War on the Border: Villa, Pershing, the Texas Rangers, and an American Invasion

Written by Jeff Guinn

Narrated by Timothy Andrés Pabon

An “engagingly written” (The Wall Street Journal) account of the “Punitive Expedition” of 1916 that brought Pancho Villa and Gen. John J. Pershing into conflict, and whose reverberations continue in the Southwestern US to this day.

Jeff Guinn, chronicler of the Southwestern US and of American undesirables (Bonnie and Clyde, Charles Manson, and Jim Jones) tells the “riveting and supremely entertaining narrative” (S.C. Gwynne, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of the Summer Moon) of Pancho Villa’s bloody raid on a small US border town that sparked a violent conflict with the US. The “Punitive Expedition” was launched in retaliation under Pershing’s command and brought together the Army, National Guard, and the Texas Rangers—who were little more than organized vigilantes with a profound dislike of Mexicans on both sides of the border. Opposing this motley military brigade was Villa, a guerrilla fighter who commanded an ever-changing force of conscripts in northern Mexico.

The American expedition was the last action by the legendary African American “Buffalo Soldiers.” It was also the first time the Army used automobiles and trucks, which were of limited value in Mexico, a country with no paved roads or gas stations. Curtiss Jenny airplanes did reconnaissance, another first. One era of warfare was coming to a close as another was beginning. But despite some bloody encounters, the Punitive Expedition eventually withdrew without capturing Villa.

Today Anglos and Latinos in Columbus, New Mexico, where Villa’s raid took place, commemorate those events, but with differing emotions. And although the bloodshed has ended, the US-Mexico border remains as vexed and volatile an issue as ever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: May 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781797125916

Jeff Guinn

Jeff Guinn is the bestselling author of numerous books, including Go Down Together, The Last Gunfight, Manson, The Road to Jonestown, War on the Border, and Waco. He lives in Fort Worth, Texas, and is a member of the Texas Literary Hall of Fame.

Reviews for War on the Border

[David Black · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a Marvelous book. I rate this right up there with Marquis James' 1938 Pulitzer Prize winning, THE RAVEN, considered to be a definitive biography of Sam Houston! I've spent the last 60 years of my life in West Texas, North Texas, more recently in South Texas. As the scales have been ripped from my eyes, painfully and without anesthesia, I have gradually been forced to reckon with the origins of the rampant and crazed racism, generally present even among my medical professional acquaintances. NOW I UNDERSTAND. "Understanding" does not, however, cause me, in any way, to justify that racism. The author, whose origins were in my own "stomping grounds." Author has skillfully, without mincing any words, but in a strictly NONPOLEMICAL manner, depicted the awful details. I am NOW ENLIGHTENED.