Michael Pettit, Writer

JAL Outfit near the Pecos River, Texas, 1895

Welcome to the website of award-winning writer
Michael Pettit. You can find details here about
his current and past work, links for ordering books,
news of author appearances, reviews and awards, and contact information for the author and publishers.

His most recent book is RIDING FOR THE BRAND: 150 YEARS OF COWDEN RANCHING, winner of the New Mexico Book Award for Southwest History. From tales of the Texas frontier to the rise of the fabled JAL Ranch in the nineteenth century to today's family ranch in New Mexico, RIDING FOR THE BRAND explores the Cowden family's long and colorful ride through ranching history.

"What happens when you turn history over to a poet who has also been a rancher? You get a delightful, intelligent, nonlinear treatment of southwestern ranch life that deftly blends history, personal experience, and cultural commentary....The book weaves together human, natural, and animal history, providing a complete and satisfying portrait of ranch life, yesterday and today....No reader interested in the American Southwest could ask for more."
--Richard W. Slatta, author of THE COWBOY ENCLYCLOPEDIA and COWBOY: THE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY, from the NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW, Fall 2007

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