Where the Wild West Still Lives

The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo is an event every Texan or “wanna be” Texan should attend at least once. It’s been an annual fixture on the Houston calendar since 1932. People come from all over to participate or partake of all the good things that happen at this event, from the rodeo itself to craft fairs, carnival rides, celebrity entertainers, and of course, good food.  But if you can’t get to the Rodeo, you can at least read some of the great books about rodeo life from our collection. Here are some adult-level, non-fiction titles where you can learn more about the cowboys and cowgirls, rodeo clowns and others we look forward to seeing every year.

• King of the Cowboys by Ty Murray with Steve Eubanks
• Bull Riding: rodeo's most dangerous 8 seconds by Floyd Cowan
• Rodeo: behind the scenes at America's most exciting sport by Lynn Campion
• Rodeo queens and the American dream by Joan Burbik
• The lady rode bucking horses: the story of Fannie Sperry Steele, woman of the west by Dee Marvine
• Fearless funnymen: the history of the rodeo clown by Gail Hughbanks Woerner
• February fever: historical highlights of the first sixty years of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, 1932-1992 by Lynne Chesnar