When doing any type of travel, having a history and cultural context about the place you’re visiting ahead of time enriches the experience. So I curated a list of 22 books to accompany any trips out in the American West. These books were selected because they provide diverse perspectives, a comprehensive overview,
FOUNDATIONAL READING
1. Black Cowboys of the Old West: True, Sensational, and Little-Known Stories from History by Tricia Martineau Wagner
Although black cowboys are often missing from the prevailing narrative, black men made up as much as 25 percent of cowboys of the Old West. The word cowboy conjures up vivid images of rugged men on saddled horses—men lassoing cattle, riding bulls, or brandishing guns in a shoot-out. White men, as Hollywood remembers them. What is woefully missing from these scenes is their counterparts: the black cowboys who made up one-fourth of the wranglers and rodeo riders. This book tells their story.
2. African American Women of the Old West by Tricia Martineau Wagner
The brave pioneers who made a life on the frontier were not only male—and they were not only white. The story of African-American Women in the Old West is one that has largely gone untold until now. The author reconstructs the stories of ten African-American women from historical documents found in century-old archives. They were laundresses, freedom advocates, journalists, educators, midwives, business proprietors, religious converts, philanthropists, mail and freight haulers, and civil and social activists.
3. Black Cowboys in the American West: On the Range, on the Stage, behind the Badge by Bruce A. Glasrud
Professor Emeritus at California State University at East Bay, tells the story of black men and women of the old west. These cowboys include drivers, foremen, fiddlers, cowpunchers, cattle rustlers, cooks, singers, wranglers, riders, ropers, bulldoggers, and bronc busters. They came from varied backgrounds.
4. Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by Quanah Parker
A historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West, centering on Quanah, the greatest Comanche chief of them all.
5. Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey
The fictional story of a Mormon girl growing up on her father’s ranch in Utah and breaking traditions.
ADDITIONAL READING
1. Lonesome Dove by Larry McCurty
A love story, an adventure, and an epic of the frontier, Larry McMurty’s Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, Lonesome Dove, the third book in the Lonesome Dove tetralogy, is the grandest novel ever written about the last defiant wilderness of America.
2. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
The national bestseller and the first volume in Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy, All the Pretty Horses is the tale of John Grady Cole, who at sixteen finds himself at the end of a long line of Texas ranchers, cut off from the only life he has ever imagined for himself. With two companions, he sets off for Mexico on a sometimes idyllic, sometimes comic journey to a place where dreams are paid for in blood. Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction.
3. Lasso the Wind: Away to the New West by Timothy Egan
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year by a New York Times Bestselling novelist. “Lasso the Wind is like a good road trip across the West. You drive, you stop to camp, you fall in love, and then you decide to stay. Egan’s words are helping to settle the political chaos of this changing landscape. Alongside his sharp eye for details and clarity of mind is an ethical spine that is helping to shape the new West. I’m so glad he’s here.” –Terry Tempest Williams
4. Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West by Hampton Sides
Narbona could not have known that “The Army of the West,” during the longest march in American military history, was merely the vanguard of an inexorable tide fueled by a self-righteous ideology now known as “Manifest Destiny.” For twenty years the Navajo, elusive lords of a huge swath of mountainous desert and pasturelands, would ferociously resist the flood of soldiers and settlers who wished to change their old way of life or destroy them.
**This book pairs well with a trip to Lake Powell. Be sure to book the Antelope Canyon Boat Tour.
5. The Gentle Tamers: Women of the Old Wild West by Dee Brown
ritten in 1958, the author’s condescending sexism, racism, and superficiality are nonchalantly reflected. The author rarely references primary source writings of women, but more commonly newspapers or the recollections of men. He spends considerable time documenting ondescending remarks about women’s clothing and the author can’t seem to write enough about prostitutes. The title is misleading in that it excludes all women with the exception of white women. This book is included on this list as a contrast between the other diverse works and this perspective which is the most prevailing of cowboy life in the old west.
YOUNG ADULT & TEEN READING
1. Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
A story of a sixteen-year-old homesteading in Montana. This story won the 2007 Newbery Honor Book and 2007 Best Book for Young Adults.
2. The Devil’s Paintbox by Victoria McKernan
When orphans Aiden and Maddy Lynch first meet trail rider, Jefferson J. Jackson, in the spring of 1865, they’re struggling to survive on their family’s drought-ravaged Kansas farm. So when Jackson offers an escape – a 2000-mile journey across the roughest country in the world – Aiden knows it’s their only choice.
3. Ghost Medicine by Andrew Smith
Set in modern-day Montana, captures the essence of the west with wide open spaces from the perspective of a sixteen-year-old experiencing his last summer of childhood without his mother. A 2009 Best Book for Young Adults.
4. Meet Kirsten: An American Girl series by Janet Beeler Shaw
This is a six book series of the triumphs and struggles of a nine-year-old Swedish immigrant to America who moves to the Minnesota territory in 1854 and starts her new life in America as a pioneer in the plains. It touches on historical topics like manifest destiny in addition to timeless lessons of American girlhood like friendships, family, and growing up.
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
1. Bill Pickett: Rodeo-Ridin’ Cowboy by Andrea Davis Pinkney
The true sweat-and-dirt tale of the feisty cowboy-child who became the most famous black rodeo performer who ever lived. The picture book includes a note about the history of the black West and a bibliography. Supplement this reading by following it with a video of the real Bill Pickett in action from the 1922 silent film, The Bull Dogger.
2. Black Cowboys, Wild horses by Julius Lester
First published in 1973, this picture book tells the story of Bob Lemmons and his horse Warrior, and their uncanny ability to track wild horses.
3. Charro: The Mexican Cowboy by George Ancona
Charro is the Mexican term for “horseman.” However, a charro is much more than a cowboy. More than showing their horsemanship charros show off their pride for their country–because to be a charro is to be a Mexican. Female charro competitions are called escaramuzas. You can start exploring their elegant yet fierce horsemanship on this Youtube video.
4. The Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lowell
The tale of the Southwestern cousins of the Three Little Pigs and their troubles with the Big Bad Coyote. It also comes in a Spanish version. You can observe it read out loud here on YouTube.
5. Black Frontiers: A History of African American Heroes in the Old West by Lillian Schlissel
Black Frontiers chronicles the life and times of black men and women who settled the West from 1865 to the early 1900s. In this fascinating book, you’ll meet many of these brave individuals face-to-face, through rare vintage photographs and a fascinating account of their real-life history. You can hear the book read out loud here on YouTube.
6. B is for Buckaroo by Gleaves Whitney
Although this rhyming alphabet book targets younger learners, it does provide useful vocabulary and detailed informational paragraphs on Western history. It’s versatile and informative across all age groups. Read along with the YouTube Video.
No study of the American cowboy is complete without being intimately familiar with the legendary epitome of cowboys, Pecos Bill. You’ll find no shortage of children’s picture books on this epic American Tall Tale hero. You can watch Walt Disney’s Merrie Melodies version on YouTube. Let his tall tale segue into a complete study of tall tales, an classically American storytelling art form.
8. Thunder Rose by Jerdine Nolen and Kadir Nelson
“Rose was the first child born free and easy to Jackson and Millicent MacGruder. I recall most vividly the night she came into this world. Hailing rain, flashing lightning, and booming thunder pounded the door, inviting themselves in for the blessed event.” C
In addition to travel, consider pairing this study of the American West with culinary exploration and movies. Don’t forget to let me know if you have any other book suggestions in the comments!
Happy Reading!