Book features scenes taken from the life of the author’s great-grandfather and his fight against the Texas Rangers

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, UNITED STATES, November 30, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A historical action-adventure thriller, “Ghost of the Rio Grande,” by Don Allen Holbrook and Dr. Gilberto (Beto) Garcia has recently been published by Two Knights One Horse Publishing and is now available for purchase on Amazon.

“Ghost of the Rio Grande” is set in the years 1914-1919 and includes the turmoil of the Mexican Border War, Tejano persecution, World War I and the previous global pandemic – the 1918 influenza pandemic (or Spanish flu). It is a fictionalized account based on real events, including why the United States invaded Mexico and how Germany manipulated the Southern border in an attempt to keep the United States out of World War I.

The book features scenes taken from Garcia’s great-grandfather’s tragic ordeal with the Texas Rangers, who forced him to reluctantly become a wrongfully accused fugitive, during their oppressive period of Tejano (Mexican American inhabitants of Southern Texas) injustice and suppression of civil liberties.

Garcia collaborated with Holbrook, a number one best-selling author, when he discovered both of their grandparents had been involved in events of that era along the border.

In the story, Fabriciano Garcia, known as the Ghost, is forced to protect his family after the hacienda where he works gets attacked by Texas Rangers, who are hired to take Tejano land by crooked ranch owners and supported by even more crooked Texas politicians.

The ranch owners and politicians claim that the Tejano land deeds are invalidated. But their motive is the Texas oil boom and the wealth it represented to large landowners.

Garcia, an ex-gunfighter who hung up his pistol for his family, fights back. He is made public enemy number one by the Texas Rangers after he kills a Ranger while defending his family. The locals nickname him the Ghost (El Fantasma) because he rode against the Rangers while becoming the public face of the Tejano opposition to Texas injustice and was never shot, captured or harmed.

The backdrop to the exciting “Ghost of the Rio Grande” is the little-known Border War between the United States and Mexico, the result of a treaty between Mexico and Imperial Germany. The treaty incited the United States by paying the Mexicans in gold for raids across the border by Pancho Villa in order to keep the United States out of World War I.

President Wilson sent General Black Jack Pershing to squash the Mexicans. Caught up in this undeclared war is ranch hand Garcia. He becomes a local legend as he evades, harasses and punishes the corrupt Rangers and thwarts the Germans’ plan to keep the U.S. out of the war to end all wars.

Hundreds of Tejanos were hung and murdered wrongfully by the Texas Rangers during this period. The legal thuggery built up so much public resentment that the politicians and future governor eventually had to disband the Rangers because they were felt to be a menace to society.

Garcia meets some of the most colorful characters from that time period, from mafiosos running a Texas border town, to the infamous Pancho Villa, to a president and a future prime minister.

“Ghost of the Rio Grande” has received four- and five-star reviews on Amazon. One reviewer said, “This is a fun, fast read that intertwines fictional and nonfictional characters with real-life events. You will enjoy this read while learning some aspects of history that are conveniently left out, such as the Tejanos’ battles with the Texas Rangers ... and the Rangers weren’t the good guys.”

Another reviewer called the book “a deeply rich story that you will remember” and wrote, “‘Ghost of the Rio Grande’ is many things. It is an adventure, a thriller and a historical drama of epic proportions. It details a part of history that is deeply overlooked.”

“Ghost of the Rio Grande” can be purchased on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Rio-Grande-Don-Holbrook-ebook/dp/B0BMCSKYRK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=CERCWMOCOGU7&keywords=ghost+of+the+rio+grande&qid=1669757389&sprefix=%2Caps%2C107&sr=8-1.

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