THE WHITE COUNTRY opens with three horsemen wearing white painted hoods as they come upon a shack where a Mexican journalist and his pregnant wife are hiding out. The three murder the journalist, rope the wife, and lash her to one of their horses. They mean to drag the woman to the Rio Grande, as they have no intention of allowing her child to be born in the United States. This, they served up as a warning to others of their kind. THE CREED OF VIOLENCE became a touchstone of literary Americana that introduced the reader to John Lourdes, the first agent of the Texas Bureau of Investigation who was minority born. THE WHITE COUNTRY takes up the story of his life and that of the racism and insurrection that was Texas at the time. The year is 1911. There is upheaval in the wind.

Mexico is ravaged by famine and regime corruption. The poor, the desperate, and politically hunted cross the border illegally into Texas by the thousands, fueling the racism and hatred that this country would live through for a hundred years. The border becomes a plague ridden badland of thieves, bandits, drug dealers, peddlers of illegal contraband and hooded vigilantes dealing out a new kind of law to eradicate all Mexicans from American soil, under the authority of someone known only as "The Whiteman". Through the intercession of a bishop, Father Pinto, an actual historical character known as The Apostle of El Paso, the BOI enlists John Lourdes, because of his background and heritage, to secret into Laredo, his only contacts being a member of the clergy and a Spanish newspaper editor. His job - Hunt out and either capture or kill the vigilante leader known as "The Whiteman." This journey, as in all such journeys, will be the testing of one's soul. The discovery of one's true self, of coming to terms with the racism suffered, and the toxic rage it aroused.