{"product_id":"the-last-sheriff-in-texas-a-true-tale-of-violence-and-the-vote","title":"The Last Sheriff in Texas: A True Tale of Violence and the Vote","description":"\u003cp\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 (Dallas Morning News). Beeville  Texas  was the most American of small townsthe 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. Time magazines full-page article on the shooting was seen by some as a referendum on law enforcement owing to the sheriffs extreme violence  but supportive telegrams from all across America poured into Beevilles 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 Beevilles favorite son  Johnny Barnhart. Barnhart 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. The Last Sheriff in Texas 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 processall have surprising historical precedence in the story of Vail Ennis and Johnny Barnhart.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44945254219829,"sku":"ByrdShop_1619029960","price":33.63,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781619029965.jpg?v=1769880081","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-last-sheriff-in-texas-a-true-tale-of-violence-and-the-vote","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}