The 40th anniversary edition of the Pulitzer Prize–winning classic of the American West, with a new foreword by Yellowstone cocreator Taylor Sheridan. An epic of the frontier, Lonesome Dove is the grandest novel ever written about the last defiant wilderness . Journey to the dusty little town of Lonesome Dove , where retired Texas Rangers Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call undertake a perilous cattle drive to the untamed plains of Montana. Along the way, they face danger, adventure, and an unforgettable cast of characters. Richly authentic and beautifully written, Lonesome Dove is a story of love, loss, and the unyielding spirit of the American West. “If you read only one western novel in your life, read Lonesome Dove .” ― USA TODAY “Everything about Lonesome Dove feels true...These are real people, and they are still larger than life.” -- Nicholas Lemann ― The New York Times Book Review “ Lonesome Dove is Larry McMurtry’s loftiest novel.” ― Los Angeles Times "A marvelous novel...moves with joyous energy...amply imagined and crisply, lovingly written. I haven't enjoyed a book more this year...a joyous epic." ― Newsweek "The finest novel that McMurtry has yet accomplished... Lonesome Dove has all the action anyone could possibly imagine...[and] both in general and in details, the authority of exact authenticity...superb." ― Chicago Tribune “I gasped and sobbed and clutched the book when it was over.” -- Jia Tolentino ― The New Yorker “A dizzying adventure.” ― The Atlantic “The best book you'll ever read.” ― Defector “I didn’t want it to end.” -- Michael Sebastian ― Esquire Larry McMurtry (1936–2021) was the author of twenty-nine novels, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning Lonesome Dove , three memoirs, two collections of essays, and more than thirty screenplays. He lived in Archer City, Texas. Taylor Sheridan is an Academy Award–nominated writer behind the hit series Yellowstone , its critically acclaimed prequel 1883 , the hit series Mayor of Kingstown , and Landman starring Jon Hamm. His breakout screenplay Sicario earned universal acclaim, followed by Oscar and Golden Globe–nominated Hell or High Water , and the highly successful Wind River . Sheridan has many more recent projects, including 1923 , Lioness , and Lawmen: Bass Reeves . A Texas native, Taylor owns and operates two ranches in his home state: the legendary 6666 Ranch, headquartered in Guthrie, and Bosque Ranch in Weatherford. A Texas native, Taylor excels in the Western horse performance industry as an avid supporter and competitor in reining and cutting. He owns and operates two ranches in his home state: the legendary 6666 Ranch, headquartered in Guthrie, Texas, and Bosque Ranch in Weatherford, Texas. Sheridan was inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame. 1. WHENAUGUSTUS CAME OUT on the porch the blue pigs were eating a rat-tlesnake—not a very big one. It had probably just been crawling around looking for shade when it ran into the pigs. They were having a fine tug-of-war with it, and its rattling days were over. The sow had it by the neck, and the shoat had the tail. “You pigs git,” Augustus said, kicking the shoat. “Head on down to the creek if you want to eat that snake.” It was the porch he begrudged them, not the snake. Pigs on the porch just made things hotter, and things were already hot enough. He stepped down into the dusty yard and walked around to the springhouse to get his jug. The sun was still high, sulled in the sky like a mule, but Augustus had a keen eye for sun, and to his eye the long light from the west had taken on an encouraging slant. Evening took a long time getting to Lonesome Dove, but when it came it was a comfort. For most of the hours of the day—and most of the months of the year—the sun had the town trapped deep in dust, far out in the chaparral flats, a heaven for snakes and horned toads, roadrunners and stinging lizards, but a hell for pigs and Tennesseans. There was not even a respectable shade tree within twenty or thirty miles; in fact, the actual location of the nearest decent shade was a matter of vigorous debate in the offices—if you wanted to call a roofless barn and a couple of patched-up corrals offices—of the Hat Creek Cattle Company, half of which Augustus owned. His stubborn partner, Captain W. F. Call, maintained that there was excellent shade as close as Pickles Gap, only twelve miles away, but Augustus wouldn’t allow it. Pickles Gap was if anything a more worthless community than Lonesome Dove. It had only sprung up because a fool from north Georgia named Wesley Pickles had gotten himself and his family lost in the mesquites for about ten days. When he finally found a clearing, he wouldn’t leave it, and Pickles Gap came into being, mainly attracting travelers like its founder, which is to say people too weak-willed to be able to negotiate a few hundred miles of mesquite thicket without losing their nerve. The springhouse was a little