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2??8Book Reviews357 practices—andjewish traditions" (back cover) . Motivated by economic opportunity, SouthernJews inhabited "a region not famous for cherishing pluralism" (p. 309). They often made a number ofaccommodations "to fit into dieir surroundings" (p. 2gg). For some, these adaptations included abandoning traditional religious practices in favor ofthe Reform movement "with its English prayers and Christian-based elements" (p. 299) and also accepting the necessity of doing business on the Sabbath (Saturdays). Others intermarried with gentiles and began to attend Christian churches. By assimilating to a greater or lesser degree,Jews in the South once again proved "thatJudaism can endure in die most ominous conditions" (p. 2). The authors disagree as to whether a distinctive Southern Jewish identity still exists, because die "mercantile and village way of life is dying" (p. 326). Despite this debate, diey argue that SoudiernJewry is alive and well. Adanta, for example, has become a "center ofAmericanJewish life" (p. 294) and has experienced an increase in die number of Orthodox congregations. Even more significandy, despite the stagnatingJewish population in die United States overall, the number ofJews in die Soudi has doubled in the lastseventyyears. These newcomers to the Sunbelt are urban professionals lured by economic opportunities and senior citizens seeking to retire. As one audior hypothesized, these new SouthernJews will adapt but in different ways than earlier generations. They "will find dieirAmerican,Jewish and Soudiern identities becoming intertwined like a challah [braided egg bread]" (p. 325). JewishRootshas limited material direcdy related toTexas butoffersvaluable information and insights into die history ofjews in the Soudi. Any reader should be able to find somediing ofinterest in the impressive variety of topics covered in the andiology. University ofTexas at BrownsvilleHarriett DeniseJoseph Lone StarLawmen: The Second Century oftL· Texas Rangers. By Robert M. Utley. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Pp. 416. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography , index. ISBN 0195154444. $30.00, cloth.) While innumerable volumes ofTexas Rangers histories grace the retail bookshelves , very few have attempted to examine the more modern era of this fabled group of lawmen. Noted frontier historian Robert Utley has produced the most comprehensive modern work in Lone Star Lawmen: TL· Second Century of the Texas Rangers, the second volume of his Rangers history. The result of years of archival research and coundess interviews widi active and retired Texas Rangers, Lone Star Lawmen extends the work of the original Rangers historical standard, The Texas Rangers: A Century ofFrontier Defense by Walter Prescott Webb (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1935; Austin: University ofTexas Press, 1965). Udey places criticism where he feels it warranted but generally finds that the twentieth-century Rangers operated with efficiency and effectiveness. He begins by describing how during the early 1 900s the Rangers declined in numbers, as well as in proficiency and in public respect. Between 1910 and 1915 people from El Paso to Brownsville were upset with the Rangers and some oftheir actions. For example, Udey relates the politics ofthe 1915-1916 BanditWar and how the conduct ofsome 358Southwestern Historical QuarterlyJanuary ofthe men tainted the Texas Rangers' image. He also examines Rangers operations by region during these early years, a mediod diat keeps the action well organized. Rangers still rode into action on horses during diese years but often called in reinforcements via automobile. The deadly rivalries between such men as Big Bend's Joe Sitter and bandit Chico Cano make for entertaining reading. Udey dien follows the Rangers through the racial riots, prohibition, oil boom, labor unrests, and gangster eras diat they encountered over die following decades. He documents the unrest of the 1920s during die gubernatorial run ofMa and Pa Ferguson, when die Rangers' funding and existence was direatened. The reign of succeeding governors is covered as the author experdy shows die effects ofpolitics on the Rangers' reputation. In 1935, die Rangers combined with the highway patrol in die newly created Department ofPublic Safety. Struggling through its first years in diis role, the Texas Rangerforce received able leadership in 1 938 when Director Homer Garrison took over, instituting new crime scene processes and training programs diat strengthened Ranger effectiveness. Udey details how Garrison's respected leadership transformed the Rangers into a regionally distributed force of professional peace officers who were able to...

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