Doug J. Swanson's Books

Cult of Glory

The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers

By: Doug J. Swanson

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Cult of Glory

The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers

By: Doug J. Swanson

“Swanson has done a crucial public service by exposing the barbarous side of the Rangers.” —The New York Times Book Review A twenty-first century reckoning with the legendary Texas Rangers that does justice to their heroic moments while also documenting atrocities, brutality, oppression, and corruption The Texas Rangers came to life in 1823, when Texas was still part of Mexico. Nearly 200 years later, the Rangers are still going--one of the most famous of all law enforcement agencies. In Cult of Glory, Doug J. Swanson has written a sweeping account of the Rangers that chronicles their epic, daring escapades while showing how the white and propertied power structures of Texas used them as enforcers, protectors and officially sanctioned killers. Cult of Glory begins with the Rangers' emergence as conquerors of the wild and violent Texas frontier. They fought the fierce Comanches, chased outlaws, and served in the U.S. Army during the Mexican War. As Texas developed, the Rangers were called upon to catch rustlers, tame oil boomtowns, and patrol the perilous Texas-Mexico border. In the 1930s they began their transformation into a professionally trained police force. Countless movies, television shows, and pulp novels have celebrated the Rangers as Wild West supermen. In many cases, they deserve their plaudits. But often the truth has been obliterated. Swanson demonstrates how the Rangers and their supporters have operated a propaganda machine that turned agency disasters and misdeeds into fables of triumph, transformed murderous rampages--including the killing of scores of Mexican civilians--into valorous feats, and elevated scoundrels to sainthood. Cult of Glory sets the record straight. Beginning with the Texas Indian wars, Cult of Glory embraces the great, majestic arc of Lone Star history. It tells of border battles, range disputes, gunslingers, massacres, slavery, political intrigue, race riots, labor strife, and the dangerous lure of celebrity. And it reveals how legends of the American West--the real and the false--are truly made.

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Page Count

481

Publisher

Penguin

Published Date

ISBN 10

1101979879

ISBN 13

9781101979877

Cult of Glory

The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers

By: Doug J. Swanson

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Cult of Glory

The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers

By: Doug J. Swanson

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481

Publisher

Penguin

Published Date

ISBN 10

1101979879

ISBN 13

9781101979877

Blood Aces

The Wild Ride of Benny Binion, the Texas Gangster Who Created Vegas Poker

By: Doug J. Swanson

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Blood Aces

The Wild Ride of Benny Binion, the Texas Gangster Who Created Vegas Poker

By: Doug J. Swanson

A rip-roaring saga of murder, money, and the making of Las Vegas They say in Vegas you can’t understand the town unless you understand Benny Binion—mob boss, casino owner, and creator of the World Series of Poker. Beginning as a Texas horse trader, Binion built a gambling empire in Depression-era Dallas. When the law chased him out of town, he loaded up suitcases with cash and headed for Vegas. The place would never be the same. Dramatic as any gangster movie, Blood Aces draws readers into the colorful world of notorious mobsters like Clyde Barrow and Bugsy Siegel. Given access to previously classified government documents, biographer Doug J. Swanson provides the definitive account of a great American antihero, a man whose rise from thugdom to prominence and power is unmatched in the history of American criminal justice.

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Page Count

369

Publisher

Penguin

Published Date

ISBN 10

0143127586

ISBN 13

9780143127581

96 Tears

By: Doug J. Swanson

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96 Tears

By: Doug J. Swanson

A mystery caper starring PI Jack Flippo of Dallas, hired by a wealthy widow to nab the stalker of her daughter, Sandra. Or is it stalkers? Quite a few people seem to be after Sandra, a TV starlet with a taste for sex in high-speed conveyances, from cars to trains.

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Page Count

210

Published Date

ISBN 10

0060175117

ISBN 13

9780060175115

Umbrella Man

By: Doug J. Swanson

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Umbrella Man

By: Doug J. Swanson

Rumor has it that a long-lost movie showing a second gunman in the Kennedy assassination exists somewhere in Dallas. Eddie Nickles, an entrepreneur who gleefully leads tourists along the ill-fated motorcade route, offers a quarter-million dollars he doesn't have to anyone who provides the mystery footage. When he drags P.I. Jack Flippo into the mix, it isn't long before both men are running for their lives.

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Page Count

292

Publisher

Berkley

Published Date

ISBN 10

0425174646

ISBN 13

9780425174647

Blood Aces

The Wild Ride of Benny Binion, the Texas Gangster Who Created Vegas Poker

By: Doug J. Swanson

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Blood Aces

The Wild Ride of Benny Binion, the Texas Gangster Who Created Vegas Poker

By: Doug J. Swanson

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Page Count

369

Publisher

Penguin

Published Date

ISBN 10

0143127586

ISBN 13

9780143127581

House of Corrections

By: Doug J. Swanson

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House of Corrections

By: Doug J. Swanson

In this fifth installment of the acclaimed series, Jack Flippo's former mentor, Wesley Joy, calls him from an East Texas jail, claiming to have been set up in a drug bust that left two men dead and his wife missing. When Jack takes his case, he's sent into Wesley's dirty past, complete with a former lover, a shady DEA agent, a burned-out female reporter, and a corpse on every corner.

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Page Count

246

Publisher

Berkley

Published Date

ISBN 10

0425179478

ISBN 13

9780425179475

Book's by Doug J. Swanson

Cult of Glory

Cult of Glory

Cult of Glory

Cult of Glory

Blood Aces

Blood Aces

96 Tears

96 Tears

Umbrella Man

Umbrella Man

Blood Aces

Blood Aces

House of Corrections

House of Corrections

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