Swanson’s ‘Cult of Glory” paints a complex picture of the storied Texas Rangers

The Texas Rangers, fabled guardians of the Texas frontier, were almost absurdly brave, extraordinarily tough and, as Doug Swanson notes in his new book about the legendary lawmen, “practically immune to danger.” Battling fierce Comanches, chasing outlaws, serving as swashbuckling soldiers during the Mexican War and patrolling the perilous border with Mexico, they risked their lives as a matter of course. Some lost their lives.

But the oldest - and certainly the best known - state law enforcement agency in the country, also have been, in Swanson’s words, “violent instruments of repression.” They terrorized Mexicans and Mexican Americans, hunted runaway slaves for bounty, busted unions, enforced school segregation and, Swanson writes, “served the interests of the moneyed and powerful while oppressing the poor and disenfranchised. They have been the army of Texas’s ruling class.”

The author of Cult of Glory: The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers makes the compelling case that both characterizations are correct.