swap_horiz Sam Chance Alternatives

1

This House of Sky

Ivan Doig’s *This House of Sky* offers a deeply personal account of life on a Montana sheep ranch during the late 19th a...

Montana Ranching 1978 Ivan Doig

9.2 Excellent

2

The Time It Never Rained

The Time It Never Rained by Elmer Kelton portrays the profound impact of a prolonged drought on a Texas ranching family...

Texas Ranching 1973 Elmer Kelton

8.8 Great

3

The Day the Cowboys Quit

Elmer Kelton's The Day the Cowboys Quit is a 1971 historical Western novel inspired by the real-life 1883 Canadian River...

Texas 1971 Labor Elmer Kelton

8.3 Great

4

The Good Old Boys

The Good Old Boys is a 1978 Western novel by Elmer Kelton following a traditional, wandering cowboy struggling to adapt...

Character Study Texas 1978 Elmer Kelton

8.0 Great

5

Horseman, Pass By

Larry McMurtry's 1961 debut novel set on a Texas cattle ranch, exploring generational conflict between a rancher and his...

Coming Of Age Texas 1961 Ranch

7.8 Good

6

Fire on the Mountain

Edward Abbey's 1962 novel about an elderly New Mexico rancher who refuses to surrender his land to a government missile...

Resistance Ranching 1962 New Mexico

7.8 Good

7

Comanche Moon

Written by Larry McMurtry in 1997, Comanche Moon is a notable Western novel that serves as the sweeping prequel to his P...

Texas 1997 Comanche Larry Mcmurtry

7.6 Good

8

Stand Proud

Stand Proud is a 1984 Western novel by Elmer Kelton that explores the life of a wealthy but hardened Texas cattleman, hi...

Historical 1984 Texas Ranching

7.3 Good

9

Leaving Cheyenne

Larry McMurtry's 1963 novel tracing a decades-long love triangle among two cowboys and a rancher's daughter in Texas, la...

Texas 1963 Ranch Larry Mcmurtry

7.3 Good

10

Buffalo Wagons

Published in 1984, Buffalo Wagons by Elmer Kelton is a notable frontier adventure novel focusing on the dangerous commer...

Texas Western 1956 Buffalo Hunting

7.0 Good

11

A Woman of the People

Benjamin Capps's 1966 novel following a young white girl captured by Comanches who gradually assimilates into the tribe...

Texas Captive 1966 Comanche

7.0 Good

12

Journey to Shiloh

Journey to Shiloh is a 1962 historical novel by Will Henry that follows a group of young Texas cowboys heading east to f...

Adventure Civil War Texas 1960

6.8 Fair

13

The White Man's Road

Benjamin Capps's novel about a young Comanche man struggling to adapt to reservation life as the traditional ways of his...

Reservation 1969 Comanche Changing West

6.8 Fair

14

Massacre at Goliad

Massacre at Goliad is a mid-twentieth-century historical Western novel that dramatizes the infamous 1836 execution of pr...

Historical 1965 Elmer Kelton Texas Revolution

6.7 Fair

15

The High Graders

Louis L'Amour's 1965 western novel set around a mining camp, following an investigator who uncovers a systematic ore-the...

Standalone Mining 1965 Louis Lamour

6.3 Fair

16

West of the Pecos

West of the Pecos is a 1937 Western novel by Zane Grey following a Georgia family's journey to Texas and a heroine disgu...

Classic Texas 1937 Frontier

6.2 Fair

17

Adobe Walls

Adobe Walls is a historical Western novel distinguished by its dramatic retelling of the iconic 1874 Texas battle betwee...

Texas 1953 Comanche Clay Fisher

6.2 Fair

18

Black Fox

Matt Braun's 1972 novel based on the true story of Britt Johnson, a Black Texan who negotiated with Comanche raiders in...

Texas 1972 Comanche Matt Braun

5.9 Mediocre

19

The Trail Driver

The Trail Driver is a 1927 Western novel by Zane Grey that follows a young cowboy guiding a massive cattle drive from Te...

Classic Texas 1936 Cattle Drive

5.8 Mediocre

20

30,000 on the Hoof

Zane Grey's posthumously published 1940 novel spanning three decades of a pioneer family's determined effort to build a...

Classic Arizona Ranching 1940

5.5 Mediocre