Jericho's Road

By Elmer Kelton

Book Overview

When Texas Ranger private Andy Pickard is assigned to help patrol the Texas-Mexico border country he rides directly into a deadly feud. At odds are two land and cattle barons - Jericho Jackson, whose great spread lies just north of the Rio Grande, and Guadalupe Chavez, whose domain lies south of the river.The men are alike in only one respect: their hatred for each other, a hate born at the time of the Alamo and the U.S.-Mexican War, when Mexican lands were confiscated by ruthless Americans. The old rivals have turned to preying on each others' cattle with resulting bloodshed on both sides of the river.Between the two camps, Big Jim McCawley's ranch seems almost symbolic of the opportunity for the people of the two nations to live together. McCawley is married to Guadalupe Chavez's sister, Juana -a fact that does not ingratiate him to either the Chavez or Jackson faction.To Andy Pickard, who as a child was taken captive by Comanches, old prejudices are familiar territory, but the Jackson-Chavez war is flaring out of control by the time he reaches the Ranger camp on the border in the company of fellow Ranger Farley Brackett. The two Rangers find themselves caught up in the feud, risking arrest for crossing the river into Mexico, and risking death for not heeding the warning sign at the edge of Jericho Jackson's domain: This is Jericho's Road. Take the Other.Inevitably, the cauldron boils over and the forces of Jericho Jackson and "Lupe" Chavez meet in bloody combat. In the midst of this battle on Mexican soil are Andy Pickard -- longing to court and marry Bethel Brackett and live a peaceful life as an ex-Ranger -- and Brackett himself, falling in love with Teresa, Big Jim McCawley's half-Mexican daughter."Jericho's Road," sixth book in Kelton's acclaimed Texas Ranger series, typifies "The right blend of action, drama, romance, humor and suspense" that "Publishers Weekly" said has made Kelton "a master of both plot and character development."

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765309556
• ISBN13: 9780765309556
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Forge
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Boosk Six Texas Rangers Series

Andy Pickard, Badger Boy, is on the Mexico/Texas border and there he becomes involved in a family feud across the International border between two alike men. Alike in that they both want things there own way--Jericho Jackson and Guadalupe Chavez. Factor in a third ranch run by Big Jim McCawley and it sets things up for violence, violence that reaches war. This is typical Elmer Kelton fair--a good read full of history and authenticity.

Border Clash

For the past several decades, Texas author Elmer Kelton has been one of the finest writers of western novels out there and, although he turns 81 in just a few days, he doesn't seem to be slowing down much. But because so much of what passes for western fiction today is cartoonish in nature, and actually more suitable to the graphic novel genre, Kelton is less known than he deserves to be. In fact, the Western Writers of America have given him seven Spur awards, a record, and have voted him "the greatest Western writer of all time" over better known writers such as Louis L'Amour and Zane Grey. Jericho's Road is book six of Kelton's Texas Ranger series and it is set in south Texas along the Texas-Mexico border just a few years after the Civil War. The Rangers faced the near impossible task of enforcing a border that was resented by Mexican citizens and that served as little more than a line to be crossed from both sides of the river by raiding parties on the cattle herds belonging to the other. When young Ranger Andy Pickard is reassigned to South Texas, he finds himself in the middle of a conflict between Jericho Jackson, owner of most of the land and cattle just north of the river, and Guadalupe Chavez who owns a similar spread on the south side of the Rio Grande. The clash between these two powerful men is fated to end in violence and there is little that a few Texas Rangers can do to prevent that from happening. But the beauty of an Elmer Kelton book is what happens along the way. As the best historical novelists do, Kelton recreates the past by focusing on the daily problems and concerns of the ordinary people who lived those times, real people with all of the prejudices, ambitions and weaknesses that we recognize in ourselves today. There is plenty of gunfire in Jericho's Road, and as exciting an ending as any fan of western writing could hope for, but I'll especially remember the book for its insights into an 1870s border clash that largely explains the tensions still felt along the Rio Grande today.

Jericho's Road

The book arrived in a timely manner, well packaged and in near new condition.