When a down-on-his-luck educational administrator arrives into the makeshift bus shelter of Cow Eye Junction, he finds a drought-stricken town and its community college on the precipice of institutional ruin. Struggling to navigate this strange world of bloated calf scrota, orgiastic math instruction, and onrushing regional accreditors, Charlie must devise a plan to lead Cow Eye Community College through the perils of continuous improvement to the triumphant culmination of world history. Iconoclastic, wry, and ambitiously constructed, Cow Country is Adrian Jones Pearson's most American work yet, deftly blending the lunacies of contemporary academia with the tragic consequences of New World nation-building. A must-read for anyone who has ever worked at an institution of higher education, or attempted to straddle partisan lines, this insightful novel offers a poetic requiem for the loss of our humanity - and our humanities.

The star of The Incredible Dr. Pol shares his amusing, and often poignant, tales from his four decades as a vet in rural Michigan. Dr. Jan Pol is not your typical veterinarian. Born and raised the Netherlands on a dairy farm, he is the star of Nat Geo Wild’s hit show The Incredible Dr. Pol and has been treating animals in rural Michigan since the 1970s. Dr. Pol’s more than 20,000 patients have ranged from white mice to 2600-pound horses and everything in between. From the time he was twelve years old and helped deliver a litter of piglets on his family’s farm to the incredible moments captured on his hit TV show, Dr. Pol has amassed a wealth of stories of what it’s like caring for this menagerie of animals. He shares his own story of growing up surrounded by animals, training to be a vet in the Netherlands, and moving to Michigan to open his first practice in a pre fab house. He has established himself as an empathetic yet no-nonsense vet who isn’t afraid to make the difficult decisions in order to do what’s best for his patients—and their hard-working owners. A sick pet can bring heartache, but a sick cow or horse could threaten the very livelihood of a farmer whose modest profits are dependent on healthy livestock. Reminiscent of the classic books of James Herriot, Never Turn Your Back on an Angus Cow is a charming, fascinating, and funny memoir that will delight animal lovers everywhere.

Kathryn Cornell Dolan examines the role cattle played in narratives throughout the nineteenth century to show how the struggles within U.S. food culture mapped onto society’s larger struggles with colonization, environmentalism, U.S. identity, ethnicity, and industrialization.

Call of the cow country -- Cowboy life, good, bad, and plain hell -- The indomitable dude [Otto von Lichtenstein Franc, Pitchfork Ranch, Wyoming] -- The outlaw [Old Joe Wagner] -- Buffalo Bill, the man -- The day the Jarbridge stage was late -- Just tell me where it hurts -- Teenage lion hunters -- Old Spook -- The last shoot-out in Palisade -- Fightin' Larson -- Memoirs of a government trapper -- A part of Will James' life few knew -- A cowboy Thanksgiving -- Lame Charlie speaks -- The case of the drunken judge -- New Year's Eve at the Rand Ranch -- The transmutation of Herbert Brink -- An extraordinary mule -- Black angel: the endless affection from and for Nigger George -- Training Charley [Pratt] -- Cigarette George -- Them damn cats [bobcats] -- The mysterious stranger -- Waiting for Mary -- Hoover's visit -- A horse called Satan -- A lucky shot -- Treasure of the Rio Tinto -- Old Mose [dog] -- Glossary of terms.

Thousands of black cowpunchers drove cattle up the Chisholm Trail after the Civil War, but only Nat Love wrote about his experiences. Born to slaves in Davidson County, Tennessee, the newly freed Love struck out for Kansas after the war. He was fifteen and already endowed with a reckless and romantic readiness. In wide-open Dodge City he joined up with an outfit from the Texas Panhandle to begin a career riding the range and fighting Indians, outlaws, and the elements. Years later he would say, "I had an unusually adventurous life". That was rare understatement. More characteristic was Love's claim: "I carry the marks of fourteen bullet wounds on different parts of my body, most any one of which would be sufficient to kill an ordinary man, but I am not even crippled". In 1876 a virtuoso rodeo performance in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, won him the moniker of Deadwood Dick. He became known as DD all over the West, entering into dime novels as a mysteriously dark and heroic presence. This vivid autobiography includes encounters with Bat Masterson and Billy the Kid, a soon-after view of the Custer battlefield, and a successful courtship. Love left the range in 1890, the year of the official closing of the frontier. Then, as a Pullman train conductor he traveled his old trails, and those good times bring his story to a satisfying end.