Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

It's been an awful long time since I read a Western but "dad gum it, I'm glad I did"! Excellent writing, compelling adventure, and excellent character development gives insight into an era one hard believe existed. The bravery, endurance, and resilience of these people is astounding!

Great account of Texas Rangers Company F

If you are into Texas history, the Texas Rangers form a large part of it. Initially formed as a protective unit, they transitioned into law enforcement with little accountability for their efforts. Red Sky Morning tells the story of Sargent James Brooks who found himself in multiple gunfights, three of which were fatal. The story centers around the manhunt for the Conner family in Sabine County along the Louisiana Border, but also shows how the Rangers were tasked to move across the state on a moments notice. Pappalardo does a great job chronicling Brooks’ story and the many folklore characters he meets along the way.

I’ve always been interested in the history of the Texas Rangers. Red Sky Morning was a good read and has got me started on reading more about them. My only criticism of Red Sky Morning would be that at times the book was hard to follow because of the way the narrative jumped around. Otherwise I completely enjoyed the book.

The history of the Texas Rangers has long been one of a legacy. But they didn't always have the best reputations, and were not without scrapes and legal troubles.

This book follows Texas Ranger Company F, which was rather interesting on its own. There was a lot of history there, and many legal scrapes that the men found themselves in. I enjoyed the background that was given on each one, as much as was possible, and giving as much as they could without dropping anything that might be needed for drawing conclusions.

Overall, interesting book. There were a few places where I felt it bogged down a bit, but truly, it was enjoyable and kept me interested enough to keep reading and finish out the book. There were a few surprises in there, which I am not going to give away. Also, I found that some of the names were familiar to me from other areas of reading, or research that I had done for some of the courses that I am teaching.

With narrative that reads like historical fiction and a sensitivity toward the problematic aspects of the history of the Rangers, this informative and entertaining look into the famous and infamous Texas Rangers of the late 19th century is a great read for historians, Texans, and lovers of the old west.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.

This was an interesting and well researched book about part of history I knew very little about. I didn’t care for all of the footnotes, but I really liked learning of the Texas Rangers

Real Rating: 4.5* of five, rounded down

I'll start by lauding what other readers have liked least about this book: It is a mosaic of multiple stories, and intentionally so. The design of a history that's focused on a story, not a biography, is to collate the fascinating pieces and ugly, disfiguring truths that make up the whole picture of the moment in question...it's meant to be taken in piece by piece, and assembled in one's mental theater as a whole image of The Defining Conflict.

To that end, we meet the main main, James Brooks, as he surveys Cotulla, Texas, on the day he joins the Texas Rangers in 1883. Author Pappalardo begins, then, at a beginning...but we're going to see other beginnings as we go along. We'll see the last of active Rangers Captain Brooks in Cotulla, too...and that's the kind of symmetry I appreciate in a story.

What happens between those two events, not hugely distant in time, is...a lot. A great deal more than one person's life generally holds, and a great deal less as well. Brooks, in his entire life of genuine service to the people of Texas, never shook a debilitating addiction to alcohol and an equally debilitating inability to form sustaining, intimate friendships with anyone. This included, as it is so sad to say, his own family. He was married to one woman his entire adult life. There is no record or indication in any recorded memory that he found any sense of companionship or happiness in their union, nor did she express any enduring or undying affection for her husband. His children were dutiful, and always played their role of help and sustenance for him, but again there is not any record of them feeling hero-worship for their truly outsized and outstanding father.

Brooks County, named for the Captain (as he always preferred to be referred to and addressed despite having the options of Representative or Judge), was a creation of the remarkable man's efforts to drag a thousand square miles of mesquite scrub and caliche and its few thousand residents out of the hands of a corrupt Democratic party machine in the early twentieth century. He was, at the time, a State Representative, and his life-long campaign of fair treatment for Spanish-speaking people and law-abiding souls of all skin colors and ethnicities made Brooks County and Falfurrias havens of good, equitable Democratic-party led government.

In the chapter dedicated to this end-of-life résumé of Brooks, there are résumés of his cohorts in Company F, all of whom were with the Captain during the main action of the book...the take-down of the Sabine County-based Conner crime family in the weird swampy Louisiana-like East Texas world. It was a long, tense fight on the logistical and legal levels, and Author Pappalardo doesn't stint on the practical details. There are a LOT of people in this story. There are a LOT of names that appear, then aren't mentioned for a while, then reappear with minimal fanfare. There is a Dramatis Personae that can be bookmarked or hyperlinked in your ereader, and I strongly suggest that any readers do that very thing. I found it hugely helpful and on occasion, to my utter lack of surprise, its completeness and thoroughgoing explanatory notes were interesting enough to make me want more books about this century-old vanished culture.

What I want from histories is a sense of the why of things. The what is great as a launchpad but I really treasure whys. In that arena, Author Pappalardo is a strong deliverer. I was never at a loss for reasons to pick up the book. I took it at a measured pace, a chapter a week and a section or two a day. I think this is the most likely technique to give the story its full room to expand and its details to slot into each others' proper settings. Since I am from Texas, I was prepared with some ideas of the roles of lawmen, and specifically the Texas Rangers, in the state's history. Since I am from that part of Texas, it was even more of a sense of homecoming, of learning my own family's cultural past. That added soupçon of personal connection is likely the source of the extra half-star I hung on the book.

It really is extra, as I can understand from others' responses to the read. Quite a few readers were unable to see the nature of the story being told and that is squarely on the author's shoulders. His stated aim is to answer this quote from one N.A. Jennings, a former Texas Ranger of that time and later an author in his own right:
<blockquote>"Near everyone has heard of the Texas Rangers, but how many know what the Rangers really are, or what are their duties? In a general way, everyone knows they are men who ride around on the Texas border, do a good deal of shooting, and now and then get killed or kill someone. But why they ride around, or why they do the shooting, is a question which might go begging for an answer for a long time without getting a correct one."</blockquote>
This expectation being set in the Introduction, I can see a history buff feeling let down. This isn't the book that answers that question. It doesn't seem to me to be particularly likely to, set up as it is to tell the story of a group of Rangers involved in one of the organization's formative operations. The personal focus falls most heavily, and in my opinion correctly so, on the Captain, James A. Brooks, and the people he led come in for bits and snatches of attention. But the light that shed on the Texas Rangers as a whole, while bright and revealing, does not get even partway to explaining the entire late-1800s period of the organization's existence that Author Pappalardo indicated it will.

But what the book actually does is, to my way of thinking at least, as valuable or even more so. It traces the roots and the branches of a conflict between the law-and-order forces of state power and the flouters of same whose actions and influence were seriously detrimental to the community as a whole's ability to live their lives free from fear and danger. There are people worse than police today, there were in the 1880s, and the worst is when those terrible actors turn the police into their henchmen. Along come the Texas Rangers of Company F to reset the expectations of the community for law enforcement...and they do.

For the better.

It might not be what we think of in terms of law enforcement's role today, after Rodney King's beating and George Floyd's and Ahmaud Arbery's murders at their hands; but it is true, it happened, and it's worth considering that if it seemed impossible to the people of Sabine County in 1885, and it wasn't, that it isn't impossible today either.

That deserves my attention, and my praise.

September 15, 2022 – Finished Reading5 Show more
Review It took a while for me to start enjoying the book. Something changed, but I can't define what. Possibly the style is different than I was expecting. It is regional history, covering a specific area, and certain cases, there are biographical sketches. I read an electronic copy for review purposes courtesy of Net Galley

A slow moving history of the Texas Ranger’s manhunt of the Connor family outlaws. The book goes into great detail about insignificant things, like the height and weight of various characters. I found it disjointed and hard to follow.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A lot of research clearly went into the writing of Red Sky Morning, but unfortunately the storytelling isn't quite as well done. The overabundance of footnotes, jumping around, and flat narrative made it a bit of a chore to read. Not quite as exciting as I would have expected, given the source material. It's not a bad book, just not great.

A well researched history of Texas Ranger Company F in the late 1880's as they worked to bring law to Texas as the free range lifestyle was coming to and end. In addition to fighting fence cutters the company got involved in an East Texas family feud that drew out for years. It took a little while for me to get into it but once I got a little way into it I really enjoyed the story of Company F as they fought public perception as well as lawlessness while keeping up the high standards that the Texas Rangers were known for in the 1880's. Follow up on these men as a new class of Ranger negatively impacted the reputation of the Rangers and the men of Company F moved onto other phases of life with varying degrees of success. I received a free e-ARC of this book from the publisher.

Between 1886 and 1888, Sergeant James Brooks, of Texas Ranger Company F, was engaged in three fatal gunfights, endured disfiguring bullet wounds, engaged in countless manhunts, was convicted of second-degree murder, and rattled Washington, D.C. with a request for a pardon from the US president. This is the true story of how the Texas Rangers cam into existence, with Sgt. James Books story being the anchor for this story. If you like true accounts of law enforcement, then this is the book for you.

RED SKY MORNING-Joe Pappalardo

I received this to my Kindle for the purpose of review. I did not finish the book. I found the book too repetitive with one adventure reading like the last.

While this is a true story of Texas Ranger in 1866-1868, I think my four adult boys and their nine boys would enjoy this story more than I did.

I quit because I could not get any traction in the book. It was well written but too long and many details seemed repetitious.

If you have boys at home from age 7 and up or are a man yourself, you would most likely enjoy it.

I don't DNF many books. Especially history books. But an honest review is an honest review. I just couldn't plow my way through this one.

Very interested in the subject matter. And I tried, but the writing style just didn't work for me. Too rambling in places....weird shifts in others.....just not readable for me. I got about halfway through and stopped.

I expected something along the lines of Tom Clavin's books. This fell short of that mark. Interesting subject, but the writing just didn't work for me. Not every book is for every reader. This one is not for me.

Moving on .....

Company F

In 1886 a young man named Brooks that had wandered and tried his hand at many trades enlisted in the Rangers company F. I don't believe he ever expected the types of crimes he would have to deal with and the range war between two families that put the whole unit in peril.

They settle many disputes and captured many a bad man, but the confrontation with the Conner family who were being hunted for their part in a feud that went way too far was the longest and nastiest confrontation of all.

This is a story mainly of one Ranger and his company. It tells the good, the bad and the ugly of the Ranger unit to which Brooks was a part of .It tell the history of that era in which the feuds became bloody and out of control between the homesteaders and the cattle men who wanted free range and the homesteaders wanting to fence in the land.

It was a little confusing at times as to what year I was reading about as it did skip about a bit. It was still a very good story and I enjoyed reading it.

Thanks to Joe Pappalardo for writing a great story, to St. Martin's Press for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available to me to read and review. All statement are my own words.

I was introduced to author JOE PAPPALARDO, by his publisher St. Martins, in July 2020 with his book INFERNO. It was a WW II nonfiction story about a Medal of Honor award winning bomber crewmember.
Once again, thanks to St Martins and the author, I have read another book by this author on an entirely different subject, the “Wild West” of the late 19th Century, especially in the state of Texas (United States). The book is RED SKY MORNING.
The book takes on the famous law enforcement agency known as the Texas Rangers in its formative years 1870 to 1890. The book focuses on several of the Rangers and their careers. Among the featured rangers are Sergeant James Brooks and Captain William Scott. Their careers kept them in close proximity for years.
In 1881, in Cotulla, Texas, Brooks witnessed Ranger Lee Hall face off against six armed men and, without violence, subdue them. At the time Brooks was still a young man trying to find a career. He decided, then and there, to enlist in the Texas Rangers. He became a Private in Company F for the grandiose salary of $45 per month. He had to pay for his supplies such as a horse, weapons, ammunition, etc. from that salary.
From its inception when Texas was a republic (before joining the United States in 1845), the focus of the Rangers wavered before finally becoming the mounted law enforcement agency at the time this book covers. By 1883, the focus of the Rangers settled at catching criminals.
Brooks’ first assignment was to arrest five men accused of fence cutting in Frio. At the time, the crime was a misdemeanor subject to a fine only. By 1884, thanks, in part, to an investigation by Brooks, the crime becomes a felony with a punishment of one to five years’ jail time. It was a serious offense for the ranchers whose fences were destroyed.
One ongoing investigation that the book describes involves the shooting of Kit Smith and Eli Low who are related to each other and to Willis Conner and his family. Conner and other family members are accused of the double murders and are arrested. Before their trial, members of the family and others free the five men from jail. The family goes into hiding in the woods and swamps of Northeast Texas for years. The story reminds me of the story of Robin Hood in England in the 13th Century.
Captain William Scott made his name in law enforcement as a civilian! As a young man in his early 20s in the late 1870s, Scott takes it upon himself, as a civilian, to infiltrate the gang of famed/notorious gangster, Sam Bass. Bass had made a name for himself, in the state of Nebraska (middle of the United States), through a bank robbery that netted his gang $65,000 in gold coins (today worth $1.4 million). Scott gave the Rangers the information, unasked, that Bass was in Round Rock, Texas. A troop of Texas Rangers, without Scott, trapped and killed Bass. That is how Scott became a Ranger.
I enjoyed reading this look at a part of U.S. history that is legendary but little known. There is action to satisfy those readers. There is history to satisfy those readers. It is well written and an easy read. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
GO! BUY! READ!

I was excited to read this book about the Texas Rangers, and got a galley copy to preview.

I found it a little difficult to follow as the story bounced a round a bit with time and people. It took me a while to finish it because I kept going onto the web to gain a better understanding of the Rangers in the book.

Historically it was interesting to understand the conflicts that made Texas what it is today. Many of the disputes that the Rangers had to get involved in were created as people tried to carve out their piece of the state and fence themselves in and others out.

I had hoped the story would go a little deeper into the day to day lives of the Rangers but there isn't a lot of history that can be researched it appears. Much of the story was pieced together from newspaper clippings of events involving F Company but it made it pretty difficult to follow.

Overall, there were some great chapters with some interesting stories but the readability of this one was tough.

I enjoy non-fiction stories of the west in the late 19th century and looked forward to Pappalardo’s true story of the Texas Ranger Company F but I found it difficult to get truly invested in the story. The wealth of historical detail did not flow in the story line making for choppy and slow reading.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC. Pub. Date: June 28, 2022.
#NetGalley #RedSkyMorning

I read an ARC Netgalley copy of this book.

I've read a fair amount about the Texas Rangers, the Indian Wars, and the western frontier in general. I found Red Sky Morning to be one of the more difficult reads.

I enjoyed the detail and Pappalardo's style, especially as he gives the Rangers a fair shake for the time between 1870s and 1920s. I found the narrative, however, to be somewhat convoluted and difficult to follow at times. It could be hard to keep the personalities straight, and despite the book's subtitle, it wasn't clear to me exactly what the book was supposed to be about. It seemed much more about a specific case, and the killers, families, and lawmen involved, rather than a dive into more than 40 years of Ranger history.

Still, there were some powerful takeaways, and I'll be looking into his other works.