Crowley County Combined Library

Backlands continues the story of Patrick Kerney; his ex-wife, Emma; and their young son, Matthew, shortly after the tragic battlefield death of their eldest son, CJ, at the end of World War I. Scarred by the loss of an older brother he idolized, estranged from a father he barely knows, and deeply troubled by the failing health of a mother he adores, eight-year-old Matthew is suddenly and irrevocably forced to set aside his childhood and take on responsibilities...

It begins in 1854 with the first of five, richly textured, complex generations of unforgettable, multicultural characters. The separate lives of these driven men and independent women from Europe and America are drawn to a common destiny that beckons seductively from the wild and remote flanks of the American West.

"The grand saga of an American ranching family continues in The Last Ranch, the final, mesmerizing book of New York Times bestseller Michael McGarrity's gripping and richly authentic American West trilogy. When Matthew Kerney returns to his ranch in the beautiful San Andres Mountains after serving in Sicily during World War II, he must not only fight to recover physically and emotionally from a devastating war injury, but he must also battle attempts...

Men and women of uncommon cultures are bound ever more tightly in the fiery forge of the spirit and history of America. Old scores are violently settled, a Mormon family homesteads in the Utah Territories, and an outlaw vaquero with royal but bitter blood finds a new sense of place. The Sioux tribal coucil seeks answers to the dark shadows of change in the lands of the enemy Utes. The Ute chief, yearning for a son, makes a promise that spans generations...

Examines how the myth of the frontier has been the most pervasive influence behind American culture and politics.

Set in 1855, Book Two continues the tale of four generations of men and women shaping the West as the West shapes them. Adventure, danger, love, armed conflicts, slavery, gold, and Indians play into their worlds and the ways of the American West.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves appears as one of "eight notable Oklahomans," the "most feared U.S. marshal in the Indian country." That Reeves was also an African American who had spent his early life as a slave in Arkansas and Texas makes his accomplishments all the more remarkable. Bucking the odds ("I'm sorry, we didn't keep black people's history," a clerk at one of Oklahoma's local historical societies answered a query), Art T. Burton sifts...

Traces the battles waged by various North American Indian tribes and leaders to defend their land and way of life from encroaching white settlers, soldiers, and hunters.