Survival Time

**For the Love of the Texas Rangers**
We have a long history of covering the Texas Rangers and Lonesome Dove in this magazine. Our best-selling issue ever is highly collectible, and our very first True Westerner Award was presented to Larry McMurtry and Diana Osana in Tucson in March 2013 (above). Longtime friend of the magazine, Chuck Parsons, has two new books from the University of North Texas Press out on the Rangers, and he has great taste in artwork (yes, I did the covers).

History was being made as we finished this issue. The True West offices had been closed for over a week when we were getting this issue ready for the printer, and since we were all working from home, we were suffering from the isolation blues.

So, we held our first Zoom conference call on March 24, and it was illuminating, hopeful, and I must say, it is the future of our business.

The essence of the Zoom call is that the entire staff, all 12 of us, were on a conference call. About half of us were on video and the rest were just audio. We got to hear about sales efforts (our advertisers are holding strong), and we learned about our online sales (a subscription offer netted 190 new subs in the first two hours!). All of this points to a new way of doing business. One thing that will remain the same is that we are even more committed to giving you the history you want: straight up, with honesty and dedication. As our friend Randy Jensen put it: “Tough times never last but True West always will.”

This issue is one of the best I have ever had the pleasure of working on. I attribute this to the talent and dedication that our editor, Stuart Rosebrook, brings to the table. Between him and our production and creative team, you are getting the very best scholarship and graphic sophistication I have ever experienced in my long tenure at this magazine. Not to mention our great feature writers Johnny D. Boggs, Chuck Parsons and our newest contributor, Ben Friberg, who have turned in some of their very best work. Enjoy this issue. If this team has anything to do with it, there will be many more to follow.