Forget TV & the Movie Myths: This is the story of the Real Texas Rangers

New Book Review by Steve Warren, kotv.com TEXAS RANGER -- two words that are found on a circular-shaped badge with a large star in the center. A badge customarily made from a Mexican

Wednesday, January 17th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

New Book Review by Steve Warren, kotv.com

TEXAS RANGER -- two words that are found on a circular-shaped badge with a large star in the center. A badge customarily made from a Mexican silver peso. But what created the "mystique" of the Texas Rangers was the man who stood behind the badge. The Texas Ranger captured the imagination of the American public like no other individual. When Texas was born, the Rangers were born out of the necessity to protect the frontier from hostile Indians and notorious outlaws.

In his new book, â€œThe Men Who Wear The Star: The Story of the Texas Rangers,â€ Charles M. Robinson tells the story of the Texas Rangers very well. Based on new material and with the encouragement of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame in Waco, Robinson tells the story of the Texas Rangers from its inception as a â€œRangingâ€ defense force established by Stephen F. Austin to the present day work of the Rangers as an up-to-date detective unit. He paints the picture for the reader of how ordinary men when called upon to defend Texas would do so, even under the tough monetary constraints of the Texas Republic and later Texas, the state. You follow the evolution of the Rangers as a force to defend the frontier, to the cavalry units of the Confederate States Army, and as a modern police force.

In 1935, Walter Prescott Webb first told about them in his classic â€œThe Texas Rangers.â€ However, Webb left out significant parts of Ranger history. Now itâ€™s significant, exciting and colorful story is told again, bigger and better by the critically acclaimed author of â€œA Good Year to Die.â€

The Men Who Wear the Star: The Story of the Texas Rangers
By Charles M. Robinson III
Random House
New York

An avid Civil War history buff who accidentally found this book, (and he's glad he did) Steve Warren is a writer-producer for kotv.com.