Bobwhites in the Texas panhandle, prairie grouse in the Flint Hills of Kansas, Gambel's quail in New Mexico's arroyos, blue quail on the staked plains, and doves and Mearn's quail in Arizona. In these lyrical essays, Henry Chappell examines the bonds that exist between hunter, hunting dog, land, and prey. At Home on the Range with a Texas Hunter evokes a powerful sense of history and place and never shies from the responsibilities and ethical struggles every hunter faces.

Texas was the darkest corner of the Old South, too remote and violent for even the bravest abolitionists. Yet North Texas newspapers commonly reported runaway slaves, and travelers in South Texas wrote of fugitives heading to Mexico. On July 8, 1860, Dallas, Texas burned. Three slaves were accused of arson and hanged without a trial. Today, most historians attribute the fire to carelessness. Silent We Stood weaves the tale of a small band of abolitionists working in secrecy within Dallas's close-knit society. There's Joseph Shaw, an undertaker and underground railroad veteran with a shameful secret; Ig Bodeker, a charismatic, melancholic preacher; Rachel Bodeker, a fierce abolitionist, Ig's wife, and Joseph Shaw's lover; Rebekah, a freed slave who'll sacrifice everything for the cause; Samuel Smith, a cryptofreedman whose love for Rebekah exacts a terrible cost; and, towering above them all, a near-mythical one-armed runaway who haunts area slavers and brings hope to those dreaming of freedom.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

'Isaac's choices are stark, and the moral dilemmas he faces as he matures form the basis of this richly detailed, emotionally engaging slice of Texas frontier life. Chappell's novel reads the way a John Ford western unfolds on the screen: good folks, hard choices, humour, tragedy, and heartbreaking humanity played out against the backdrop of the great American West. A wonderful book for readers who like westerns that leave formula in the dust' - ""Booklist starred review"". '[This book] does what art demands: It makes us both think and feel' - ""Texas Parks & Wildlife"". 'A Texas writer to watch. The author has created strong characters and a vivid sense of place in a tale that is punctuated with bloody fighting and awkward courtships on a tough, unforgiving frontier' - ""Dallas Morning News"". In ""Blood Kin"", Isaac Webb, a young Texas ranger, struggles for decency amid the violence of the Texas Revolution and the early days of the Republic. Still in his teens when he joins the legendary ranger captain Noah Smithwick, Isaac discovers in himself extraordinary mettle in battle and a fierce yearning for young war widow Catherine Druin. But victory over Mexico does not bring the new Republic nor Isaac the peace and stability he fought for. Escalating Indian depredations forestall Isaacs hopes to work the farmland he's cleared near Bastrop and to marry Catherine. Pressed into accompanying Smithwick as Sam Houstons peace emissary to the Comanches, Isaac befriends Looks Far, a young warrior at whose side he fends off Waco attacks and with whom he learns to grieve. As the Texans hunger for land and the Comanches penchant for raiding imperil Isaacs friendship and thwart peace negotiations, Isaac returns to Bastrop prepared for the worst. When his future with Catherine is confounded by her fathers blind hatred of the Comanches and his own commitment to the indomitable Inez, a Lipan captive, Isaac must confront a brutal dilemma and a painful secret. So achingly honest and culturally sensitive is Chappell in his telling of this epic story that every image, every characterization rings true. It is hard to believe that he did not live it himself.

Bison herds are dwindling on the Kansas prairie. Logan Fletcher, a young faith healer from Kentucky, labors as a skinner on a buffalo hunting crew, waiting for the taming of the plains and the chance to spread the Word to the coming immigrants.

On the reservation near Fort Sill, the U.S. government withholds food in retaliation for Comanche and Kiowa depredation in Texas. Cuts Something, an aging Comanche war chief, returns to his old home on the Pease River to revive his badger medicine. His quest is rewarded, and he leads his demoralized band back to the bison-rich Texas Panhandle.

Logan's crew abandons the Kansas bone field and heads into the Panhandle, where the brutal plains life erodes his idealism and raises questions he is ill prepared to answer.

The inevitable confrontation of two men -- each from an arrogant, expansionist culture -- draws in an assortment of characters cast of the harsh land itself and just as gripping: Bob Durham, the former slave, whose skill as a plainsman saves Logan's crew time and again; Ezra Higginbotham, the hunter whose determination to exploit the last of the southern bison herd imperils everyone around him; Elizabeth Keltner, the young woman who survives cholera and capture by Kiowas, then gives Logan reason to live; and Abraham, the giant Tonkawa scout who eats the flesh of his enemies and endures unspeakable torture to lead the army to Cuts Something's band.

The final clash tests the depths of Cuts Something's resolve and compels Logan to confront the racism, brutality, and moral paradox of the American frontier in all its complexities.