An epic of the American West, this novel follows two aging, retired Texas Rangers, Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call, as they lead a perilous, last-great cattle drive from the Texas border to the wilds of Montana.
It is a profound meditation on friendship, loss, and the end of the cowboy era, defined by the harsh realities and quiet dignities of life on the trail.
The first book in The Border Trilogy, this novel follows young Texan John Grady Cole, a masterful horseman who journeys to Mexico in the 1940s to find work on a ranch after his family's land is sold.
His romantic vision of cowboy life collides with a world of harsh justice and betrayal, exploring themes of lost innocence and the enduring bond between a man and his horse.
Considered the archetypal American Western, this novel establishes the cowboy as a folk hero. It follows the life of a stoic, honorable Wyoming cowboy, known only as the Virginian, as he navigates ranch life, romance, and the unwritten "Code of the West," culminating in the first-ever fictional shootout.
Chronicling the life of its titular character from a young, ambitious horse-breaker to an aging cowhand, this novel is a poignant portrait of the changing American West. It captures the daily joys, sorrows, and steadfast friendships of cowboy life as the open range gives way to fences, railroads, and the end of an era.
Set during the devastating Texas drought of the 1950s, this novel tells the story of rancher Charlie Flagg's stubborn fight to save his land and livestock. It is a powerful examination of the cowboy's resilience, fierce independence, and deep connection to the land in the face of both natural disaster and encroaching government programs.
Praised for its realism, this 1903 novel presents a fictionalized but highly authentic account of a five-month cattle drive from Brownsville, Texas, to Montana. Written by a man who spent years on the trail, it forgoes romantic gunfights for the day-to-day work, challenges, and camaraderie of the working cowboy.
Told through the eyes of seventeen-year-old Lonnie Bannon, this novel depicts the tensions on a Texas cattle ranch between his traditionalist grandfather, Homer, and his ruthless, modern step-uncle, Hud. It is a stark look at the decline of old-school cowboy ethics and the harsh economic realities of the modernizing West.
Hewey Calloway is an aging, free-spirited cowboy in early 20th-century Texas who resists the pressures to settle down, get married, and give up his drifting lifestyle. The novel is a humorous and heartfelt look at the conflict between the desire for freedom and the pull of responsibility, set against the backdrop of a fading cowboy culture.
When his ranch hands desert him for a gold rush, aging rancher Wil Andersen is forced to hire a group of schoolboys to drive his herd to market. This novel is a classic coming-of-age story about mentorship, responsibility, and the brutal trials that forge boys into men on a dangerous cattle drive.
Jack Burns is a cowboy out of time, a man who lives by the code of the Old West in the mid-20th century. When he gets himself arrested to break a friend out of jail, his simple plan escalates into a massive manhunt, pitting his individualistic ideals and horsemanship against the crushing machinery of the modern world.
Based on the real-life Canadian River cowboy strike of 1883, this novel follows foreman Hitch Blevins as he leads a strike against powerful ranch owners for fair wages. It is a compelling story of labor rights, loyalty, and the struggle for dignity in the Texas Panhandle, challenging the myth of the passive, compliant cowboy.
A humorous and authentic tale of two modern but old-fashioned cowboys, Dusty Jones and Wrangler Lewis, who are masters at breaking broncs but hopelessly inept at managing their own lives. Their misadventures with a stubborn horse named Ol' Fooler capture the camaraderie, resilience, and often-thankless nature of the contemporary cowboy life.
Hondo Lane is a rugged cavalry dispatch rider and horseman living a solitary life in the Arizona desert. When he discovers a lone woman and her son living on an isolated ranch in Apache territory, he is drawn into protecting them. The novel explores themes of honor, survival, and the cowboy’s code of self-reliance and quiet courage.
In an unusual tale of cultural exchange, a group of fifteen American cowboys is hired to drive a herd of cattle across 1,000 miles of rugged Siberian wilderness, guided by a troop of Russian Cossacks.
The novel is a unique story of friendship and mutual respect that grows between two vastly different groups of horsemen united by a common, arduous task.
When rumors of cattle rustling and murder sweep through a small Nevada town, a posse forms to hunt down the culprits. While its central theme is a profound critique of mob justice, the novel is rooted in the world of cowboys and cattlemen, using a conflict over livestock as the catalyst for its searing exploration of morality in the Old West.
In this sequel to Lonesome Dove, Captain Woodrow Call, now an aging bounty hunter, is hired to track down a deadly young train robber. The novel is a somber reflection on the final days of the frontier, exploring what happens to legendary cowboys and lawmen when their strength fades and the world they knew disappears.
Conn Conagher is a quintessential hard-working, drifting cowboy, taking tough jobs across the plains and trying to stay ahead of trouble.
His path intersects with Evie Teale, a widow struggling to raise her children on a remote homestead, in a story that highlights the loneliness, resilience, and quiet connections forged in the harsh Western landscape.
This collection—comprising All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and Cities of the Plain—follows the lives of young American cowboys John Grady Cole and Billy Parham as they journey between Texas and Mexico in the mid-20th century.
The trilogy is a lyrical, brutal, and elegiac examination of the end of the cowboy way of life, fate, and the search for meaning in a vanishing world.
Following the Civil War, two brothers join a treacherous cattle drive from Texas to Montana, seeking fortune and a new start. The novel depicts the immense hardships of the trail—from stampedes and river crossings to conflicts with Native tribes—while focusing on the bonds of family and the raw determination required to be a drover.
Free-grazing cattlemen Boss Spearman and Charley Waite find their way of life threatened when they drift into a town controlled by a ruthless land-baron rancher. The novel is a classic story of the conflict between the freedom of the open range and the forces of monopolizing power, forcing two cowboys to make a violent stand for justice.
Years after the great cattle drives have ended, store clerk Lampassas persuades a mismatched group of men to join him on a nostalgic, ill-fated drive to Trail's End.
The novel is a satiric and poignant look at the romantic myths of the cowboy, contrasting the legendary ideal with the clumsy and often comical reality of men trying to relive a bygone era.
Seventy-year-old rancher Wes Hendricks faces a new kind of threat: a looming reservoir project that will drown his ancestral lands. This contemporary Western explores the conflict between tradition and progress as an old cowboy fights to preserve his way of life against bureaucracy and the indifference of his own children.
This novel reimagines the story of Nat Love, a real-life African-American cowboy and former slave. After a deadly incident in Texas, young Nat flees west, becoming a skilled horseman, marksman, and buffalo soldier known as "Deadwood Dick." It is a humorous, adventurous, and insightful look at the often-overlooked Black experience in the Old West.
Rancher Owen Daybright is caught between his loyalty to his foster family and his own sense of justice when his conniving, reckless foster brother, Lee, causes a town scandal. The story is a taut drama of family conflict and moral integrity set on a cattle ranch, where Owen must decide between honor and blood.
In this contemporary Western, a fierce rivalry between two brothers, Silas and Frank Van Loy, culminates in a tragic event on their family's California horse ranch. The ensuing manhunt across the rugged landscape is a powerful meditation on brotherhood, the burdens of legacy, and the fading presence of cowboy culture in the modern world.
Confederate veteran Paul Cable returns to his Arizona ranch only to find it occupied by two Union-sympathizing brothers who refuse to leave. The novel is a tense story of a man forced to fight one last war to reclaim his home and protect his family, focusing on the gritty reality of a cowboy trying to rebuild his life after the Civil War.
This prequel to Lonesome Dove follows the younger Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call during their years as Texas Rangers. While focused on their battles with the formidable Comanche, the novel establishes their legendary horsemanship, tracking skills, and unbreakable bond, forging the men who would later lead the famous cattle drive to Montana.
Told from the perspective of a horse, this beloved classic follows Smoky's life from his birth on the open range to his time as a prized cow horse and subsequent hardships.
Written and illustrated by a real cowboy, the novel provides an authentic and emotional window into the world of ranching and the deep connection between a cowboy and his mount.
Spanning three generations of the Mayfield family, this novel explores the evolution of Texas ranching from the early 20th century to modern times. It examines how the "cowboy way"—a code of honor, hard work, and self-reliance—is passed down, challenged, and adapted through changing economic and social landscapes.
In this autobiographical novel, young Ralph Moody's family moves to a Colorado ranch in the early 1900s. Through his father's patient guidance, Ralph learns the difficult lessons of ranching, responsibility, and what it means to be a man. It is a heartwarming and realistic depiction of the hard work and character-building central to ranch life.
In the 1880s, seventeen-year-old Jessilyn Harney disguises herself as a boy named Jesse and sets out to find her notorious outlaw brother. Her journey forces her to become a skilled rider and shooter, and she falls in with a governor's posse, providing a unique perspective on a woman forging a cowboy's identity out of necessity and grit.
This novel explores the epic conflict between cattlemen and homesteaders ("nesters") on the vast plains of New Mexico. Told from the perspective of a young man living on the ranch of Colonel Jim Brewton, a powerful cattle baron, it captures the end of the open range and the untamed spirit of the cowboys who ruled it.
After killing a man in self-defense, young ranch hand Tot Lohman is relentlessly pursued by the victim’s powerful family. This novel is a grim, realistic portrayal of a desperate flight for survival, stripping away romantic notions to reveal the harsh and unforgiving nature of justice on the frontier for a lone cowboy.
After the Civil War, cowboy Nate Reynolds heads to the lawless Texas Panhandle to start a new life, only to get entangled with dangerous outlaws. The novel is a gritty, action-packed story of a man whose cowboy skills are tested not on a cattle drive, but in a desperate fight for survival and redemption in a violent land.
The first novel in the Sackett saga follows brothers Tyrel and Orrin Sackett as they flee a Tennessee blood feud and head west to New Mexico. There, they become cattle ranchers and lawmen, embodying the cowboy spirit of taming a wild frontier through hard work, family loyalty, and an unwavering moral code.
The earliest chronological story in the Lonesome Dove series, this novel follows the ill-fated Santa Fe Expedition, where teenage Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call first test their mettle. It depicts the brutal frontier hardships and harrowing lessons in survival that shaped them into the legendary cowboys of their later years.
Rafe Caradec makes a promise to a dying man to protect his wife and Wyoming ranch. When he arrives, he finds the woman besieged by greedy men trying to steal her land. Rafe, a man of his word, uses his skills as a horseman and gunfighter to defend the ranch, embodying the cowboy ideal of protecting the weak.
A collection of stories and sketches by cowboy author and artist Will James, this book captures the authentic voice and experiences of the American cowboy. From bronc busting to long, lonely nights on the range, James portrays the everyday life, skills, and mindset of the men who worked cattle in the early 20th century.
Aging cowboy Print Ritter and his nephew Tom Harte are driving a herd of horses to Wyoming when they reluctantly agree to transport five young Chinese women sold into prostitution. Their simple horse drive turns into a dangerous journey of protection and redemption, forcing the two cowboys to risk everything for their human cargo.
When Logan Sackett returns to his family's ranch, he finds his wife has been taken captive by a band of outlaws. A quiet man forced into action, Logan must use all his tracking and survival skills to pursue the kidnappers, in a story that emphasizes the cowboy's fierce devotion to family and home.
In 1885, twelve-year-old Joey Shipman runs away from his abusive stepfather and finds refuge on a West Texas ranch. There, among a crew of eccentric and honorable cowboys, he learns the meaning of hard work, loyalty, and family, offering a classic coming-of-age story set firmly in the world of cowboy mentorship.
Spanning forty years, this novel traces the complex love triangle between Molly, a strong-willed ranch woman, and her two lifelong suitors: Gid, the serious rancher, and Johnny, the footloose cowboy. Set in the ranch country of North Texas, it is a poignant and deeply human story about love, loss, and the enduring pull of the land.
Shalako, a lone horseman and former army officer, discovers a European hunting party trespassing deep in Apache territory, unaware of the danger they are in. He must use his profound knowledge of the land and survival to protect the naive aristocrats, embodying the archetype of the skilled, self-reliant cowboy as a guardian of the wilderness.
In 1890s Arizona, a corporation’s attempt to seize ranch land for mining sparks a war between cowboys and company men. The story follows two men on opposite sides, Dana Moon and Brendan Early, who are hired to lead the fight, in a tense depiction of the violent clashes that marked the end of the open-range cowboy era.
This historical novel depicts the brutal and often overlooked reality of the post-Civil War cattle business. It follows the bloody enterprise of hide hunters and the early cattlemen who battled Comanches and outlaws to establish the first ranches on the harsh plains of Texas, focusing on the violent foundations of the cowboy industry.
In this sequel to Slaughter, cattleman Jeff Layne struggles to hold onto his Texas ranch against threats from rustlers and a severe drought. The novel continues the story of the difficult transition from open-range conflict to settled ranching, exploring themes of perseverance, community, and the personal cost of taming a frontier.
A young woman from the East arrives in the Arizona cattle country and unknowingly disrupts the lives of two ranching brothers. Her modern sensibilities clash with the unspoken rules and rugged masculinity of the cowboys she encounters, in a classic story about cultural conflict and romance on a working ranch.
Kilkenny, a man trying to escape his reputation as a gunfighter, seeks peace as a simple cowhand. But when homesteaders are threatened by a powerful cattle baron, he is forced to use his old skills to defend them. The story explores the classic cowboy theme of a man who wishes for a quiet life but whose code of honor demands he fight for justice.
This epic novella centers on the three Ludlow brothers living on a remote Montana ranch in the early 20th century. Their lives are shattered by World War I, betrayal, and obsession, with the wild, untamed spirit of their cowboy upbringing influencing their passionate and often tragic choices.
Jed Colby, a young cowboy, is driven from his home by a ruthless cattle rustler and falls in with the Hash Knife outfit, a notorious crew of tough, hard-riding cowhands. The novel is a quintessential Zane Grey tale of range wars, swift justice, and romance, centered on the loyalty and conflict between rival cowboy outfits.