The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 85, July 1981 - April, 1982 Page: 220

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

sheriff in Montgomery County during the 1930s, he became a state
highway patrolman. Then in 1946 he joined "Texas' elitist law en-
forcement group" (p. 66), rising in Ranger ranks to sergeant, captain,
and in 1969 Senior Captain. While contemplating retirement in 1974,
Peoples decided to embark on a similar but new career by accepting
an appointment as United States Marshal for the Northern District of
Texas. Every year on duty extends this remarkable stint of public
service.
Writing biography is never an easy task, but it is even more difficult
when the subject is still living. James M. Day, former state archivist
and currently an English professor at the University of Texas at El
Paso, has done a good, workman-like job, however. From manuscript
materials, interviews, newspapers, and public documents he has pieced
together an accurate account of Peoples' career. From a considerable
knowledge of Texas history he has been able to fit his subject into the
tenor of the times. And in an easy-flowing, readable style he has told
his story in a straightforward and enjoyable manner.
This work would have been even better if the author had addressed
several problems. Readers need to realize how far law enforcement
officers have progressed professionally over the past fifty years. Most
were poorly trained and ill-equipped in the 193os, receiving little in-
struction in effective police procedures, gathering of evidence, and
testifying in court. Until 1964 most officers did not understand the
meaning of civil rights or its ramifications. So in many ways Clint
Peoples' career is the personification of this evolution in law enforce-
ment. Far more disappointing for this reviewer is the failure of the
author to bring his subject fully to life. Without a doubt Clint Peo-
ples has many strengths-courage, tenacity, honor-but he also has
human frailties. Possibly the tremendous amount of material that Day
had to sift through and condense had something to do with this some-
what uneven treatment.
But, overall, Captain Clint Peoples, Texas Ranger, represents the
best study of a Texas law enforcement figure to the present time.
Texas Christian University BEN H. PROCTER
"Man Over Money": The Southern Populist Critique of American
Capitalism. By Bruce Palmer. (Chapel Hill: University of North
Carolina Press, 198o. Pp. xviii+311. Acknowledgments, intro-
duction, appendixes, notes, bibliography, index. $19.50.)
"Man Over Money" is an ambitious and important book. Bruce

220