The history of law enforcement in the Lone Star State goes back well before photography, dating to Texas' days as part of the Spanish empire. After that Texas became a province of Mexico and for nearly a decade stood among the nations as an independent republic before becoming the 28th state in the Union in 1845. Beyond the contribution to law and order made by constables, sheriffs, town marshals, city police officers, and federal lawmen, Texas is the birthplace of a law enforcement institution unique in the world, the legendary Texas Rangers.

With a selection of fine historic images from his best-selling book Historic Photos of Texas Lawmen, Mike Cox provides a valuable and revealing historical retrospective on this important aspect of Texas history. Remembering Texas Lawmen features more than 125 images of Texas lawmen, bad men (and a few bad women), assorted characters with a law enforcement connection like the legendary Judge Roy Bean, and shots of the places they did their work-for good or bad. Each photograph has a story to tell, and all of the images command attention, many as attention-getting as the business end of a Texas Ranger's .45.

An elected member of the Texas Institute of Letters, Mike Cox is the author of fourteen nonfiction books. Over a freelance career of more than forty years, he has also written hundreds of articles and essays for a wide variety of publications.

His most recent book, The Texas Rangers: Wearing the Cinco Peso, 1821-1900 (2008) received excellent reviews and has been a best-seller among books about the Old West.

A former award-winning reporter, he was a longtime spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety and later communications manager for the Texas Department of Transportation before retiring in 2007.

These days he devotes full time to his freelance writing, while finding time to pursue a little fishing and hunting. He lives in Austin with his wife and daughter.