Chasing Thugs, Nazis, and Reds: Texas Ranger Norman K. Dixon - Hardcover

..".It's tight, well-organized, no-nonsense style only enhances a story that already comes with liveliness built in. Dixon has opened a door and allowed the reader to glimpse a chapter in Texas Ranger history that needs more stories like this one."--Southwestern Historical Quarterly --Southwestern Historical Quarterly "Chasing Thugs, Nazis, and Reds is an exceptionally impressive erudite book that provides considerable insight into the workings of the Texas Rangers in the first half of the twentieth century. Relying on a wide array of previously untapped sources, Kemp Dixon gives us fresh and fascinating drama as we follow Norman K. Dixon through the political passions that consumed much of Texas and the legendary Rangers at the time. This is essential reading that is compelling and captivating. Chasing Thugs, Nazis, and Reds is a gem of a book that is riveting and relevant that will keep you turning the pages. This is Texas history at its best."--Jerry Thompson-- (10/16/2014) "Much of our populations consider Texas Rangers as pursuing cattle and horse thieves thanks to the media representation of this iconic law enforcement group. With Kemp Dixon's biographical study of his father's life and career we appreciate that the Texas Ranger did so much more. The "common criminal" of course required Ranger Norman Dixon's attention but in his career he dealt with enemies of our country who intended much more than theft. He had to deal with the rise of Nazism and the threat to America in the 1930s and '40s; then continued to combat the growing Communist threat. Ranger Dixon's lengthy career in law enforcement revealed by his son Kemp Dixon emphasizes the fact that for Texas to remain safe we continue to need the Texas Rangers."--Chuck Parsons, author of John B. Armstrong: Texas Ranger, Pioneer Ranchmen (Texas A&M University Press, 2007) and "Pidge," Texas Ranger (Texas A&M, 2013)-- (10/13/2014)

Texas Ranger Norman Dixon made the front pages of newspapers, but his rigid sense of integrity prevented him from discussing his cases with his wife or his sons, or anyone else, even decades later. As a Ranger, Dixon broke up the largest oil field theft ring in Texas history, worked to solve the most infamous cold case in Texas history, sought the Phantom Killer, investigated a near-mutiny by cadets and veterans on the campus of Texas A&M, rushed to a rural county to head off a lynching, and kept watch over Texas during World War II. He became the go-to investigator for the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, governors, and the state legislature. During the final years of his career, which coincided with the McCarthy era in the 1950s, he was the chief of internal security, charged with protecting Texans from the Red Menace. Using Ranger Dixon's meticulously-kept diary entries, Kemp Dixon now tells his father's compelling story.