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Texas Rangers #1
The Buckskin Line
On the Texas frontier in the 1840s, a red-haired child whose family has been massacred is captured by a Comanche war party led by a great warrior named Buffalo Caller. The boy is rescued by Mike Shannon, a Mexican War veteran riding with a "ranging company" of Texans dedicated to protecting settlers against Indian raids, and is adopted by the Shannon family. In 1861 his adoptive father is bushwhacked and murdered and the boy--now known as Rusty Shannon--follows Mike's footsteps, riding to Fort Belknap to join the Rangers. Texas is now in the throes of secession and Union sympathizers are treated as traitors. One such "traitor" is Lon Monahan, whose family befriends Rusty. Lon Monahan's particular enemy is Colonel Caleb Dawkins, a former army officer and Confederate zealot determined to conscript the Monahan boys and drive Lon and all Unionists out of Texas. When the youngest Monahan attempts to escape Texas and wait out the war, Dawkins's thugs hang him and his father. Rusty Shannon carries heavy burdens. Both of his families are dead; he is haunted by Mike Shannon's murder, thinks he knows the culprit and intends to kill the man; his new-found friends have been lynched; and his duties as a Ranger conflict with his sense of justice. And he is fated to meet again the Comanche warrior whose band killed his family and took him captive over two decades ago: Buffalo Caller.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published July 30, 1999
36 people are currently reading
621 people want to read
About the author
Elmer Kelton
194Ìýbooks243ÌýfollowersElmer Kelton (1926-2009) was award-winning author of more than forty novels, including The Time It Never Rained, Other Men’s Horses, Texas Standoff and Hard Trail to Follow. He grew up on a ranch near Crane, Texas, and earned a journalism degree from the University of Texas. His first novel, Hot Iron, was published in 1956. Among his awards have been seven Spurs from Western Writers of America and four Western Heritage awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. His novel The Good Old Boys was made into a television film starring Tommy Lee Jones. In addition to his novels, Kelton worked as an agricultural journalist for 42 years. He served in the infantry in World War II. He died in 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
February 27, 2022
I felt I needed a break from non-fiction with something easy and entertaining, so what could be better than a western. I've heard a lot about Elmer Kelton, but this is the first time I read his book.
It was a solid, fast-paced western. The story takes place in Texas before and during the Civil War and traces the interconnected fates of the two main characters: a young man who as a baby was taken prisoner by Comanches but was soon freed by Texas rangers and the Comanche warrior who took him prisoner and planned to raise him as his son.
An audiobook version narrated by masterful and prolific George Guidall is excellent, as usual.
It was a solid, fast-paced western. The story takes place in Texas before and during the Civil War and traces the interconnected fates of the two main characters: a young man who as a baby was taken prisoner by Comanches but was soon freed by Texas rangers and the Comanche warrior who took him prisoner and planned to raise him as his son.
An audiobook version narrated by masterful and prolific George Guidall is excellent, as usual.
February 3, 2015
I'm pretty picky about the westerns I read, they have to be really well written and a very good plot. I grew up on John Ford and John Wayne westerns, so my standards are high... I've tried reading a lot of westerns that fell very flat. This is definitely NOT one of them. This is an excellent book! Very well written, gripping, and well researched. Both plot and characters were well developed. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I wish I had discovered Elmer Kelton's books sooner! This is the first Kelton book I have read, just happened upon it and decided to give it a chance. Extremely glad I did! Loved it and I plan on reading the rest of his Texas Ranger series! Can not praise this wonderful Western enough!
March 11, 2020
I am like several other reviewers.
Surprised I enjoyed this book as much as I did. Kept pushing it back on my list, pretty sure I didn't want to read a subpar western that included Indian raids, volunteer rangers and civil war all in one. Apologies to my husband and to my reading friend for questioning your recommendation.
This author has me impressed and I look forward to the next in the TX Ranger series.
Surprised I enjoyed this book as much as I did. Kept pushing it back on my list, pretty sure I didn't want to read a subpar western that included Indian raids, volunteer rangers and civil war all in one. Apologies to my husband and to my reading friend for questioning your recommendation.
This author has me impressed and I look forward to the next in the TX Ranger series.
December 19, 2019
I'm surprised that I liked this book as much as I did. Texas rangers, Indian wars, unionist versus confederate, and conscript dodging are not things I normally enjoy reading about so I'm left with Kelton's storytelling. He draws you in by making his characters so interesting and keeps you reading by adding little twists along the way. Diving into the next book a.s.a.p.
February 20, 2021
After his adoptive father is murdered, Rusty takes the advice of Preacher Webb and joins the Texas Rangers, where he has some boring adventures before things get very interesting. Life teaches young Rusty everything from love to heartache. Overall I thought this one was rushed but still worth the read.
December 29, 2020
Awesome book about life in frontier Texas during the civil war. I loved how the book told about Comanche Warriors, Settlers, and the Texas Rangers. This is book one in a series and I plan on reading all of them. Elmer Kelton is a treasure that I am lucky to have stumbled upon.
February 22, 2015
"He was Comanche, and he was known among the People as Buffalo Caller. Once in a time of hunger, when he was a fledgling on one of his first hunts, the older and more experienced men had ridden their horses to exhaustion without scaring up so much as one lone, lame bull. But Buffalo Caller, riding alone, had heard a faint and distant bellow. He had responded in the voice of a buffalo, and the buffalo had answered him....."
This is the opening of The Buckskin Line by Elmer Kelton. The story opens with a Comanche raid on a settlement, in which a red-haired boy of about three years is taken captive, and later rescued. The boy grows up to be Rusty Shannon, a young man who after the murder of his foster father, likely by a man who disagreed with the foster father's opinion that the state of Texas ought not secede from the Union, is sent off to join a ranging company, the forerunner of the Texas Rangers.
Rusty must fight not only hostile Indians, but pro-Confederacy zealots who want to hang all who support the Union. And it's not only himself he must protect, but the Monahan family, the family of his girl, Geneva, who like his own foster father are pro-Union.
This book is a fine Western by an author who won the Spur Award more than once, and is a great book to start with if you are new to Westerns. It's a clean read and does not contain anti-Christian biases--- in fact, one character in the book is a circuit-riding preacher.
This is the opening of The Buckskin Line by Elmer Kelton. The story opens with a Comanche raid on a settlement, in which a red-haired boy of about three years is taken captive, and later rescued. The boy grows up to be Rusty Shannon, a young man who after the murder of his foster father, likely by a man who disagreed with the foster father's opinion that the state of Texas ought not secede from the Union, is sent off to join a ranging company, the forerunner of the Texas Rangers.
Rusty must fight not only hostile Indians, but pro-Confederacy zealots who want to hang all who support the Union. And it's not only himself he must protect, but the Monahan family, the family of his girl, Geneva, who like his own foster father are pro-Union.
This book is a fine Western by an author who won the Spur Award more than once, and is a great book to start with if you are new to Westerns. It's a clean read and does not contain anti-Christian biases--- in fact, one character in the book is a circuit-riding preacher.
July 29, 2021
I thought I liked historical fiction. Now I know I do.
Elmer Kelton writes characters. And those characters, who you come to trust, love, despise, or at least appreciate, find themselves in larger-than-life historical moments. While it’s fiction, it’s also the realest thing a person can read.
This is a first in a trilogy that I plan on finishing. There are layers in history. And as Elmer himself once said, great moments in history are usually about a set of people wanting to change the status quo while another fights to preserve it. He added, “neither is always right, neither is always wrong.� History is always a mix where values often align even when ideas don’t, heroes have flaws, and criminals have a conscience.
Elmer Kelton writes these tales masterfully. And the whit shared through dialog is like reading all the wisdom of your grandparents.
In this tale, there are many heroes and villains across all spans of people woven into the story of the birth of the Texas Rangers. Enemies can respect one another. Duty means something. And everyone values a second chance because second chances are so rare on the Texas Plains.
Elmer Kelton writes characters. And those characters, who you come to trust, love, despise, or at least appreciate, find themselves in larger-than-life historical moments. While it’s fiction, it’s also the realest thing a person can read.
This is a first in a trilogy that I plan on finishing. There are layers in history. And as Elmer himself once said, great moments in history are usually about a set of people wanting to change the status quo while another fights to preserve it. He added, “neither is always right, neither is always wrong.� History is always a mix where values often align even when ideas don’t, heroes have flaws, and criminals have a conscience.
Elmer Kelton writes these tales masterfully. And the whit shared through dialog is like reading all the wisdom of your grandparents.
In this tale, there are many heroes and villains across all spans of people woven into the story of the birth of the Texas Rangers. Enemies can respect one another. Duty means something. And everyone values a second chance because second chances are so rare on the Texas Plains.
September 19, 2018
This wasn't so much of a book as an dramatization of the book with different characters in different voices. I hesitated to add it to my list of "books", but I could say the same thing about audio books in general.
This "book" didn't totally captivate me, but I did appreciate a bit of a history lesson about the early days of the statehood of Texas and the political climate of the state just before and during the Civil War. Add in the ongoing hostilities between the Native Americans and Texans and it makes for an intriguing, if brief, trot through a small piece of American history.
This "book" didn't totally captivate me, but I did appreciate a bit of a history lesson about the early days of the statehood of Texas and the political climate of the state just before and during the Civil War. Add in the ongoing hostilities between the Native Americans and Texans and it makes for an intriguing, if brief, trot through a small piece of American history.
March 5, 2012
Good western fiction by Elmer Kelton, one of the best western writers in existence. Story of the Texas Rangers, one young ranger in particular, during the Civil War when many young men joined the rangers instead of being conscripted into the Confederate army. Recommended to any fan of western fiction!
November 8, 2008
Terrible. I enjoy quality Western fiction, Haycox and McMurtry come to mind, but this stuff is so poorly written as to be laughable. Texas Governor Rick Perry says this writer is a "Texas Legend," which doesn't bode well for the citizens of Texas!
March 27, 2018
“The Buckskin Line� is a fiction book set in the pre American Civil War west. The theme is justice.
The author Elmer Kelton brought the main character Rusty to life in the Texas Frontier with the includement of Indian raids and Confederates running amok. He is captured as a toddler by Indians. Then saved by a man named Mike, who’s killed by southerenes later. Rusty joins the Rangers. To know the rest you’ll have to read “The Buckskin Line.�
Rusty is a very serious character. Solely because of his past. He doesn’t screw around. He gets things done this way. He is also kind. Which is good to be if you would ever want people on your side in a fight. And he is also intelligent. Which is required to live in the west where there knowledge is key.
I loved the western scenario that the author puts in place and the characters. The writing style doesn’t suit me for the book did seem to drag on for a long while. But the adventure that take place are like other most other books but in this book the author gives it a good spin that could interest some readers.
The author Elmer Kelton brought the main character Rusty to life in the Texas Frontier with the includement of Indian raids and Confederates running amok. He is captured as a toddler by Indians. Then saved by a man named Mike, who’s killed by southerenes later. Rusty joins the Rangers. To know the rest you’ll have to read “The Buckskin Line.�
Rusty is a very serious character. Solely because of his past. He doesn’t screw around. He gets things done this way. He is also kind. Which is good to be if you would ever want people on your side in a fight. And he is also intelligent. Which is required to live in the west where there knowledge is key.
I loved the western scenario that the author puts in place and the characters. The writing style doesn’t suit me for the book did seem to drag on for a long while. But the adventure that take place are like other most other books but in this book the author gives it a good spin that could interest some readers.
August 2, 2019
This is the first in a series of books about the Texas Rangers through history. It deals with a pair of connected characters who barely know each other exist: a Cherokee warrior and little red headed boy on a ranch.
The time period is about twenty to thirty years, going from a time before the Civil War to during it, and the tensions this brings. There are several people for whom the war causes them to become unhinged, and in Kelton's usual style nobody is really all that good or in the end all that bad, just driven to various actions mostly by their environment.
Overall its pretty solid but I believe Kelton is so busy trying to make things "realistic" and "historical" that he loses the storytelling and it feels more like a series of related episodes than a story.
The time period is about twenty to thirty years, going from a time before the Civil War to during it, and the tensions this brings. There are several people for whom the war causes them to become unhinged, and in Kelton's usual style nobody is really all that good or in the end all that bad, just driven to various actions mostly by their environment.
Overall its pretty solid but I believe Kelton is so busy trying to make things "realistic" and "historical" that he loses the storytelling and it feels more like a series of related episodes than a story.
October 7, 2019
Entertaining western about early days of the Texas rangers. Kelton is a writer who aptly develops plot and character with a modicum of words. I have read about the same era in Texas history in Dead Man's Walk by MacMurtry. Both books address the early days of the Texas Rangers, primarily through their battles with the Comanche. The MacMurtry book is superior to this slim volume by Kelton but I still found The Buckskin Line to be enjoyable and engrossing. The Buckskin Line is also about Texas during the Civil War, a time which is not really addressed in the MacMurtry work. The Buckskin Line is a engaging story about an exceptional time in Texas history.
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This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 4, 2018
My favorite western righter. This is book 1 in a series he was righting when he died. I'm on a quest to read all his books and am looking forward to this series. For me this one started slow. Took awhile to get into. And I dreaded every time he went to the Comanches view. It didn't flow with the book. Almost like he was trying to hard to show you what a Comanche would be thinking back then when they were still very fierce.
December 16, 2019
I need novel to absorb my mind after reading about homosexual behavior. This novel did that. I told about the creation of the iconic Texas Rangers. When the book talks about Camp Belknap, the Colorado River and Jacksboro, I realized these are site that are familiar to me. Kelton is a very good story teller. I did enjoy the book
December 19, 2020
Anything Kelton writes is worth reading. He blends facts of Texas history with a good story. Unlike many writers, where the good guy always gets the girl, his stories are realistic in that the hero meets with lots of tragedy. This "Ranger" series takes you through quite a few years of Texas history.
May 21, 2022
Manly men doing the right thing, lots of bad guys doing bad things, brave women (God help me I would not have survived that time period with no amenities and draped in tents for dresses), Indians who were trying their best to live in their own way ... oh yes, this one was full of all that and a lot of fun to read.
June 15, 2017
Real close to a 4.
Kelton writes with shades of grey, meaning not the usual black and white, good guy, bad guy of many westerns. More realistic for it, which is good in contrast to many westerns, which have their own charms for different reasons.
Book two of series awaits reading soon.
Kelton writes with shades of grey, meaning not the usual black and white, good guy, bad guy of many westerns. More realistic for it, which is good in contrast to many westerns, which have their own charms for different reasons.
Book two of series awaits reading soon.
November 28, 2022
I read a hardback over the past few evenings. It started off slow but improved as I got into it. The characters were thin and the plot was somewhat jerky but I'll try another from this author eventually, perhaps after I revisit a couple of McMurtry's much better novels.
May 16, 2024
3-1/2 stars
This is a good story about a Texas ranger in the early days and moving into the time when Texas joined the confederacy ... with all that entailed. I would recommend it to anyone teenage and above.
This is a good story about a Texas ranger in the early days and moving into the time when Texas joined the confederacy ... with all that entailed. I would recommend it to anyone teenage and above.
December 17, 2024
Book One in a series about the TX Rangers. Outstanding. In the last week I have also read over a wedding in Newport RI, a quilt guild in Pennsylvania, and a small town in IL. The TX have by far been the most entertaining!
May 30, 2017
I enjoyed reading about Rusty and all that transpired to make him a young man. I look forward to reading more about Rusty.
February 2, 2018
Western, U.S. west, 19th C., Texas Rangers, Indians,
June 11, 2018
I haven't read many books of this genre, and I enjoyed this one. I prefer books with more suspense and hope Kelton adds a bit in the other books of this series.
March 11, 2019
This is only the second western that I have read. The other also by Elmer Kelton. Enjoy the characters and the story line. Will breaking more of his books.
September 4, 2019
Amerikkka!!! Fuck Yeah!!! Hokey as fuck. If you like cheap, idiotic John Wayne westerns then this is for you but if decent writing is your thing, avoid this like the plague.
April 19, 2020
Brings the old west to life.
April 22, 2020
Episodic in nature enough to slow the pacing, yet has strong characters and a storyline that ties up nicely. Lots of great Texas history in the pages.
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