Rawhide Ranger, Ira Aten: Enforcing Law on the Texas Frontier Contributor(s): Alexander, Bob (Author) |
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ISBN: 1574413155 ISBN-13: 9781574413151 Publisher: University of North Texas Press OUR PRICE: $29.66 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: May 2011 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Law Enforcement - History | United States - 19th Century - History | United States - State & Local - Southwest (az, Nm, Ok, Tx) |
Dewey: B |
LCCN: 2011013576 |
Series: Frances B. Vick |
Physical Information: 1.3" H x 6.3" W x 9.2" (1.70 lbs) 452 pages |
Themes: - Chronological Period - 19th Century |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Winner of the Best Book Award from the Wild West History Association, 2012. The preponderance of Texas Ranger treatments center on the outfit as an institution or spotlight the narratives of specific captains. Bob Alexander aptly demonstrated in Winchester Warriors: Texas Rangers of Company D, 1874-1901 that there is merit in probing the lives of everyday working Rangers. Aten is an ideal example. The years Ira spent as a Ranger are jam-packed with adventure, border troubles, shoot-outs, solving major crimes--a quadruple homicide--and manhunts. Aten's role in these and epochal Texas events such as the racially insensitive Jaybird/Woodpecker Feud and the bloody Fence Cutting Wars earned Ira's spot in the Ranger Hall of Fame. His law enforcing deeds transcend days with the Rangers. Ira served two counties as sheriff, terms spiked with excitement. Afterward, for ten years on the XIT, he was tasked with clearing the ranch's Escarbada Division of cattle thieves. Aten's story spins on an axis of spine-tingling Texas history. Moving to California, Ira was active in transforming the Imperial Valley from raw desert into an agricultural oasis. Unmistakably he was public spirited and committed to community betterment. Relying on primary source documents to build a platform for this meticulously researched and comprehensive biography with 1000 endnotes and 100 remarkable old-time photographs, Alexander gives us Ira Aten in the round--evenhandedly--the true story of a Ranger tough as rawhide. |