Why am I passionate about this?

Cows and horses were part of daily life in my family. For many years of my youth, my father was a working cowboy, running the cattle ranch on a large agricultural operation. We also had our own herd and trained horses as well. While we watched the popular TV Westerns of the time, we were always aware that they had no connection to the reality of cowboy life, and that “cowboy” was a term misused and abused on the screen and in the pages of shoot-’em-up Western novels. Authenticity and a sense of the reality of cowboy life are important to me, and have been since boyhood. 


I wrote

Rawhide Robinson Rides the Range

By Rod Miller,

Book cover of Rawhide Robinson Rides the Range

What is my book about?

Saddle up and ride along with tall-tale-teller Rawhide Robinson and the cowboy crew. Brave storms and stampedes, rustlers, and river…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Good Old Boys

Rod Miller Why did I love this book?

The characters in The Good Old Boys are real cowboy types involved in real-cowboy-type work and play. The novel’s opening line, “For the last five or six days Hewey Calloway had realized he needed a bath” is one of the most intriguing introductions ever. The story is lighthearted and fun, as is much of cowboy life. Elmer Kelton is among the best-ever Western writers and this is my favorite of his many outstanding books. 

By Elmer Kelton,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Good Old Boys as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Hewey Calloway has a problem. In his West Texas home of 1906, the land of the way of life that he loves are changing too quickly for his taste.

Hewey dreams of freedom--he wants only to be a footloose horseback cowboy, endlessly wandering the open range. But the open range of his childhood is slowly disappearing: land is being parceled out, and barbed-wire fences are spring up all over. As if that weren't enough, cars and other machines are invading Hewey's simple cowboy life, stinking up the area and threatening to replace horse travel. As Hewey struggles against the relentless…


Book cover of The Rounders

Rod Miller Why did I love this book?

Max Evans knows cowboy life and he writes about it authentically. In The Rounders, we laugh along with Dusty and Wrangler as they do battle with one of literature’s best horses, “Old Fooler.” The boys break horses, hunt for cows in rough country, rodeo, drink, and chase the girls—and it’s all in good fun. 

By Max Evans,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Rounders as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The bawdy and moving story of two contemporary bronco busters, The Rounders, originally published in 1960, was Max Evans's first novel and is still his best known work, thanks largely to the success of the 1965 movie version starring Henry Fonda and Glenn Ford. Acclaimed for its realistic depiction of modern cowboying and for its humor, it is also a very serious work, described by the author as a tragicomedy.


Book cover of Lonesome Dove

Rod Miller Why did I love this book?

Lonesome Dove won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and it is a well-deserved honor. In a genre where most authors pass off gamblers, outlaws, lawmen, gunfighters, and other characters as “cowboys” even though there is seldom a cow in sight, McMurtry’s characters in Lonesome Dove are the real thing. He captures the essence of the historic cattle-drive era in powerful prose, and Gus McRae and Woodrow Call are timeless characters who ride an unforgettable trail. 

By Larry McMurtry,

Why should I read it?

16 authors picked Lonesome Dove as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize winning novel is a powerful, triumphant portrayal of the American West as it really was. From Texas to Montana, it follows cowboys on a grueling cattle drive through the wilderness.

It begins in the office of The Hat Creek Cattle Company of the Rio Grande.
It ends as a journey into the heart of every adventurer who ever lived . . .

More than a love story, more than an adventure, Lonesome Dove is an epic: a monumental novel which embraces the spirit of the last defiant wilderness of America.

Legend and fact, heroes and outlaws,…


Book cover of Dancing at the Rascal Fair

Rod Miller Why did I love this book?

In a tale of Scottish immigrants who homestead Montana ranches in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains, Dancing at the Rascal Fair features a cast of characters who cooperate and sometimes clash as they build lives in a harsh new country. Human relationships prove as challenging as the land, the livestock, and the weather. Doig, like few authors who write about the West, presents a faithful picture of ranch life.   

By Ivan Doig,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Dancing at the Rascal Fair as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The central volume in Ivan Doig's acclaimed Montana trilogy, Dancing at the Rascal Fair is an authentic saga of the American experience at the turn of this century and a passionate, portrayal of the immigrants who dared to try new lives in the imposing Rocky Mountains.

Ivan Doig's supple tale of landseekers unfolds into a fateful contest of the heart between Anna Ramsay and Angus McCaskill, walled apart by their obligations as they and their stormy kith and kin vie to tame the brutal, beautiful Two Medicine country.


Book cover of The Virginian

Rod Miller Why did I love this book?

Widely recognized as the original prototype for the Western novel, The Virginian remembers what most followers and imitators never knew—the essence of cowboy life is working cattle from a horse’s back. While there is gunplay and violence, which became the focus of most Western novels that followed The Virginian, Owen Wister never lost sight of the reality at the core of cowboy life. 

By Owen Wister,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Virginian as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Still as exciting and meaningful as when it was written in 1902, Owen Wister's epic tale of one man's journey into the untamed territory of Wyoming, where he is caught between his love for a woman and his quest for justice, has exemplified one of the most significant and enduring themes in all of American culture.

With remarkable character depth and vivid descriptive passages, The Virginian stands not only as the first great novel of American Western literature, but as a testament to the eternal struggle between good and evil in humanity and a revealing study of the forces that…


Explore my book 😀

Rawhide Robinson Rides the Range

By Rod Miller,

Book cover of Rawhide Robinson Rides the Range

What is my book about?

Saddle up and ride along with tall-tale-teller Rawhide Robinson and the cowboy crew. Brave storms and stampedes, rustlers, and river crossings as the herd makes its way slowly toward the North Star. You’ll soon be looking forward to the end of the day, when after a cowboy supper of beans, bacon, biscuits, and scalding coffee you can sit back and relax around the campfire while Rawhide Robinson launches into another extraordinary—and all true, to hear him tell it—adventure of bravery and daring in the Wild West.

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The Open Road

By M.M. Holaday,

Book cover of The Open Road

M.M. Holaday Author Of The Open Road

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up a fan of an evening news segment called “On the Road with Charles Kuralt.” Kuralt spotlighted upbeat, affirmative, sometimes nostalgic stories of people and places he discovered as he traveled across the American landscape. The charming stories he told were only part of the appeal; the freedom and adventure of being on the open road ignited a spark that continues to smolder. Some of my fondest memories from childhood are our annual family road trips, and I still jump at the chance to drive across the country.

M.M.'s book list on following the open road to discover America

What is my book about?

Head West in 1865 with two life-long friends looking for adventure and who want to see the wilderness before it disappears. One is a wanderer; the other seeks a home he lost. The people they meet on their journey reflect the diverse events of this time period–settlers, adventure seekers, scientific expeditions, and Indigenous peoples–all of whom shape their lives in significant ways.

This is a story of friendship that casts a different look on a time period which often focuses only on wagon trains or gunslingers.

The Open Road

By M.M. Holaday,

What is this book about?

After four years of adventure in the frontier, Win Avery returns to his hometown on the edge of the prairie and tracks down his childhood friend, Jeb Dawson. Jeb has just lost his parents, and, in his efforts to console him, Win convinces his friend to travel west with him―to see the frontier before it is settled, while it is still unspoiled wilderness.

They embark on a free-spirited adventure, but their journey sidetracks when they befriend Meg Jameson, an accomplished horsewoman, lost on the Nebraska prairie. Traveling together through the Rocky Mountain foothills, they run into Gray Wolf, an Arapaho…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in cowboys, Montana, and Wyoming?

Cowboys 75 books
Montana 79 books
Wyoming 51 books