10 books to read if you like Yellowstone

With the end of Yellowstone, our cowboy-loving, Wild West-yearning hearts are once again left without a consolation prize, but that doesn’t mean we can’t mimic the feeling of living through the history of the Dutton family with other works.Taylor Sheridan (the creator of the Yellowstone universe) may be the go-to maestro of modern Westerns at the moment, with the genre going through a general stupor at the moment, but that doesn’t mean you can’t quench your thirst through other mediums. Specifically, Western literature is full of underrated and often overlooked gems that could make you fall in love with this genre all over again.So, grab your hat and spurs and giddy up, partner, because we're giving you a list of the top 10 books you should pick up if you’re a fan of Yellowstone and that cowboy life.via Vintage10. The Crossing by Cormac McCarthyFollowing McCarthy’s tradition of exploring philosophical dilemmas and existential crises in the guise of the modern novel, The Crossing is part of a trilogy of books called the “Border Trilogy,” set between 1992’s All the Pretty Horses and 1998’s Cities of the Plain. You follow the tale of a cowboy named Billy Parham, who, with his family, is living in Southern Mexico. McCarthy’s potent prose, combined with his profound exploration of themes such as loss, the nature of good and evil, and the struggle for justice, has turned The Crossing into a timeless novel. This is essentially a coming-of-age tale in a Western setting, but with a McCarthy novel's grim and brutal workings as Billy traverses the so-called frontier life and struggles to return a captured wolf to the wild.Independently Published9. The Virginian by Owen WisterWe all know Yellowstone is a modern take on the declining way of cowboys. More than its compelling characters, more than the beautiful vistas of the Montanan landscape, and even more than the iconic soliloquies delivered by John Dutton, Yellowstone is about a way of life that’s getting destroyed. So, if you’re looking to find what it means to be a cowboy and live by the principles and moral code of the American frontier life, then reading The Virginian by Owen Wister is a must. This is the essential novel for the cowboy archetype, revolving around a nameless figure who goes by the Virginian; a man of few words but iron-hard principles, who has to balance his sense of justice with a world that’s slowly leaving him behind. Moral ambiguity, great romance, and the representation of nature as a character, as opposed to a backdrop. What more could anyone want from a Western novel?via University of Chicago Press8. A River Runs Through It by Norman MacleanThe main reason I chose this novel is its setting. A River Runs Through It takes place in Montana, and deals with two brothers as they grow up in a world where nature and fly fishing are the two pillars that hold up their lives. Yes, this isn’t a cowboy story, per se, but Norman Maclean’s lyrical prose and evocative themes revolving around family, identity, grace, honor, and the passage of time all shine through A River Runs Through It, turning the novel into a timeless classic. And the icing on the cake? The book is actually semi-autobiographical, which means that some of the events you see in it are directly inspired by Maclean’s own life in the beautiful, landlocked state of Montana.via Harry N. Abrams7. True Grit by Charles PortisOne of the most popular classics of the Western genre, True Grit follows the tale of an old maid who recounts her brutal escapades 50 years before the present day. Written by Charles Portis and originally published in 1968, True Grit centers around Mattie Ross’ story as she teams up with a grizzled, drunk U.S. Marshal and a ranger to track down her father’s murderer in Indian territory. If that premise sounds familiar to you, it’s because you’ve probably read or watched it a dozen times over in the form of other Western stories, but the fact remains that True Grit was one of the forerunners of this timeless storytelling tradition. Portis’ story has also been turned into two highly acclaimed movies, one in 1969 starring John Wayne and another in 2010 directed by the Coen brothers and led by Jeff Bridges. If you like Westerns with a bit of true grit (I’ll see myself out) then do yourself a favor and pick up this book.via Bantam6. Hondo by Louis L'AmourYou may think that cowboy life is all about enjoying the moment, basking in the tranquility of nature, and perhaps putting a little bit of work in to make sure that the herd is taken good care of. Sure, there’s brutality and grit in Yellowstone, and the Dutton family gets up to a lot of sketchy activities when the law isn’t looking their way, but the lush Montanan landscape and its challenges are nothing compared to the Old West. That’s where a quintessential read like Hondo by Louis L'Amour comes along, following the tale of a gunman for the U.S. Army who has to navigate a treacherous territory filled with the Apache. This iconic protagonist named Hondo Lane, who embodies every stereotype about the classic Western hero, becomes entangled in a tale of morally complex situations, emotionally charged sequences, and a timeless tale of heroism and valor against the backdrop of the harsh frontier life. While Hondo is one of Louis L'Amour's many novels, it goes a long way to prove that no one does it quite like him when it comes to Westerns.via Scribner5. Close Range by Annie ProulxConsisting of a collection of short stories set in rural Wyoming, Close Range is a poetic, raw depiction of the lives of its protagonists, who have to weather the hardships of their time period and come to terms with universally human ideas like love, loss, resilience, and regret. One of the most famous stories in this collection is Brokeback Mountain, which was adapted for the big screens in 2005 and starred Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger in the lead roles. Proulx delves into the lives of ranchers and cowboys, and while there’s a certain serenity underlining the entire work, there’s also a point to be made about the harshness and isolation of the American West, offering both extremes of life and a range of all it has to offer. The prose is lyrical and beautiful, with Proulx still lauded as one of the best authors of this genre in literary circles.via Simon & Schuster4. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtryA Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove is the most archetypal Western novel you could lay hands on. The story is set during the last breath of the Old West and revolves around a group of retired rangers who have to drive a cattle herd from Texas to Montana. On this road, they face adventures, dangers, hardships, and natural disasters as they come to terms with their slowly diminishing way of life and their place in this world now that the frontier is essentially fading into nonexistence.Lonesome Dove features a cast of compelling multifaceted characters, as well as a visceral depiction of the Old West, blending action, tragedy, and drama into what’s arguably a classic of the genre now, even though it came out a little less than four decades ago. Lonesome Dove is one of Taylor Sheridan's favorite novels.via NYRB Classics3. Butcher's Crossing by John WilliamsWhen it comes to Westerns, there’s a lot of mysticism and bravado attached to the life of the protagonist undergoing trials in the Old West. It’s as if the frontier has, over time, turned into a mythological tradition of its own, always depicting heroes that are larger than life, situations that allude to the absurd, and challenges that take more than one’s natural acumen to overcome. Novels like Butcher’s Crossing by John William walk in the opposite direction of this tradition, trying to make the story more grounded and the characters more relatable. It’s sort of like what Taylor Sheridan did with a few of the Yellowstone cast by depicting them in a more modern hue, even if a little unwittingly and inevitably given the constraints of the period.Butcher’s Crossing, similarly, follows the story of a young Harvard student, who, inspired by the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, hops into the wild and finds himself in the great West. Our protagonist Will Andrews joins a buffalo hunting expedition and goes on to confront the gritty everyday life found in nature’s uncaring bosom.via Ecco2. The Son by Philipp MeyerMuch like Yellowstone, this 2013 novel by Philipp Meyer depicts three generations of the McCullough family as they try to survive in the wild. You first follow Eli McCullough, who is adopted by the Comanches at a young age and brought up as one of their own. Eli goes on to fight in the American Civil War, shaped by a cruel life that turns him into a vicious cattle owner in the future. Eli’s son, the second POV in the novel, disagrees with his father’s vindictiveness but has to weather storms of his own to deal with it. Lastly, there’s Jeanne McCullough, Eli’s great-granddaughter, who goes on to become an oil baroness. If there ever was a book that perfectly captured Yellowstone’s spirit, it would be The Son.via Picador1. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthyOne of the greatest novels in the English language, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy is a must-read even for people who don't like Westerns. It's also another instance of the anti-Western movement, bringing a sense of realism to subvert the romanticization of the Old West tradition. McCarthy's prose is, as usual, full of strange sentence structures and archaic-sounding words. The novel is gritty, and sometimes even grotesque, dealing with the life of a teenager who joins the Glanton gang, a real-life group of scalp hunters who massacred Indians for sadistic pleasure. Blood Meridian is not for the faint of heart, and reading through it for the first time is not necessarily an enjoyable experience, nor a breeze like so many other books on this list. What makes it worth the hassle, though, is McCarthy's exploration of human themes in their rawest form. Blood Meridian was so incongruous that it was at first received with mixed reactions, but it has since grown to be hailed as McCarthy's magnum opus (which says a lot) not to mention one of the greatest American novels of all time.via Mariner BooksBonus: Cattle Kingdom (The Hidden History of the Cowboy West) by Christopher KnowltonWhile many of the authors on this list have done their homework when it comes to the Old West history, their novels mainly center around their respective narratives and don't expand to encompass a larger picture of the so-called "cowboy west." To that end, reading Cattle Kingdom will prove to be the most illuminating experience out of all of them. In Knowlton's own words: "Cattle Kingdom reveals the truth of how the West rose and fell, and how its legacy defines us today. The tale takes us from dust-choked cattle drives to the unlikely splendors of boom-towns like Abilene, Kansas, and Cheyenne, Wyoming." So, if you're looking for a strictly historic, scholarly take on cowboy life, picking up Kwollton's book is your best bet.The post 10 books to read if you like Yellowstone appeared first on Destructoid.

With the end of Yellowstone , our cowboy-loving, Wild West-yearning hearts are once again left without a consolation prize, but that doesn’t mean we can’t mimic the feeling of living through the history of the Dutton family with other works. Taylor Sheridan (the creator of the Yellowstone universe) may be the go-to maestro of modern Westerns at the moment, with the genre going through a general stupor at the moment, but that doesn’t mean you can’t quench your thirst through other mediums. Specifically, Western literature is full of underrated and often overlooked gems that could make you fall in love with this genre all over again.

So, grab your hat and spurs and giddy up, partner, because we’re giving you a list of the top 10 books you should pick up if you’re a fan of Yellowstone and that cowboy life. 10. The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy Following McCarthy’s tradition of exploring philosophical dilemmas and existential crises in the guise of the modern novel, The Crossing is part of a trilogy of books called the “Border Trilogy,” set between 1992’s All the Pretty Horses and 1998’s Cities of the Plain .

You follow the tale of a cowboy named Billy Parham, who, with his family, is living in Southern Mexico. McCarthy’s potent prose, combined with his profound exploration of themes such as loss, the nature of good and evil, and the struggle for justice, has turned The Crossing into a timeless novel. This is essentially a coming-of-age tale in a Western setting, but with a McCarthy novel’s grim and brutal workings as Billy traverses the so-called frontier life and struggles to return a captured wolf to the wild.

9. The Virginian by Owen Wister We all know Yellowstone is a modern take on the declining way of cowboys. More than its compelling characters, more than the beautiful vistas of the Montanan landscape, and even more than the iconic soliloquies delivered by John Dutton, Yellowstone is about a way of life that’s getting destroyed.

So, if you’re looking to find what it means to be a cowboy and live by the principles and moral code of the American frontier life, then reading The Virginian by Owen Wister is a must. This is the essential novel for the cowboy archetype, revolving around a nameless figure who goes by the Virginian; a man of few words but iron-hard principles, who has to balance his sense of justice with a world that’s slowly leaving him behind. Moral ambiguity, great romance, and the representation of nature as a character, as opposed to a backdrop.

What more could anyone want from a Western novel? 8. A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean The main reason I chose this novel is its setting. A River Runs Through It takes place in Montana, and deals with two brothers as they grow up in a world where nature and fly fishing are the two pillars that hold up their lives.

Yes, this isn’t a cowboy story, per se, but Norman Maclean’s lyrical prose and evocative themes revolving around family, identity, grace, honor, and the passage of time all shine through A River Runs Through It , turning the novel into a timeless classic. And the icing on the cake? The book is actually semi-autobiographical, which means that some of the events you see in it are directly inspired by Maclean’s own life in the beautiful, landlocked state of Montana. 7.

True Grit by Charles Portis One of the most popular classics of the Western genre, True Grit follows the tale of an old maid who recounts her brutal escapades 50 years before the present day. Written by Charles Portis and originally published in 1968, True Grit centers around Mattie Ross’ story as she teams up with a grizzled, drunk U.S.

Marshal and a ranger to track down her father’s murderer in Indian territory. If that premise sounds familiar to you, it’s because you’ve probably read or watched it a dozen times over in the form of other Western stories, but the fact remains that True Grit was one of the forerunners of this timeless storytelling tradition. Portis’ story has also been turned into two highly acclaimed movies, one in 1969 starring John Wayne and another in 2010 directed by the Coen brothers and led by Jeff Bridges.

If you like Westerns with a bit of true grit (I’ll see myself out) then do yourself a favor and pick up this book. 6. Hondo by Louis L’Amour You may think that cowboy life is all about enjoying the moment, basking in the tranquility of nature, and perhaps putting a little bit of work in to make sure that the herd is taken good care of.

Sure, there’s brutality and grit in Yellowstone , and the Dutton family gets up to a lot of sketchy activities when the law isn’t looking their way, but the lush Montanan landscape and its challenges are nothing compared to the Old West. That’s where a quintessential read like Hondo by Louis L’Amour comes along, following the tale of a gunman for the U.S.

Army who has to navigate a treacherous territory filled with the Apache. This iconic protagonist named Hondo Lane, who embodies every stereotype about the classic Western hero, becomes entangled in a tale of morally complex situations, emotionally charged sequences, and a timeless tale of heroism and valor against the backdrop of the harsh frontier life. While Hondo is one of Louis L’Amour’s many novels, it goes a long way to prove that no one does it quite like him when it comes to Westerns.

5. Close Range by Annie Proulx Consisting of a collection of short stories set in rural Wyoming, Close Range is a poetic, raw depiction of the lives of its protagonists, who have to weather the hardships of their time period and come to terms with universally human ideas like love, loss, resilience, and regret. One of the most famous stories in this collection is Brokeback Mountain , which was adapted for the big screens in 2005 and starred Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger in the lead roles.

Proulx delves into the lives of ranchers and cowboys, and while there’s a certain serenity underlining the entire work, there’s also a point to be made about the harshness and isolation of the American West, offering both extremes of life and a range of all it has to offer. The prose is lyrical and beautiful, with Proulx still lauded as one of the best authors of this genre in literary circles. 4.

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry A Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove is the most archetypal Western novel you could lay hands on. The story is set during the last breath of the Old West and revolves around a group of retired rangers who have to drive a cattle herd from Texas to Montana. On this road, they face adventures, dangers, hardships, and natural disasters as they come to terms with their slowly diminishing way of life and their place in this world now that the frontier is essentially fading into nonexistence.

Lonesome Dove features a cast of compelling multifaceted characters, as well as a visceral depiction of the Old West, blending action, tragedy, and drama into what’s arguably a classic of the genre now, even though it came out a little less than four decades ago. Lonesome Dove is one of Taylor Sheridan’s favorite novels. 3.

Butcher’s Crossing by John Williams When it comes to Westerns, there’s a lot of mysticism and bravado attached to the life of the protagonist undergoing trials in the Old West. It’s as if the frontier has, over time, turned into a mythological tradition of its own, always depicting heroes that are larger than life, situations that allude to the absurd, and challenges that take more than one’s natural acumen to overcome. Novels like Butcher’s Crossing by John William walk in the opposite direction of this tradition, trying to make the story more grounded and the characters more relatable.

It’s sort of like what Taylor Sheridan did with a few of the Yellowstone cast by depicting them in a more modern hue, even if a little unwittingly and inevitably given the constraints of the period. Butcher’s Crossing , similarly, follows the story of a young Harvard student, who, inspired by the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, hops into the wild and finds himself in the great West. Our protagonist Will Andrews joins a buffalo hunting expedition and goes on to confront the gritty everyday life found in nature’s uncaring bosom.

2. The Son by Philipp Meyer Much like Yellowstone , this 2013 novel by Philipp Meyer depicts three generations of the McCullough family as they try to survive in the wild. You first follow Eli McCullough, who is adopted by the Comanches at a young age and brought up as one of their own.

Eli goes on to fight in the American Civil War, shaped by a cruel life that turns him into a vicious cattle owner in the future. Eli’s son, the second POV in the novel, disagrees with his father’s vindictiveness but has to weather storms of his own to deal with it. Lastly, there’s Jeanne McCullough, Eli’s great-granddaughter, who goes on to become an oil baroness.

If there ever was a book that perfectly captured Yellowstone ’s spirit, it would be The Son . 1. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy One of the greatest novels in the English language, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy is a must-read even for people who don’t like Westerns.

It’s also another instance of the anti-Western movement, bringing a sense of realism to subvert the romanticization of the Old West tradition. McCarthy’s prose is, as usual, full of strange sentence structures and archaic-sounding words. The novel is gritty, and sometimes even grotesque, dealing with the life of a teenager who joins the Glanton gang, a real-life group of scalp hunters who massacred Indians for sadistic pleasure.

Blood Meridian is not for the faint of heart, and reading through it for the first time is not necessarily an enjoyable experience, nor a breeze like so many other books on this list. What makes it worth the hassle, though, is McCarthy’s exploration of human themes in their rawest form. Blood Meridian was so incongruous that it was at first received with mixed reactions, but it has since grown to be hailed as McCarthy’s magnum opus (which says a lot) not to mention one of the greatest American novels of all time.

Bonus: Cattle Kingdom (The Hidden History of the Cowboy West) by Christopher Knowlton While many of the authors on this list have done their homework when it comes to the Old West history, their novels mainly center around their respective narratives and don’t expand to encompass a larger picture of the so-called “cowboy west.” To that end, reading Cattle Kingdom will prove to be the most illuminating experience out of all of them. In Knowlton’s own words: “ Cattle Kingdom reveals the truth of how the West rose and fell, and how its legacy defines us today.

The tale takes us from dust-choked cattle drives to the unlikely splendors of boom-towns like Abilene, Kansas, and Cheyenne, Wyoming.” So, if you’re looking for a strictly historic, scholarly take on cowboy life, picking up Kwollton’s book is your best bet..