Most narratives of this colorful story, even Webb's, leave out several important eras in the history of the Rangers -- the Civil War years, for instance, simply don't exist, and there is little acknowledgment of the Reconstruction period, from 1866 to 1874. In addition, though these previous chronicles concerned themselves primarily with the Rangers since their formal organization in 1835, the earlier years, when the "Ranging" defense force was established by Stephen Austin, are significant and exciting. And while most stories about the Texas Rangers treat them uncritically and uniformly as heroes, this was not always the case, to say the least.

The story is filled with marvelous and memorable characters, primarily Major John Jones, who was probably the greatest of all Ranger commanders, all the way down to Sam Bass, one of the most persistent and dangerous of outlaws. As an official arm of the Texas government, the Rangers played a significant and often controversial role in the militant relationship with Mexico.

In the Depression, the Rangers dealt mainly with gangsterism. The Bonnie and Clyde affair, which ended in Louisiana, marked the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. The day of the horse-mounted ranger was over, and that's where this book ends as well.