Images of America: Texas Gunslingers presents the concept of Texas as the Gunfighter Capital of the West. Indeed, after the cowboya Texas creationthe most colorful and romanticized frontier figure is the gunfighter. Nothing is more dramatic than life and death conflict, and the image of men in big hats and boots brandishing six-shooters and Winchesters has been portrayed in countless Western novels, movies, and television shows. Texas made an enormous contribution to gunfighter lore. Texas Rangers were responsible for the evolution of Sam Colts revolving pistol, key weapon of gunfighters. More shoot-outs occurred in Texas than in any other state or territory. More gunfighters were from Texas, including kill-crazy Wes Hardin and Killin Jim Miller, the Wests premier assassin. There were more blood feuds in Texas than in any other state. Frequently, gunplay erupted in towns such as Tascosa, El Paso, Fort Worth, and Lampasas, where four lawmen were killed in an 1873 saloon battle.

Describes the exploits of some of the men in the Old West, including John Wesley Hardin, Billy the Kid, Doc Holliday, and James Butler Hickok, who earned reputations for being deadly with a gun.

Joel Thornton is a retired US deputy marshal now living a quiet rancher's life outside the Texas town named in his honor. Days after welcoming his daughter, Elizabeth, home after seven years back east in Philadelphia, an old fugitive attacks the Tilted T Ranch seeking revenge and Thornton's cattle. Wounded in the ensuing gunfight, Thornton calls upon his daughter to find his old partner, former US Deputy Marshal Ben Chance, informing her, "Chance will know what to do." The young woman's journey leads her on an adventure that exposes her to the dangers of the Old West, including an Indian attack on her stagecoach, where a mysterious gunslinger emerges from the hills and saves the coach. Enchanted by Elizabeth and her quest, the gunslinger joins her in the search for her father's former partner, who unbeknownst to them has been wounded in a gunfight, having been saved by a young brash gunslinger on a secret mission of his own. Together, the two young gunslingers join the aged former Marshal Chance in the hunt for the outlaws who shot Elizabeth's father and stole his herd.

Sifting factual information from among the lies, legends, and tall tales, the lives and battles of gunfighters on both sides of the law are presented in a who's who of the violent West

The early Texans were a breed apart. Outlaws and lawmen, ranchers and cowpokes, merchants and preachers, housewives and harlots - all were hard-working, independent, tough people of the frontier. In The Gunfighters, legendary U.S. Border Patrol agent, pistol shooter and big-game hunter Colonel Charles Askins brings hundreds of the colorful characters of early Texas vividly to life--McNelly's Rangers; "The Merry Outlaw" Sam Bass; Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker and the Texas Ranger who caught them, Captain Frank Hamer; the first Border Patrolmen; Comanche and Apache Indians; and many others.

Examines the ways in which the frontier myth influences American culture and politics, drawing on fiction, western films, and political writing