Gideon Ledbetter, freed from slavery, finds himself with no land, no money, and no means to make a living. He is drawn into the army, which had painted a deceptively alluring picture of cavalry life. Soon, Gideon becomes locked in a battle with a Comanche warrior, and a portrait emerges of two men who are merely pawns in a tragic conflict.

As he flees to the sanctuary of Mexico, Chacho Fernandez is unaware of the fuel he has added to the already simmering racial hatreds in and around the quiet town of Domingo, Texas. Through events set in motion by a misunderstanding, Chacho becomes a folk hero to his people and a dangerous fugitive to a group of zealous lawmen.
First published in 1974 by Ballantine Books, "Manhunters," the tale of Chacho's legendary flight, was inspired by the story of controversial Mexican fugitive Gregorio Cortez. In 1901 Cortez, a young horseman, shot a sheriff during an argument, leading to the largest...

As a slave, Isaac Jefford went to war and saved the life of his master, Major Lytton. As a free man, Isaac became one of the major's top cowhands, respected - but never totally accepted - by fellow cowboys: when they gathered around the fire to eat their dinners, Isaac took his food and sat on the wagontongue alone. When Pete Runyan, a bitter southerner, joins the crew, Isaac has to swallow his rage more than once. But then Pete and Isaac are assigned the task of getting cash - profits from the sale of the herd - safely to the Fort Worth bank before a foreclosure deadline. Time and three...

As a slave, Isaac Jefford went to war and saved the life of his master, Major Lytton. As a free man, Isaac became one of the major's top cowhands, respected--but never totally accepted--by fellow cowboys: when they gathered around the fire to eat their dinner, Isaac took his food and sat on the wagontongue alone.
When Pete Runyan, a bitter southerner, joins the crew, Isaac has to swallow his rage more than once. But then Pete and Isaac are assigned the task of getting cash--profits from the sale of the herd--safely to the Fort Worth bank before a foreclosure deadline. Time and three...

In this novel, first published by Doubleday in 1985, Texas novelist Elmer Kelton returns to the Civil War period, once again examining, as he first did in "Texas Rifles," the effect of the war on Texans at home. Even while the conflict raged to the east, several groups of Texan Union loyalists hid out across the state, trying to avoid the anger and violence of the confederate-sympathizing "home guard."
Kelton bases this story on a group who lived in a then-huge thicket on the Colorado River near present-day Columbus, although the characters, incidents and town of the book are of Kelton's...

Caprock, Texas, is a sleepy cow town until oil is discovered in the 1920s. Suddenly thousands of people stream in to find their fortune; some are honest folk, but too many are two-bit swindlers. This is the story of how an entire community draws together to save itself.

In the 1978 novel, "The Good Old Boys," Hewey Calloway could not abandon the footloose cowboy way of life and settle down to farming, even for Spring Renfro, the woman he loved. Twenty years later, in this sequel, Elmer Kelton brought Hewey back, older, wiser, and badly banged up trying to break a renegade bronc. His wandering days are over, because of his injuries, because of fences that cut up the range, because of trucks and automobiles. But, how will Hewey handle the new circumstances of his life? And how will Spring react to his return? Readers who fell in love with Hewey will delight in...

Twenty years ago, in The Good Old Boys, Elmer Kelton introduced one of the most beloved characters in Western fiction, the Texas cowboy Hewey Calloway.

Hewey returns in The Smiling Country. It is now 1910 and his free-wheeling life is coming to an end -- the fences, trucks, and automobiles he hates are creeping in even to remote Alpine, in the "smiling country" of West Texas. When he is badly injured trying to break a renegade horse, he thinks for the first time of his future and sees the loneliness that awaits him, and regrets his decision to run away from the only woman he has ever loved,...