{"product_id":"the-last-sheriff-in-texas-a-true-tale-of-violence-and-the-vote-9781640091269","title":"The Last Sheriff in Texas: A True Tale of Violence and the Vote","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA small-town election pits a violent if popular sheriff against those eager to see his iron rule end in this \"riveting\" historical true crime story about a landmark standoff between old time justice in 1940s small town Texas and a modern, more inclusive vision of the West (\u003ci\u003eDallas Morning News\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBeeville, Texas, was the most American of small towns―the place that GIs had fantasized about while fighting through the ruins of Europe, a place of good schools, clean streets, and churches. Old West justice ruled, as evidenced by a 1947 shootout when outlaws surprised popular sheriff Vail Ennis at a gas station and shot him five times, point-blank, in the belly. Ennis managed to draw his gun and put three bullets in each assailant; he reloaded and shot them three times more.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTime magazine's full-page article on the shooting was seen by some as a referendum on law enforcement owing to the sheriff's extreme violence, but supportive telegrams from all across America poured into Beeville's tiny post office. Yet when a second violent incident threw Ennis into the crosshairs of public opinion once again, the uprising was orchestrated by an unlikely figure: his close friend and Beeville's favorite son, Johnny Barnhart.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBarnhart confronted Ennis in the election of 1952: a landmark standoff between old Texas, with its culture of cowboy bravery and violence, and urban Texas, with its lawyers, oil institutions, and a growing Mexican population. The town would never be the same again.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Last Sheriff in Texas\u003c\/i\u003e is a riveting narrative about the postwar American landscape, an era grappling with the same issues we continue to face today. Debate over excessive force in law enforcement, Anglo-Mexican relations, gun control, the influence of the media, urban-rural conflict, the power of the oil industry, mistrust of politicians and the political process―all have surprising historical precedence in the story of Vail Ennis and Johnny Barnhart.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Counterpoint LLC\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/13\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781640091269\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.55lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.20h x 5.50w x 0.90d","brand":"James P. McCollom","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36663888412828,"sku":"9781640091269","price":14.41,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_f8e38b0c-cd2d-42dd-9f32-ae767e15b03b.jpg?v=1603905302","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-last-sheriff-in-texas-a-true-tale-of-violence-and-the-vote-9781640091269","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}