Want to know how to throw a half-diamond hitch and wield a branding iron? Interested in the recipe for S. B. stew? This authoritative manual by an old-time cowboy explains it all. 600 black-and-white illustrations.

Readers brought up on Hollywood westerns will have their eyes opened by this story of a working cowboy. Although he never chased a rustler or rescued a pretty girl and probably couldn't even hire on as an extra in a B-grade western, Ed Alford (or "Fat") has worked cattle most of his life. Fred Gipson's vivid, earthy book about this cowhand, now in paperback, tells what the job is really like, the hardships, the hell-raising, and the sheer monotony of daily tasks.Fat Alford became a cowboy because he didn't think picking cotton was any way for a man to make a living. Although he may not have looked much like a cowboy and certainly started out green, he learned to rope a cow in an impenetrable brush, to break a mean horse, to get by with poor gear, worse food, and sorry mounts in freezing cold or blistering heat and still get the job done.Gipson's warm and rousing account captures the vivid reality of how it was and introduces us to a remarkable character--a working cowhand. This new paperback edition of Cowhand is sure to delight a whole new generation of readers.

In Working Cowboy, Margot Liberty and Barry Head present the oral history of Ray Holmes, a Wyoming cowboy born in 1911. Holmes has spent his life on horseback, herding cattle and doing other work with livestock. Since the time he rode his first horse, Holmes wanted nothing more than to be a cowboy--though his father insisted he would never make a living at it. The determination that started him on his dream has stayed with him throughout his life. Holmes remains a quiet man, averse to bragging but is candid and strongly opinionated. Practical chapters, such as “Some Talk about Cowboys” and “Some Talk about Calves and Calving,” alternate with chapters describing Holmes’s colorful life, including his coping with the blizzard of 1959, listening to the very first radio in the neighborhood, and sleeping with potatoes to keep them from freezing.

Major Rafe Eaglefeather loves a challenge—the riskier the better. A former rodeo champion, he's also served his country. So is it too much to ask for a little solitude to heal from the effects of his deployment? With pushy relatives like his, apparently it is. Despite his protests, they've arranged for naturopath Alexa Robinson to treat him. Since treatment involves staying at Alexa's remote Texas ranch, Rafe sort of gets his wish for peace. Surprisingly, spending time with Alexa helps him feel more like himself. Something about her is irresistible and the attraction between them is growing. It's so strong he's tempted to take the biggest risk of all…committing to her.

Contemporary cowboy life is masterfully revealed in this new book of large-format duotone photographs.

Jack wants to be a cowboy, so he needs all the right equipment.

When a little boy gets set to spend the day at Grandma's, he's really preparing to go on the cowboy ride of his dreams. With his imagination in tow, he and his pardner (brother) ride their horses (Mom and Dad) to meet their ranch hand (Grandma). After having a great day doing all the things that cowfolk do, this fantastic adventure ends in a wonderfully reassuring way as the cowboy and his "horse" are reunited, just in time to be tucked in bed. This is the quintessential cattle-rustling cowboy fantasy, ideal for all young tots with lots of wonder and imagination in their hearts. Dana Kessimakis Smith was born and raised in Utah. Currently she lives in California with her family, working as a full-time writer and mom. Laura Freeman studied art at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where she lives with her husband and two sons.

In February of his forty-fourth year, journalist David McCumber signed on as a hand on rancher Bill Galt's expansive Birch Creek spread in Montana. The Cowboy Way is an enthralling and intensely personal account of his year spent in open country—a book that expertly weaves together past and present into a vibrant and colorful tapestry of a vanishing way of life. At once a celebration of a breathtaking land both dangerous and nourishing, and a clear-eyed appreciation of the men—and women—who work it, David McCumber's remarkable story forever alters our long-held perceptions of the "Roy Rogers" cowboy with real-life experiences and hard economic truths. In February of his forty-fourth year, journalist David McCumber signed on as a hand on rancher Bill Galt's expansive Birch Creek spread in Montana. The Cowboy Way is an enthralling and intensely personal account of his year spent in open country—a book that expertly weaves together past and present into a vibrant and colorful tapestry of a vanishing way of life. At once a celebration of a breathtaking land both dangerous and nourishing, and a clear-eyed appreciation of the men—and women—who work it, David McCumber's remarkable story forever alters our long-held perceptions of the "Roy Rogers" cowboy with real-life experiences and hard economic truths.

An Oprah.com “Must-Read Book” Award-winning journalist Jeanne Marie Laskas reveals “enlightening, entertaining, and often poignant”* profiles of America's working class—the forgotten men and women who make our country run. Take the men of Hopedale Mining company in Cadiz, Ohio. Laskas spent several weeks with them, both below and above ground, and by the end, you will know not only about their work, but about Pap and his dying mom, Smitty and the mail-order bride who stood him up at the airport, and Scotty and his thwarted dreams of becoming a boxing champion. That is only one hidden world. Others that she explores: an Alaskan oil rig, a migrant labor camp in Maine, the air traffic control center at LaGuardia Airport in New York, a beef ranch in Texas, a landfill in California, a long-haul trucker in Iowa, a gun shop in Arizona, and the Cincinnati Ben-Gals cheerleaders, mere footnotes in the moneymaking spectacle that is professional football. “Jeanne Marie Laskas is a reporting and writing powerhouse. She doesn’t just interview the people who dig our coal and extract our oil, she goes deep into the mines and tundra with them. With beauty, wit, curiosity, and grace, she finds the hidden soul of America. Hidden America is essential reading.”—Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Joan Johnston transports us to rugged present-day Texas—a place of wide-open prairies and unbridled ambitions—where two ranching families, the Blackthornes and the Creeds, are locked in a bitter century-old feud. Here, Johnston brings to life a breathtaking love story—between the Blackthornes' oldest son and the Creeds' beautiful daughter—a magnificent novel of passion, vengeance, and star-crossed love. Trace Blackthorne was taught from the cradle to take what he wanted. And he wanted Callie Creed. Eleven years ago, the feud between their families had torn them apart. But now Trace has come home, a ruthless hard-eyed stranger, making her an offer she couldn't refuse: marry him and save her struggling family from financial ruin. But the secrets of the past return to haunt them. And Callie is once again compelled to make an impossible choice—between the family who desperately needs her and the only man she has ever loved.