Weiss (emeritus history, government, and criminal justice; Jamestown Community College) has written many articles and essays on the law enforcement body and on western law and order generally. Here he takes the career of McDonald (1852-1918) as a case study to examine the transition in the Texas Rangers from citizen soldiers handling mobs and strikers to professionals carrying out investigative and administrative aspects of police work within an organized structure. This change took place within the context of, and as part of, the economic and political changes that Texas as a whole was undergoing at the turn of the century, he says. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)