Best of the West 2025: Western Books

Then and Now

The state of Western history and fiction publishing in 2024 is one of grit and determination.

In 2013, I received a call from my friend Allen Barra who said there was an opportunity at True West: Western Books editor. I thanked him and called Executive Editor Bob Boze Bell. The rest is history and ever since I have had the pleasure of managing the Western Books department for True West magazine. Pre-COVID, I was receiving well over 600 books a year for review. Fiction, nonfiction, biography, environmental, autobiography, military, essay, reprints, self-published, ancient, natural, cultural, you name the topic, I was receiving hard copy books, advanced reader copies, even bound final drafts for review. Authors and publicists have reached out to me at every one of my emails, social media accounts and phone numbers. What a wild ride it has been. And while I have stepped aside as the editor of True West, with my new position as executive director of Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott, Arizona, I will continue as books and travel editor, with the new title of editor-at-large.

This past October, I was one of three keynote speakers at the Ozark Creative Writers Conference in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. The wonderful gathering of authors, like the annual Western Writers Conference I attended in Tulsa, Oklahoma, earlier in the year in June, was affirming, promising and hopeful. Writers, regardless of the monumental changes that have occurred in the Western genre writing marketplace, were hopeful at both gatherings, knowing that no matter how hard it is to make a buck from publishing, they will soldier on to tell their story. But, from my desk, 12 years since I posted my first bylined review in TW, I believe we, as a community of Western authors, readers, publishers and editors, are at one of the most important crossroads in the history of the Western, both fiction and nonfiction.

Fewer and fewer Western books are being published and even fewer are reaching my mailbox. Authors and historians must pull together. Publishers who believe in the Western fiction and nonfiction genres need to fight for their authors and take chances on new authors. With most publishers going to print-on-demand, the bottom line has been reduced across the industry, but the three most important factors to success in Western writing is not necessarily on the shoulders of creative authors: I believe good research and good storytelling are happening every day, but what is lacking: publishers, customers, bookstores and author income. How will Western writers overcome these daunting challenges? Time will tell, but we must advocate and support the genre. In the short term, it will mean more mergers of publishers; it will mean fewer imprints; it will mean fewer opportunities to be reviewed in print or to be paid for writing. In the long run, though, it will mean authors and the few publishers still in the game of Westerns, will need to expand the mediums they use to communicate their message, stories and books. Podcasts, audio books, YouTube, print-on-demand and self-publishing are all on the table as profit-generators in Western publishing.

 

 

In 2024, the Western has held its own in the headwind of change, with the most successful genre being modern Western mystery-fiction, which is also reflected in the popularity of modern Western drama on television and streaming networks. (Craig Johnson’s Longmire and Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone have had the most success, but they are not alone. I love Tony Hillerman’s Dark Wind and C.J. Box’s Joe Pickett, but the latter did not catch on with audiences.) In traditional Western fiction, Wolfpack and Kensington are two publishers significantly contributing to the mass market genre, and fortunately for us, they are maintaining a good share of the market for traditional Western novels. But, if Larry McMurtry was writing today, would any major New York publisher even take a second look at Lonesome Dove? More than likely, the answer would be no, because they aren’t publishing literary Westerns. We just have to hope a new generation of editors and publishers will reenergize the classic American-born genre, the Western.

Looking back at 2024, here are my picks for the Best of the West in Western books and publishing:

 

BEST AUTHOR AND HISTORICAL NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR

Award-winning Western author and collector Dr. Larry Len Peterson, who is well-known for his beautiful Western art books has published what will undoubtedly be considered the finest book ever published on the photographer: Edward S. Curtis: Printing the Legends, Looking at Shadows in a West Lit Only by Fire (Sweetgrass Books). Collectors, Western history and photography scholars and enthusiasts will want to own a copy of Peterson’s masterwork on Curtis. Peterson’s personal collection of 2,500 Curtis photographs is currently archived in the Larry Len and LeAnne Peterson Big Sky Collection in Montana.

Readers’ Choice

Paul Haddad’s Inventing Paradise: The Power Brokers who Created the Dream of Los Angeles (Santa Monica Press)

 

BEST BIOGRAPHY

For writers and researchers of the “Earp Family Saga,” Australian historian Peter Brand’s Josephine “Sadie” Earp: The Sordid Truth 1870-1883 (Independently Published) is the most important book published on any of the Earp women in the past decade. Brand’s reputation for research precedes him, and his scholarship is recognized worldwide. The Sordid Truth is a must read for any Western historian and lover of the Old West. We all await Peter Brand’s latest revelation on the infamous and notorious characters of Tombstone.

Readers’ Choice

Deb Goodrich’s From the Reservation to Washington: The Rise of Charles Curtis (TwoDot)

 

BEST WESTERN HISTORY BOOK PUBLISHER

Sweetgrass Books, a division of Farcountry Press

For many years, Farcountry Press has been a leader among Western regional publishers. Farcountry’s imprint Sweetgrass Books is one of the finest book publishers in the country and has filled a niche that few academic publishers do anymore: create beautiful coffee table art history books.

Readers’ Choice

TwoDot, Lanham, MD

 

BEST UNIVERSITY PRESS

University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE

For over six decades, the University of Nebraska Press and its imprint Bison Books have been on the forefront of Western history—and fiction—publishing. Best known for their role in developing strong academic and popular authors, Nebraska continues to be a leader nationally of the genre.

nebraskapress.unl.edu

Readers’ Choice

The University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma

 

BEST HISTORICAL WESTERN NOVELIST AND NOVEL

Bloody Joe’s Last Dance: A Classic Western Series (Bloody Joe Mannion) by Peter Brandvold (Wolfpack Publishing) is just what lovers of great Western novels want: straight up, classic Old West action like Max Brand, Louis L’Amour and Elmore Leonard served up for decades.

Readers’ Choice

Loren D. Estleman’s Iron Star: A Novel (Forge)

 

BEST WESTERN FICTION PRESS

Pinnacle Books, New York, NY

For over two decades, the Western mass market books division was the domain of one Gary Goldstein. As of this past summer, the master editor of the American Western has hung up his editing spurs, but his legacy lives on in the successful development of a strong legacy of authors and deep backlist that will keep readers coming back to Pinnacle for many years to come.

kensingtonbooks.com

Readers’ Choice

Wolfpack Publishing, Las Vegas, NV

 

BEST WESTERN HISTORY BOOKSTORE

Cactus Book Shop, San Angelo, TX

For the second year in a row, the San Angelo landmark Cactus Book Shop is our best Western bookstore in the country. Cactus is famous for the best and largest selection of Elmer Kelton books in the country. If you are looking for Texana, Western Americana and West Texas history, this is a bucket list bookstore for you.

cactusbookshop.com

Readers’ Choice

TIE: Powell’s Books, Portland, OR, and The Poisoned Pen Bookstore, Scottsdale, AZ