Description
Book SynopsisIn the late nineteenth century, the Texas Rangers and Canada's North-West Mounted Police were formed to bring the resource-rich hinterlands at either end of the Great Plains under governmental control. This book presents a comparative history of these two most famous constabularies in the world.
Trade Review"Graybill may be an academic, but his accessible and breezy writing style is anything but.
Policing the Great Plains should have popular appeal on both sides of the 49th parallel and will challenge widely held beliefs. It is thoroughly researched, amply endnoted, and contains an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources."—Mark Dworkin,
Wild West Historical Association Journal"Relevant issues, fascinating changes, solid research, and insightful views make this work one that will help quiet a perennial question: What ever happened to frontier history?"—Richard A. Van Orman,
Journal of American History"Fascinating and important."—Sheila McManus,
Western Historical Quarterly"By identifying the common threads that unite the histories of the Rangers and Mounties, as well as the disparate strands that set them apart, Graybill's study underscores the value of comparative history."—Michel Hogue,
Great Plains Quarterly"The is much to be learned by Graybill's comparative approach not only about police units but about frontier governments and the emergence of plains statehood. This is an enjoyable study, easy to read and well worth the investment. It should be on the shelves of every western American historian."—Gary Clayton,
Montana, the Magazine of Western History"[Graybill's] work emerges as one of the most carefully crafted examples of comparative and transnational history published in recent years, and it stands as a model study for the other frontier law enforcement agencies around the world."—Michael L. Tate,
Journal of Military HistoryTable of ContentsAcknowledgements
List of Illustrations
Introduction: “Similar Organizations in Other Parts”
Chapter 1: Instruments of Incorporation
Chapter 2: Subjugating Indigenous Groups
Chapter 3: Dispossessing Peoples of Mixed Ancestry
Chapter 4: Defending the Cattleman’s Empire
Chapter 5: Policing the Industrial Frontier
Epilogue: “Deeds, Real and Imagined”
Notes
Bibliography
Index
