The Men Who Wear the Star: The Story of the Texas Rangers (Modern Library Paperbacks) - Softcover

Even with their sometimes flawed conception of right and wrong, the Rangers earned widespread fame a century and more ago for conducting well-publicized campaigns against such desperadoes as Sam Bass, John Wesley Hardin, and John Selman. Less inclined to seek the spotlight today, the Texas Rangers still operate as an effective law-enforcement unit. In 1997, for example, they figured prominently in the surrender of self-styled "ambassador of the Republic of Texas" Richard McLaren. Robinson examines the checkered career of the Rangers, acknowledging the organization's darker moments while maintaining that the lawmen also did much to lessen violence in a markedly violent time and place. He approvingly cites a Ranger saying of long ago: "No man in the wrong can stand up against a fellow that's in the right and keeps on a-comin'." --Gregory McNamee

Praise for A Good Year to Die

"Charles M. Robinson has aimed at fairness and hit it dead center...[A] fascinating character-centered ranger saga."
-- The Dallas Morning News

"[Told] with scrupulous fairness to both sides...Histories of the Indian wars formerly described events from the government's point of view only, and Mr. Robinson's use of Indian accounts to portray life inside the Sioux government's camp is part of a welcome trend to write a more complete and balanced history."
--The New York Times

"A provocative analysis of the Plains War of 1876 by an established scholar in the field...making sophisticated use of Native American accounts."
--Publishers Weekly

"A record of mutual intolerance, rage, fear, deceit, good intentions and perfectly human blundering. Charles Robinson has done his homework as well as the field work....A book of permanent value to Western history fanatics."
--Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Charles M. Robinson... deftly balances the Rangers' more admirable exploits with darker tales of revenge, looting, and lynching... There is much to admire..."--The New York Times Book Review

"Well done and richly documented, with an impressive bibliography."
--The Washington Post