The Texas Rangers: Wearing the Cinco Peso, 1821-1900 Paperback – Illustrated, September 15, 2009

I bought this book for my son. He is really enjoying it. He was happy to learn it was a two-book series. It is the telling of the story of a young Texas Rangers and what being a Ranger meant over the years. .

This is a well written book that contains a wealth of factual and historical information about the 1st century of the Texas Rangers. It contains thorough references that allows additional study on a topic, should one choose. This book is historical in nature and does not contain fantasy stories of Ranger Lore and Legend. It does, in a number of places, show how the legend was born from actual events.I would not recommend this book for a "First Time" Ranger reader. It is aimed for the student of the Rangers who is trying to expand his knowledge. A final note is the title talks of wearing the Cinco Peso which was not worn until the mid twentieth century, a time not covered by this book.

The book is written from a perspective that gives an idea how the Rangers operated in the frontier days of Texas. The author uses journals and newspaper articles from the time period to bring the stories to life. He also covers many side details of interest like how weapons tech improvements changed the Rangers operations and methods.Only negative was I didn't get any impressions that the author had even slight empathy towards the natives who were frequently being killed or fought in the ranger stories. He seemed to share the opinion of the time expressed in news articles, which was basically "how dare these savages raid and kill our expanding settlements. senseless violence!" As if the fact that the natives' land and food sources was being stolen went completely over their heads.Overall the book was pretty interesting; while i was initially only interested in the frontier Indian wars the rangers took part in, i may have to pick up the second volume at some point to explore how the rangers transitioned into a more law enforcement role from minuteman militia origins.

To this native Texan, Mike Cox's two volumes of apparently thouroughly researched history of the Texas Rangers are captivating reading. This first volume is particularly a page-turner. You can see how the Ranger "myth" would evolve from the real-life bravery and bold actions of the early Rangers. Cox sticks to the facts and writes with engagement. Reading this book and then the next that picks up the Ranger history from 1900 to modern times really impresses upon me the increasing level of political influence and to some extent, control, over the Rangers as the years have progressed. Like other aspects of life, eh? The Rangers were/are a brave group of individuals who are dedicated to law enforcement, and their history deserves to be read and appreciated. Forget the TV show - this book and its successor are reality.

“The Texas Rangers” by Mike Cox Mike Cox does a pretty good job with this topic. He explains that “rangering” first became prominent in Texas about 1821 and went through several flavors before the men of this ilk were officially referred to as “Texas Rangers”. He explains this was due to the progression of Texas from Mexican state playing host to Gringo settlers to independent republic to member of the United States to member of the Confederate States to reinstatement as a member of the United States. He plods through it all detailing how the goals and responses of rangers changed depending on fluctuating threats to the frontier, whether Comanches, Comancheros, Apaches, Mexican bandits and military, Americano outlaws, cattle rustlers, train robbers, Labor strikers and assorted ne'er-do-wells. Thankfully, he injects enough thrilling storyline about John Wesley Hardin, Sam Bass and other dime-novel luminaries to keep it all interesting. Cox stops at 1900 (though the Texas Rangers are still a functioning group today) which is probably a good stopping point as the “Wild” had pretty much been taking out of the Wild West then and the frontier was mostly just memories.

This book is chock full of detailed Ranger history, but is sometimes difficult to follow because of the way Cox jumbles the characters. Be ready to continually flip back and forth to figure out who he is referring to as characters are reintroduced by out of context by last name only. In addition, his attempts to be witty with historical information were off putting to me. For example, when describing the mob lynching of two criminals in one town, he referred to it as a"suspended sentence."...really?

This book picks up where Cox's first Ranger book left off. It gives a clear picture of the trials the Rangers had to put up with because of politics entering their jobs. These men were dedicated to doing the job they were given and overcoming the hurdles put in their way. They were now a united organization, at first under the Governor of Texas (some better than others) until politics and egos took the organization out of the Governor's hands and put them under the Texas Highway Patrol. This nearly ended the organization of Rangers for a number of reasons.... some personal, some political, and some egotistical.The book gives a good picture of both men in the Ranger Organization and the obstacles they had to contend with doing their jobs. It shows the dedication of men who thought first of job and second of self. Times have changed and how the Rangers had to change was explained too. They can't be the same Rangers they started out being because times have changed and this book gives a clear picture of why and how this happened. I enjoyed it and highly recommend it!

Not as action packed as I thought it would be. A little slow. Interesting stories of normal men. Insight into cases you had heard about.