Rodeo History

In August 1908, three unknown riders arrived in Cheyenne, Wyoming, their hats adorned with wildflowers, to compete in the world’s greatest rodeo. Steer-roping virtuoso Ikua Purdy and his cousins Jack Low and Archie Ka’au’a had travelled 4,200 miles from Hawaii, of all places, to test...

No matter where she runs, rodeo clown Tonya Waters's stalker always finds her. Now he's managed to track her down on the rodeo circuit. If bull rider Seth Starke hadn't saved her, she'd be dead. But when the handsome cowboy is injured in the ring and Tonya rescues him, Seth seems more determined than ever to keep her safe. But can she risk staying at his Tennessee ranch and bringing danger to his family? As her stalker gets more violent, Tonya and Seth vow to outsmart him before he makes good on his ultimate threat: if he can't have her, no one will.

Stories of "The American West" often rely on tired tropes of tough cowboys, but real history is much less straight and narrow and way more interesting. Join host Niecy Nash-Betts for a wild round-up of LGBTQ+ lives that got buried in the dust of popular culture and history, and a look at how queer people continue to shape the West today–from gay rodeo to two-spirit identity to trans truckers.

Barrel racer Celia Lawson knows better than to tangle with bull rider Kyle Gilchrist. The sexy cowboy's love 'em and leave 'em ways have earned him a reputation on the rodeo circuit, and he's always seen her as his best friend's kid sister. But one wild tequila-fueled night later, and Celia wakes up to find out she's gotten herself hitched - to the one man she never should have married! When Celia insists on an annulment, Kyle has no good reason to say no - except he isn't ready to let go of his new bride. Especially not after their incredible wedding night.

The working cowhand of old was a dusty laborer, but today's rodeo performers can hone their skills before small-town crowds and be stars in urban coliseums.Historian Kristine Fredriksson follows the evolution of rodeo from the range to Buffalo Bill's Wild West to the extravaganzas in modern times.

"Bell brings the diverse world of competitive rodeo to life with vivid details and enhances the slow burn, opposites attract romance with chemistry and banter. Readers will be captivated." Publishers Weekly, starred review. The rules of being a rodeo queen: no creases, no boyfriends...

The author of the critically admired, award-winning A Replacement Life turns to a different kind of story—an evocative, nuanced portrait of marriage and family, a woman reckoning with what she’s given up to make both work, and the universal question of how we reconcile who we are and whom...

Love is a wild ride. Hold on. When life lassoes Josie and Shawn back together three years after their dreamy first date, their second chance at love is anything but easy. A big-hearted rodeo romance set in Houston, Texas, by the critically acclaimed Liara Tamani, author of What She Missed, All...

Rodeo is a dangerous and painful performance in which only the strongest and most skilled riders succeed. In the popular imagination, the western rodeo hero is often a stoic white man who embodies the toughness and independence of America’s frontier past. However, marginalized people have starred in rodeos since the very beginning. Cast out of popular western mythology and pushed to the fringes in everyday life, these cowboys and cowgirls found belonging and meaning at the rodeo, staking a claim to national inclusion.

Galveston, Texas. 1897. A booming town on the gulf at the tail end of the Gilded Age. Sarah Brooks spends her days among the young ladies of the city, enjoying the pleasures of the gulf from the luxurious Seaside Hotel. One day a mysterious stranger arrives in the city that sends them all on a search to discover his identity. Sarah unenthusiastically joins the hunt, but she soon finds herself on a journey of self discovery.

The Wild West made legends out of many men and women through the embellishment of their stories, but it was Buffalo Bill Cody who truly brought the Wild West to life and provided the images that people still associate with the 19th century West today. Though he had a long career that spanned service in the Civil War, trapping, and even a stint with the Pony Express, Buffalo Bill eventually became synonymous with his world-famous Wild West Show.