One Ranger Returns

A retired Texas lawman shares stories of serial killers, labor strikes, and more, in this sequel to the runaway bestselling memoir One Ranger. No Texas Ranger memoir has captured the public’s imagination like Joaquin Jackson’s One Ranger. Readers thrilled to Jackson’s stories of catching criminals and keeping the peace across a wide swath of the Texas-Mexico border and clamored for more. Now in One Ranger Returns, Jackson reopens his case files to tell more unforgettable stories, while also giving readers a deeply personal view of what being a Texas Ranger has meant to him and his family. Jackson recalls his five-year pursuit of two of America’s most notorious serial killers: Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole. He sets the record straight about the role of the Texas Rangers during the United Farm Workers strike in the Rio Grande Valley in 1966–1967. Jackson also describes the frustration of trying to solve a cold case from 1938, the brutal murder of a mother and daughter in the lonely desert east of Van Horn. He presents a rogue’s gallery of cattle rustlers, drug smugglers, and a teetotaling bootlegger named Tom Bybee, a modest, likeable man who became an ax murderer. And in an eloquent concluding chapter, Jackson pays tribute to the Rangers who have gone before him, as well as those who keep the peace today. “To the good fortune of us all, Jackson is back again, this time with One Ranger Returns. Packed full of compelling accounts of his dealings with smugglers, thieves, murderers, and other lawmen, this long-anticipated sequel promises to rival the original. This man is a true American hero. Don’t miss reading about his adventures.” —Cowboy Magazine

A retired Texas Ranger recalls a career that took him from shootouts in South Texas to film sets in Hollywood. When his picture appeared on the cover of Texas Monthly, Joaquin Jackson became the icon of the modern Texas Rangers. Nick Nolte modeled his character in the movie Extreme Prejudice on him. Jackson even had a speaking part of his own in The Good Old Boys with Tommy Lee Jones. But the role that Jackson has always played the best is that of the man who wears the silver badge cut from a Mexican cinco peso coin, a working Texas Ranger. Legend says that one Ranger is all it takes to put down lawlessness and restore the peace: one riot, one Ranger. In this adventure-filled memoir, Joaquin Jackson recalls what it was like to be the Ranger who responded when riots threatened, violence erupted, and criminals needed to be brought to justice across a wide swath of the Texas-Mexico border from 1966 to 1993. Jackson has dramatic stories to tell. Defying all stereotypes, he was the one Ranger who ensured a fair election—and an overwhelming win for La Raza Unida party candidates—in Zavala County in 1972. He followed legendary Ranger Captain Alfred Y. Allee Sr. into a shootout at the Carrizo Springs jail that ended a prison revolt and left him with nightmares. He captured “The See More Kid,” an elusive horse thief and burglar who left clean dishes and swept floors in the houses he robbed. He investigated the 1988 shootings in Big Bend’s Colorado Canyon and tried to understand the motives of the Mexican teenagers who terrorized three river rafters and killed one. He even helped train Afghan mujahedin warriors to fight the Soviet Union. Jackson’s tenure in the Texas Rangers began when older Rangers still believed that law need not get in the way of maintaining order, and concluded as younger Rangers were turning to computer technology to help solve crimes. Though he insists, “I am only one Ranger. There was only one story that belonged to me,” his story is part of the larger story of the Texas Rangers becoming a modern law enforcement agency that serves all the people of the state. It’s a story that’s as interesting as any of the legends. And yet, Jackson’s story confirms the legends, too. With just over a hundred Texas Rangers to cover a state with 267,399 square miles, any one may become the one Ranger who, like Joaquin Jackson in Zavala County in 1972, stops one riot. “A powerful, moving read . . . One Ranger is as fascinating as the memoirs of nineteenth-century Rangers James Gillett and George Durham, and the histories by Frederick Wilkins and Walter Prescott Webb—and equally as important.” —True West “A straight-shooting book that blow[s] a few holes in the Ranger myth while providing more ammunition for the myth’s continuation. . . . Reads more like a novel than [an] autobiography.” —Austin American-Statesman

Former Texas Ranger H. Joaquin Jackson starts off his memoir with the story of the toughest moment in his life, watching his son stand trial for murder. That case wasn't the only one that was personal for the Ranger, since he considered himself a part of the community he watched over.

No Texas Ranger memoir has captured the public's imagination like Joaquin Jackson's One Ranger (coauthored with David Marion Wilkinson) and One Ranger Returns (coauthored with James L. Haley). Readers thrilled to Jackson's stories of catching criminals and keeping the peace across a wide swath of the Texas-Mexico border—and made these books instant classics of Texas history. Responding to a demand for a special collectors' edition, the University of Texas Press is pleased to issue this two-volume limited edition of One RangerandOne Ranger Returns. The volumes are handsomely bound in red quarterbinding with photographically illustrated boards, and each volume is signed by Joaquin Jackson on a special limitation page. The slipcase features an image of Jackson's personal Texas Ranger badge stamped in silver. Five hundred numbered copies of the One RangerLimited Edition will be issued.

Meet Ranger! He's a time-traveling golden retriever who has a nose for trouble . . . and always saves the day! Ranger has been trained as a search-and-rescue dog, but can't officially pass the test because he's always getting distracted by squirrels during exercises. One day, he finds a mysterious first aid kit in the garden and is transported to the year 1850, where he meets a young boy named Sam Abbott. Sam's family is migrating west on the Oregon Trail, and soon after Ranger arrives he helps the boy save his little sister. Ranger thinks his job is done, but the Oregon Trail can be dangerous, and the Abbotts need Ranger's help more than they realize!

The epic story of one of America's greatest soldiers, Ranger Hall of Fame member Gary O'Neal, who served his country for forty years Chief Warrant Officer Gary O'Neal is no ordinary soldier. For nearly forty years, he has fought America's enemies, becoming one of the greatest Warriors this nation has ever known. Part Native American, O'Neal was trained in both military combat and the ways of his native people, combining his commitment to freedom with his respect for the enemy, his technical fighting skills with his fierce warrior spirit. From his first tour in Vietnam at seventeen to fighting in both Gulf wars, O'Neal was nothing less than a super soldier. A minefield of aggression bordering on a justice-seeking vigilante, O'Neal kept fighting even when wounded, refusing to surrender in the face of nine serious injuries and being left more than once. O'Neal earned countless military honors as a member of the elite Army Rangers corps, a founding member of the legendary first Department of Defense antiterrorist team, a member of the Golden Knights Parachuting Team, and more, devoting his life to training the next generation of soldiers. His unbelievable true stories are both shocking and moving, a reminder of what it means to be a true American hero. In O'Neal's own words, he "wasn't born a warrior"—life made him one. American Warrior will serve as inspiration for American men and women in uniform today, as well as appeal to the countless veterans who served their country alongside O'Neal.

In this 3rd installment of The Rangers, David must face new challenges, both personally and as the Ranger. Keeping other guys away from his girlfriend Alexis seems like a full time job and someone, or several someones, are trying to kill him at every turn. Have they found out that he's the new Ranger? Is it an old family grudge? Alexis is fighting off would-be suitors and her father's insistence that she return home to Normal. She knows her future is in Castle with David but will she ever convince her father of that? Danger, Magic, Romance, and the importance of Friends and Family, whether it's the one you're born with or the one you forge for yourself. Experience it all with The Rangers.

THE FIRST NOVEL IN ACE ATKINS’ NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING QUINN COLSON SERIES. “In Quinn Colson, bestselling author Ace Atkins has created an American hero in a time when we need him.”—C. J. Box After years of war, Army Ranger Quinn Colson returns home to the rugged, rough hill country of northeast Mississippi to find his native Tibbehah County overrun with corruption, decay, meth runners, and violence. His uncle, the longtime county sheriff, is dead. A suicide, he’s told, but others—like tomboy deputy Lillie Virgil—whisper murder. In the days that follow, it’s up to Colson to discover the truth, not only about his uncle, but about his family, his friends, his town, and himself. And once it’s discovered, there’s no going back for this real hero of the Deep South.