SOCIAL SCIENCES

Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde

by John Boessenecker
Thomas Dunne: St. Martin's. Apr. 2016. 528p. photos. notes. index. ISBN 9781250069986. $29.99; ebk. ISBN 9781466879867. CRIME
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Lawyer and police officer-turned-crime historian Boessenecker (When Law Was in the Holster) sheds new light on Texas history in resurrecting the life and legends of Texas Ranger Frank Hamer (1884–1955). Brought up as a cowhand in the Texas Hill Country region, Hamer was appointed to the Texas Rangers in 1906. Boessenecker uses a chronological approach to detail Hamer's law enforcement career which included at least 52 gunfights and 21 deaths. Though most famed for tracking down and killing Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow in a 1934 shootout, Hamer's career included standing up to crooked politicians and violent lynch mobs along with the routine busting of Prohibition-era border smugglers. Hamer's reputation as a cowboy lawman raised the professional jealousy of even famed FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.
VERDICT This biography is more comprehensive than the sole previous one, H. Gordon Frost and John H. Jenkins's I'm Frank Hamer: The Life of a Texas Peace Officer, and is recommended as a basic text for early 20th-century Texas history. Through the extraordinary experiences of this straight-shooting, honor-bound lawman, Boessenecker sets forth a critically needed look at the history of Texas lynchings and race riots while presenting evidence for the murderous nature of Bonnie and Clyde that foreordained their violent deaths.
Reviewed by Nathan Bender, Albany Cty. P.L., Laramie, WY , Apr 15, 2016
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