S. E. Spinks has had a lifelong fascination with Texas and Western history. Law on the Last Frontier is the culmination of four years of research in archival collections across the state as well as Hill s personal papers. An active member of the Former Texas Rangers, she lives with her husband and sons in New Braunfels, Texas."

In a career forged in the saddle on scout duty along the Rio Grande, Arthur Hill witnessed dramatic changes from 1947 to 1974. Whether inspecting brands, deterring smugglers of everything from cattle to candelilla wax, or giving chase on horseback across merciless terrainoften into MexicoHill found himself immersed in a world that straddled centuries as well as cultures.

Promotion to sergeant of Ranger Company B in 1957 took Hill to Dallas, where he brought his brush-country methods to bear on urban crimes. Yet after only a year, and despite the opportunity for advancement to captain, Hill knew his place and heart were back in the Big Bend, where rampant drug trade was altering his beloved border irrevocably from an existence that had remained the same for hundreds of years.

From the Lone Star Steel strike, the KKK, and the "Dixie Mafia" to problems of drug-running and illegal immigration, Arthur Hill's life as a Texas ranger illuminates present issues as well as the past.