It's early January on Hank's ranch when Slim and Loper receive word that an ice storm is headed their way. However, just as they're about to prepare the cattle and stock tanks at the ranch to safely weather the storm, Deputy Kile calls with some bad news. It seems that one of their electric fences has short-circuited, and some of their wheat pasture steers have strayed into town and onto the Twitchell golf course! Slim saddles up his horse and heads off to retrieve the steersƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚"ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚€ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚"with Hank's help of courseƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚"ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚€ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚"but a few mishaps delay his cowboying just long enough to coat Twitchell in ice and turn his steer-roping adventure into a rip-roaring frozen rodeo!

High-school junior Peggy Fleming Farrell finds herself without a car, working at the Gas 'n Git, and fantasizing about a boyfriend during the hot summer her distracted parents are expecting yet another baby to join the family.

Peggy Fleming Farrell is about to have the best summer ever. Only, it doesn't look that way at first: There's her job as coffee wench at the Gas 'n Git, her summer school French class, and her unrequited love for a certain waiter. Not to mention Lamaze class with her mom, and her dad's attempt at a professional ice-skating comeback. So what is it that turns Fleming's summer around? The drive in a "borrowed" golf cart? Love among the pancakes? Appearing in the Rodeo Roundup Days parade -- by accident? The guy with the red flip-flops? What?

It's early January on Hank's ranch when Slim and Loper receive word that an ice storm is headed their way. However, just as they're about to prepare the cattle and stock tanks at the ranch to safely weather the storm, Deputy Kile calls with some bad news. It seems that one of their electric fences has short-circuited, and some of their wheat pasture steers have strayed into town and onto the Twitchell golf course! Slim saddles up his horse and heads off to retrieve the steersƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚"ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚€ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚"with Hank's help of courseƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚"ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚€ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚ƒƒ‚‚‚ƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚"but a few mishaps delay his cowboying just long enough to coat Twitchell in ice and turn his steer-roping adventure into a rip-roaring frozen rodeo!

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.

This up-close look at rodeo takes readers into the world of one of the few truly American sports, as balletic as it is brutal, as riveting as it is symbolic of a rapidly changing American West. Serpa's extraordinary images are accompanied by her anecdotal and informative annotations, as well as a provocative essay by Larry McMurtry. 75 photos.

A fascinating account of the world of competitive steer wrestling and the talented, live-fast, bruise-hard rodeo cowboys who do it. Ty Phillips's Blacktop Cowboys chronicles the 2004 rodeo season through the eyes of several steer wrestlers trying to make it back to rodeo's version of the Super Bowl, the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in Las Vegas. Steer wrestling is an adventure that entails riding into an arena at 25 mph, sliding off a horse while taking hold of a 500-pound steer, and then throwing the animal to the ground. The best cowboys often accomplish all this in less than four seconds. The two main characters of Blacktop Cowboys are Luke Branquinho, a young carefree cowboy on a quest for his first title, and his best friend, Travis Cadwell, a veteran trying to make the NFR one last time. Much of Blacktop Cowboys unfolds in trucks, trailers, arenas, behind the chutes, casinos, beds and everywhere else cowboys spend their time. By taking the reader deep into the cowboys' lives, Blacktop Cowboys offers a true and intimate portrait of men having the time of their lives while living on the road in pursuit of the dream to be the best.

Never before had Daniel Bergner seen a spectacle as bizarre as the one he had come to watch that Sunday in October. Murderers, rapists, and armed robbers were competing in the annual rodeo at Angola, the grim maximum-security penitentiary in Louisiana. The convicts, sentenced to life without parole, were thrown, trampled, and gored by bucking bulls and broncos before thousands of cheering spectators. But amid the brutality of this gladiatorial spectacle Bergner caught surprising glimpses of exaltation, hints of triumphant skill. The incongruity of seeing hope where one would expect only hopelessness, self-control in men who were there because they'd had none, sparked an urgent quest in him. Having gained unlimited and unmonitored access, Bergner spent an unflinching year inside the harsh world of Angola. He forged relationships with seven prisoners who left an indelible impression on him. There's Johnny Brooks, seemingly a latter-day Stepin Fetchit, who, while washing the warden's car, longs to be a cowboy and to marry a woman he meets on the rodeo grounds. Then there's Danny Fabre, locked up for viciously beating a woman to death, now struggling to bring his reading skills up to a sixth-grade level. And Terry Hawkins, haunted nightly by the ghost of his victim, a ghost he tries in vain to exorcise in a prison church that echoes with the cries of convicts talking in tongues. Looming front and center is Warden Burl Cain, the larger-than-life ruler of Angola who quotes both Jesus and Attila the Hun, declares himself a prophet, and declaims that redemption is possible for even the most depraved criminal. Cain welcomes Bergner in, and so begins a journey that takes the author deep into a forgotten world and forces him to question his most closely held beliefs. The climax of his story is as unexpected as it is wrenching. Rendered in luminous prose, God of the Rodeo is an exploration of the human spirit, yielding in the process a searing portrait of a place that will be impossible to forget and a group of men, guilty of unimaginable crimes, desperately seeking a moment of grace.

Summer is supposed to be fun. Right? Peggy Fleming Farrell's summer has taken a turn for the worse: She works at the Gas'n Git to pay back her parents for wrecking two cars, takes summer school French from a succession of increasingly lame substitute teachers, loves an IHOP waiter, and attends Lamaze class with her mother while her father prepares for his professional ice-skating comeback (read: midlife crisis). Just when the only exciting event looming before her is the town's annual Rodeo Roundup Days -- "exciting" being a relative term -- things take an unexpected turn for the better. Between hijinks with a hijacked golf cart, plans for streaking at the Rodeo parade, and a showdown over pancakes, Peggy's summer becomes more about mayhem than money management, and definitely something close to fun. Even if she never learns to speak French.

Slim Chance is in a bad mood. In fact, he's been in a bad mood for a few months now, and it looks like it might become a permanent condition. The ranch has been in the middle of one of the worst droughts it's ever seen, and when the clouds do finally decide to let down a little rain, the last thing Slim wants to hear is that Deputy Kile got more rain than he did. Things are looking pretty bleak until Little Alfred asks his dad to take him fishing, and Slim winds up having to go in Loper's place. However, to everyone's surprise, the camping expedition turns out to be more exciting than Little Alfred had anticipated, including some great fishing and a bit of unexpected weather!