"Reconsidering the myth of "good guys in white hats" "

The Texas Rangers have been the source of tall tales and the stuff of legend as well as a growing darker reputation. But the story of the Rangers along the Mexican border between Texas statehood and the onset of the Civil War has been largely overlooked--until now.

This engaging history pulls readers back to a chaotic time along the lower Rio Grande in the mid-nineteenth century. "Texas Devils" challenges the time-honored image of "good guys in white hats" to reveal the more complicated and sobering reality behind the Ranger Myth.

Michael L. Collins demonstrates that, rather than bringing peace to the region, the Texas Rangers contributed to the violence and were often brutal in their injustices against Spanish-speaking inhabitants, who dubbed them "los diablos Tejanos"--the Texas devils. Collins goes beyond other, more laudatory Ranger histories to focus on the origins of the legend, casting Ranger immortals such as John Coffee "Jack" Hays, Ben McCulloch, and John S. "Rip" Ford in a new and not always flattering light.

In revealing a barbaric code of conduct on the Rio Grande frontier, Collins shows that much of the Ranger Myth doesn't hold up to close historical scrutiny. "Texas Devils" offers exciting true stories of the Rangers for anyone captivated by their legend, even as it provides a corrective to that legend.

Walter Prescott Webb (1888-1963), a towering figure in Texas and western history and letters, published an abundance of books-but for decades the autobiography he'd written late in life sat largely undisturbed among his papers. Webb's remarkable story appears here in print for the first time, edited and annotated by Michael Collins, an authority on Texas history. This firsthand account offers readers a window on the life, the work, and the world of one of the most interesting thinkers in the history, and historiography, of Texas. Webb's narrative carries us from the drought-scarred rim of West Texas known as the Cross Timbers, to the hardscrabble farm life that formed him, to the bright lights of Austin and the University of Texas, where he truly came of age. Fascinating for the picture it summons of the Texas of his youth and the intellectual landscape of his career, Webb's autobiography also offers intriguing insights into the way his epic work, The Great Plains, evolved. He also describes the struggle behind his groundbreaking history of that storied frontier fighting force the Texas Rangers. Along the way, Webb reflects on the nature of historical research, the role that Texas and the West have played in American history, the importance of education, and the place of universities in our national culture. More than a rare encounter with a true American character's life and thought, A Texan's Story is also a uniquely enlightening look into the understanding, writing, and teaching of western American history in its formative years.

Walter Prescott Webb (1888-1963), a towering figure in Texas and western history and letters, published an abundance of books but for decades the autobiography he'd written late in life sat largely undisturbed among his papers. Webb's remarkable story appears here in print for the first time, edited and annotated by Michael Collins, an authority on Texas history. This firsthand account offers readers a window on the life, the work, and the world of one of the most interesting thinkers in the history, and historiography, of Texas. Webb's narrative carries us from the drought-scarred rim of West Texas known as the Cross Timbers, to the hardscrabble farm life that formed him, to the bright lights of Austin and the University of Texas, where he truly came of age. Fascinating for the picture it summons of the Texas of his youth and the intellectual landscape of his career, Webb's autobiography also offers intriguing insights into the way his epic work, The Great Plains, evolved. He also describes the struggle behind his groundbreaking history of that storied frontier fighting force the Texas Rangers. Along the way, Webb reflects on the nature of historical research, the role that Texas and the West have played in American history, the importance of education, and the place of universities in our national culture. More than a rare encounter with a true American character's life and thought, A Texan's Story is also a uniquely enlightening look into the understanding, writing, and teaching of western American history in its formative years.

During the turbulent years of the Civil War and Reconstruction, a squall of violence and lawlessness swept through the Nueces Strip and the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas. Cattle rustlers, regular troops, and Texas Rangers, as well as Civil War deserters and other characters of questionable reputation, clashed with Mexicans, Germans, and Indians over unionism, race, livestock, land, and national sovereignty, among other issues. In A Crooked River, Michael L. Collins presents a rousing narrative of these events that reflects perspectives of people on both sides of the Rio Grande. Retracing a path first opened by historian Walter Prescott Webb, A Crooked River reveals parts of the tale that Webb never told. Collins brings a cross-cultural perspective to the role of the Texas Rangers in the continuing strife along the border during the late nineteenth century. He draws on many rare and obscure sources to chronicle the incidents of the period, bringing unprecedented depth and detail to such episodes as the ""skinning wars,"" the raids on El Remolino and Las Cuevas, and the attack on Nuecestown. Along the way, he dispels many entrenched legends of Texas history - in particular, the long-held belief that almost all of the era's cattle thieves were Mexican. A balanced and thorough reevaluation, A Crooked River adds a new dimension to the history of the racial and cultural conflict that defined the border region and that still echoes today.