were to be described many times, at first as state troops, later as a police force or constabulary. During most of the 19th century they were neither. They were apart from the regular army, the militia or national guard, and were never a true police force. They were instead one of the most colorful, efficient, and deadly band of irregular partisans on the side of law and order the world has seen. They were called into being by the needs of a war frontier, by a society that could not afford a regular army. Texans passed in and out of the Rangers regularly; in the early years a very high proportion of all west Texans served from time to time. If they bore certain similarities to Mamelukes and Cossacks, they were never quite the same. . Revised Edition. Paperback. Very Good/No Jacket as Issued. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall.