Texas Ranger: The Epic Life Of Frank Hamer, The Man Who Killed Bonnie And Clyde

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The New York Times Best Seller!“Frank Hamer, last of the old breed of Texas Rangers, has not fared well in history or popular culture. John Boessenecker now restores this incredible Ranger to his proper place alongside such fabled lawmen as Wyatt Earp and Eliot Ness. Here is a grand adventure story, told with grace and authority by a master historian of American law enforcement. Frank Hamer can rest easy as readers will finally learn the truth behind his amazing career, spanning the end of the Wild West through the bloody days of the gangsters.” --Paul Andrew Hutton, author of The Apache WarsTo most Americans, Frank Hamer is known only as the “villain” of the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde. Now, in Texas Ranger, historian John Boessenecker sets out to restore Hamer’s good name and prove that he was, in fact, a classic American hero. From the horseback days of the Old West through the gangster days of the 1930s, Hamer stood on the frontlines of some of the most important and exciting periods in American history. He participated in the Bandit War of 1915, survived the climactic gunfight in the last blood feud of the Old West, battled the Mexican Revolution’s spillover across the border, protected African Americans from lynch mobs and the Ku Klux Klan, and ran down gangsters, bootleggers, and Communists. When at last his career came to an end, it was only when he ran up against another legendary Texan: Lyndon B. Johnson.Written by one of the most acclaimed historians of the Old West, Texas Ranger is the first biography to tell the full story of this near-mythic lawman.

Hardcover: 528 pages

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (April 26, 2016)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 125006998X

ISBN-13: 978-1250069986

Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.7 x 9.7 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (123 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #5,998 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #4 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Law Enforcement #34 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Specific Groups > Crime & Criminals #84 in Books > History > Americas > United States > State & Local

A small Texas town in the ’30’s gripped by mob fever driven by racial hatred, almost the whole populace crowded around the courthouse, most hellbent on lynching the accused African-American in the jail, the rest there to watch the “fun.” An automobile forces its way through the crowd into the public square. Several men get out, big, tough, armed with shotguns and submachine guns. One goes to the courthouse steps where he sits alone, brandishing a Tommy gun, a hard look on his face. The news whips through the mob: “That’s Frank Hamer!” And with that the mob slinks away like the cowardly beast that it is, deprived of its courage and bravado by the presence of just one man, Frank Hamer, the toughest Texas Ranger that ever lived.This is just one of the many incredibly dramatic incidents that made up the life of Frank Hamer. John Boessenecker has written an accurate, deeply researched biography that doesn’t flinch from the unsavory, downright awful aspects of Texas history and the genuine character flaws of his subject. Like every other human being, Hamer was a product of his time and place. He grew up tough working as a cowhand and farming at a time when Texas was little removed from its frontier origins and his beliefs and views were affected by that. The author makes no bones about the fact that Hamer was a white supremacist, as indeed most Americans were quite unapologetically until recent times. Yet he also points out how Hamer differed from many of his contemporaries in his concern for the underdog. This is illustrated by the many times when Hamer fought off lynch mobs intent on murdering accused African-Americans, often at great risk to his life. Again, the author doesn’t turn away from the raw and hateful racism that was so endemic in Texas and the Deep South at that time.

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