W.K. Stratton chronicles one season of the pro rodeo and bull-riding tours, tracing the history of the rodeo and profiling some of its greatest riders and ropers.

"What would rodeo look like if we took it as a record, not of human triumph and resilience, but of human imperfection and stubbornness?” asks animal historian Susan Nance. Against the backdrop of the larger histories of ranching, cattle, horses, and the environment in the West, this book explores how the evolution of rodeo has reflected rural western beliefs and assumptions about the natural world that have led to environmental crises and served the beef empire. By unearthing behind-the-scenes stories of rodeo animals as diverse individuals, this book lays bare contradictions within rodeo and the rural West. For almost 150 years, westerners have used rodeo to symbolically reenact their struggles with animals and the land as uniformly progressive and triumphant. Nance upends that view with accounts of individual animals that reveal how diligently rodeo people have worked to make livestock into surrogates for the trials of rural life in the West and the violence in its history. Western horses and cattle were more than just props. Rodeo reclaims their lived history through compelling stories of anonymous roping steers and calves who inspired reform of the sport, such as the famed but abused bucker Steamboat, and the many broncs and bulls, famous or not, who unknowingly built an industry. Rodeo is a dangerous sport that reveals many westerners as people proudly tolerant of risk and violence, and ready to impose these values on livestock. In Rodeo: An Animal History, Nance pushes past standard histories and the sport’s publicity to show how rodeo was shot through with stubbornness and human failing as much as fortitude and community spirit.

A journalist's gritty portrait of a year on the rodeo circuit tells the story of modern cowboys traveling the country chasing a dangerous eight-second dream of fame and fortune on the back of a wild horse or a bull. 17,500 first printing. Tour.

Published for devotees of the cowboy and the West, American Cowboy covers all aspects of the Western lifestyle, delivering the best in entertainment, personalities, travel, rodeo action, human interest, art, poetry, fashion, food, horsemanship, history, and every other facet of Western culture. With stunning photography and you-are-there reportage, American Cowboy immerses readers in the cowboy life and the magic that is the great American West.

Meet Rosie, the big horse with even bigger dreams! In Rosie’s Wild Ride, Clydesdale horse Rosie and her cowgirl friend Oakley want to be rodeo stars, but what happens when the competition doesn’t quite go as planned? In this beautiful, inspiring picture book, readers will learn the importance of teamwork, chasing their dreams, and daring to ask, “What if I can?” Rosie the Clydesdale is a BIG horse. She likes her life on the ranch and helping the farmer with his chores, but she also has a secret dream: she wants to be a rodeo star. She finally gets her chance when she teams up with a plucky cowgirl named Oakley, but the rodeo events aren’t designed for a big horse like Rosie. When a rogue bull disrupts the competition, though, Rosie and Oakley might be the only ones big and brave enough to stop him. From debut children’s author Paige Murray comes a rodeo adventure complete with roping, riding, and racing—based on real animals from her own Texas ranch. This picture book for ages 4–8: Is an inspiring, animal-filled story of resilience and self-confidence Features beautiful, engaging artwork and photos of the real-life Rosie and Oakley Includes fun horse and rodeo facts in the back matter Is written by Paige Murray, debut author and wife of nine-time World Champion Cowboy Ty Murray

“The first song I want to sing tonight is called ‘One Night Stand.’” How fitting. Flash Lawrence and Brooke Bonner’s fling burned hotter and faster than Flash’s temper. But when Brooke learned she was pregnant, staying away was her only option. The unpredictable rodeo star isn’t daddy material. But when Flash finds out the truth—forget it. There’s no denying their explosive chemistry. Nor will he let her deny him his child.

This is the real-life story of a boy-child's journey to man-child whose start in life began in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia during the Great Depression. The journey takes him to Colorado, where for the first ten years of his life, he was raised by his maternal grandparents, with stop-offs from time to time with foster parent friends of his mother. He was placed in a home for needy children during the war years, 1942-1945. He left the home in 1946 at age 15 and journeyed the difficult teen years as a high school dropout taking jobs ranging from the work camps of the forest service to the oil fields of Wyoming and the fishing boats of California. His feelings, thoughts, and actions along the way are those of a boy-some dumb, some silly, and some maybe even profound. He knew cruel and frozen homelessness and hunger firsthand, as well as the kindness of strangers. The reader will meet the mentors who helped shape the boy's life: the loving and caring grandmother, the hard-as-nails grandfather, the nineteen-year-old seductress, the pool shark instructor, the crap shooters, the ex-GIs, some tough guys, some delicate guys, some good girls, some bad girls, and some people dumb as a rock and some smart as a whip. They all contributed to who the boy became.

America loves sports. This book examines and details the proof of this fascination seen throughout American society—in our literature, film, and music; our clothing and food; and the iconography of the nation. This momentous four-volume work examines and details the cultural aspects of sport and how sport pervasively reflects—and affects—myriad aspects of American society from the early 1900s to the present day. Written in a straightforward, readable manner, the entries cover both historical and contemporary aspects of sport and American culture. Unlike purely historical encyclopedias on sports, the contributions within these volumes cover related subject matter such as poetry, novels, music, films, plays, television shows, art and artists, mythologies, artifacts, and people. While this encyclopedia set is ideal for general readers who need information on the diverse aspects of sport in American culture for research purposes or are merely reading for enjoyment, the detailed nature of the entries will also prove useful as an initial source for scholars of sport and American culture. Each entry provides a number of both print and online resources for further investigation of the topic.

The workings, workers, and animals of the heartstopping world of rodeo.