The Man Who Rode Midnight
by Elmer Kelton
Afterword by Kenneth W. Davis

In this, his most contemporary novel, Elmer Kelton again combines a deep insight into human nature with a keen understanding of Texas, its land, and its people.

In his youth, Wes Hendrix was one of the few men to stay on the legendary bucking horse, Midnight. Now he is stubborn, lonely, sometimes cranky, but he knows the land, respects animals, and works hard. When developers threaten to take his ranch to build a recreational lake, Wes vows to save the land. But he finds himself in a one-man battle against his family, the people of Big River, and some of his longtime friends.

His son Truman, a Dallas businessman, convinced that the difficult old man belongs in a nursing home, sends grandson Jim Ed to West Texas for the summer. In part Jim Ed is being punished for failing out of college, but he is also sent to persuade his grandfather to sell his land.

Like Charlie Flagg in The Time It Never Rained and Hewey Calloway of The Good Old Boys, Wes is a man out of step with the world around him, a man confronted with the inescapable end to the way of life he has known and loved. In young Jim Ed, Wes seems to have encountered the embodiment of all that has gone wrong with the world as he sees it.  

ELMER KELTON is the author of over forty novels. Several have won Spur Awards from Western Writers of America and Western Heritage (Wrangler) Awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. He has been honored by the Texas Institute of Letters, WWA, and the Western Literature Association for lifetime achievement.

Texas Tradition Series:  Number 14