References to western movies scattered over some 250 narrative works by more than 130 authors constitute the subject matter of this book, arranged in an encyclopedic format. The entries are distributed among western movies, television series, big screen and television actors, western writers, directors and miscellaneous topics related to the genre. The entries vary in size, from a classic like High Noon to a more obscure title such as Drum Beat, or from, a mega-star like John Wayne to someone like Tom Tyler. While the time span of the presented data exceeds a period of a hundred years--from The Great Train Robbery (1903) to No Country for Old Men (2007)--the entries include many western film milestones (from The Aryan through Shane to Unforgiven), television classics (Gunsmoke, Bonanza) and great screen cowboys of both the ""A"" and ""B"" productions.

Westerns have had their heyday, but they remain popular. The greatest films from 1914, when ""The Squaw Man"", ""The Virginian"", ""Salomy Jane"", ""The Spoilers"", ""The Rose of the Rancho"" and ""Chip of the Flying U"" were the genre's best, through 2001, when ""American Outlaws"" and ""Texas Rangers"" were tops, are the subject of this work. For each year, the author names the outstanding western films in the following categories: picture, screenplay (original and adaptation), direction, cinematography, music, male and female leading roles, and male and female supporting roles. Also for each year, the author lists the westerns that received Academy Award nominations (and those that won), makes note of the births and deaths of notable actors, directors, producers, composers, cinematographers, authors and other such personalities, and describes the genre's significant achievements.