
The Last Cowboys
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $17.16
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
John Pruden
-
By:
-
John Branch
About this listen
A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter's gripping portrait of one western family struggling to hold on to age-old American ways.
New York Times reporter and best-selling author John Branch takes listeners to the magnificent red soil and rocky arroyos of southern Utah, where the Wright family of Smith Mesa have for generations raised cattle and world-champion saddle-bronc riders - some call them the most successful rodeo family in history.
Filled with vivid scenes of cattle ranching and the high drama of rodeo, The Last Cowboys follows three generations of Wrights through the seasons as they are battered by drought, the falling price of beef, battles over land-use and federal regulation, and rodeo's ever-present risks of serious injury.
This is an epic but intimate story of real-life cowboys squeezed by social change in the 21st century, their soiled boots planted firmly in the past while they optimistically build a future.
©2018 John Branch (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Boy on Ice
- The Life and Death of Derek Boogaard
- By: John Branch
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The much-anticipated debut from the Pulitzer Prize - winning New York Times reporter, Boy on Ice is a moving human story and behind-the-scenes account of a life lived in the glare of sporting fame. The tragic death of hockey star Derek Boogaard at 28 was front-page news across the country in 2011 and helped shatter the silence about violence and concussions in professional sports.
-
-
Very interesting hockey bio of a fighter
- By Mark on 01-03-16
By: John Branch
-
Half Broke Horses
- A True-Life Novel
- By: Jeannette Walls
- Narrated by: Jeannette Walls
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle was "nothing short of spectacular" ( Entertainment Weekly). Now, in Half Broke Horses, she brings us the story of her grandmother, told in a first-person voice that is authentic, irresistible, and triumphant.
-
-
A BETTER BOOK THAN "THE GLASS CASTLE"
- By Kathryn on 01-10-10
By: Jeannette Walls
-
Scars and Stripes
- An Unapologetically American Story of Fighting the Taliban, UFC Warriors, and Myself
- By: Tim Kennedy, Nick Palmisciano
- Narrated by: Tim Kennedy
- Length: 15 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tim Kennedy has a problem; he only feels alive right before he’s about to die. Kennedy, a Green Beret, decorated Army sniper, and UFC headliner, has tackled a bull with his bare hands, jumped out of airplanes, dove to the depths of the ocean, and traveled the world hunting poachers, human traffickers, and the Taliban. But he’s also the same man who got kicked out of the police department, fire department, and as an EMT, before getting two women pregnant four days apart, and finally, been beaten up by his Special Forces colleagues.
-
-
First review!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 06-07-22
By: Tim Kennedy, and others
-
Cowboys, Mountain Men, and Grizzly Bears
- Fifty of the Grittiest Moments in the History of the Wild West
- By: Matthew P. Mayo
- Narrated by: James Romick
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The romance of the West is built on an endless armature of shootouts and train robberies, cowboys versus Indians, white hat versus black, and everybody versus the wilderness. From John Colter's harrowing escape from the Blackfeet to Hugh Glass' six-week crawl to civilization after a grizzly attack, from Custer's final moments to John Wesley Powell's treacherous run through the rapids of the Grand Canyon, Cowboys, Mountain Men, and Grizzly Bears takes the top 50 wildest episodes in the region's history and presents them to the listener in one convenient, narrative-driven package.
-
-
Old West History
- By kutzkai on 01-19-23
By: Matthew P. Mayo
-
Cattle Kingdom
- The Hidden History of the Cowboy West
- By: Christopher Knowlton
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Open Range cattle era lasted barely a quarter-century, but it left America irrevocably changed. These few decades following the Civil War brought America its greatest boom-and-bust cycle until the Depression, the invention of the assembly line, and the dawn of the conservation movement. It inspired legends, such as that icon of rugged individualism, the cowboy. Yet this extraordinary time and its import have remained unexamined for decades. Cattle Kingdom reveals the truth of how the West rose and fell, and how its legacy defines us today.
-
-
Disappointing - Author has an Agenda
- By McMullen on 09-19-21
-
The Eighty-Dollar Champion
- Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation
- By: Elizabeth Letts
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
November 1958: the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Into the rarefied atmosphere of wealth and tradition comes the most unlikely of horses - a drab white former plow horse named Snowman - and his rider, Harry de Leyer. They were the longest of all longshots - and their win was the stuff of legend.
-
-
Heartwarming and historical
- By Skipper on 07-01-20
By: Elizabeth Letts
-
Boy on Ice
- The Life and Death of Derek Boogaard
- By: John Branch
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The much-anticipated debut from the Pulitzer Prize - winning New York Times reporter, Boy on Ice is a moving human story and behind-the-scenes account of a life lived in the glare of sporting fame. The tragic death of hockey star Derek Boogaard at 28 was front-page news across the country in 2011 and helped shatter the silence about violence and concussions in professional sports.
-
-
Very interesting hockey bio of a fighter
- By Mark on 01-03-16
By: John Branch
-
Half Broke Horses
- A True-Life Novel
- By: Jeannette Walls
- Narrated by: Jeannette Walls
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle was "nothing short of spectacular" ( Entertainment Weekly). Now, in Half Broke Horses, she brings us the story of her grandmother, told in a first-person voice that is authentic, irresistible, and triumphant.
-
-
A BETTER BOOK THAN "THE GLASS CASTLE"
- By Kathryn on 01-10-10
By: Jeannette Walls
-
Scars and Stripes
- An Unapologetically American Story of Fighting the Taliban, UFC Warriors, and Myself
- By: Tim Kennedy, Nick Palmisciano
- Narrated by: Tim Kennedy
- Length: 15 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tim Kennedy has a problem; he only feels alive right before he’s about to die. Kennedy, a Green Beret, decorated Army sniper, and UFC headliner, has tackled a bull with his bare hands, jumped out of airplanes, dove to the depths of the ocean, and traveled the world hunting poachers, human traffickers, and the Taliban. But he’s also the same man who got kicked out of the police department, fire department, and as an EMT, before getting two women pregnant four days apart, and finally, been beaten up by his Special Forces colleagues.
-
-
First review!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 06-07-22
By: Tim Kennedy, and others
-
Cowboys, Mountain Men, and Grizzly Bears
- Fifty of the Grittiest Moments in the History of the Wild West
- By: Matthew P. Mayo
- Narrated by: James Romick
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The romance of the West is built on an endless armature of shootouts and train robberies, cowboys versus Indians, white hat versus black, and everybody versus the wilderness. From John Colter's harrowing escape from the Blackfeet to Hugh Glass' six-week crawl to civilization after a grizzly attack, from Custer's final moments to John Wesley Powell's treacherous run through the rapids of the Grand Canyon, Cowboys, Mountain Men, and Grizzly Bears takes the top 50 wildest episodes in the region's history and presents them to the listener in one convenient, narrative-driven package.
-
-
Old West History
- By kutzkai on 01-19-23
By: Matthew P. Mayo
-
Cattle Kingdom
- The Hidden History of the Cowboy West
- By: Christopher Knowlton
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Open Range cattle era lasted barely a quarter-century, but it left America irrevocably changed. These few decades following the Civil War brought America its greatest boom-and-bust cycle until the Depression, the invention of the assembly line, and the dawn of the conservation movement. It inspired legends, such as that icon of rugged individualism, the cowboy. Yet this extraordinary time and its import have remained unexamined for decades. Cattle Kingdom reveals the truth of how the West rose and fell, and how its legacy defines us today.
-
-
Disappointing - Author has an Agenda
- By McMullen on 09-19-21
-
The Eighty-Dollar Champion
- Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation
- By: Elizabeth Letts
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
November 1958: the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Into the rarefied atmosphere of wealth and tradition comes the most unlikely of horses - a drab white former plow horse named Snowman - and his rider, Harry de Leyer. They were the longest of all longshots - and their win was the stuff of legend.
-
-
Heartwarming and historical
- By Skipper on 07-01-20
By: Elizabeth Letts
-
Robert's Story
- A Texas Cowboy’s Troubled Life and Horrifying Death
- By: Stephen G. Michaud
- Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Robert East loved his older brother, Tom, but always resented Tom’s favored role in the family cattle business based at their San Antonio Viejo ranch near Hebbronville, Texas, just north of the Rio Grande. Tom was a figure to be reckoned with, a cattleman with ambitions to supplant their Uncle Bob Kleberg, head of the enormous King Ranch, as the leading cattle raiser in Texas. Robert, by contrast, was a cowboy who cared little for what occurred beyond the San Antonio Viejo’s main gate.
-
-
Great story
- By Matt on 09-10-24
-
The Wager
- A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Dion Graham, David Grann
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia.
-
-
Gasping for Air
- By Jean Engle on 04-19-23
By: David Grann
-
Follow Me to Hell
- McNelly's Texas Rangers and the Rise of Frontier Justice
- By: Tom Clavin
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In turbulent 1870s Texas, the revered and fearless Ranger Leander McNelly led his men in one dramatic campaign after another, throwing cattle thieves, desperadoes, border ruffians, and other dangerous criminals into jail or, if that's how they wanted it, six feet under. They would stop at nothing in pursuit of justice, even sending 26 Rangers across the border to retrieve stolen cattle—taking on hundreds of Mexican troops with nothing but their Sharps rifles and six-guns. The nation came to call them “McNelly’s Rangers.”
-
-
Evan's Review
- By Evan on 05-01-23
By: Tom Clavin
-
The Other Slavery
- The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America
- By: Andrés Reséndez
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the time of Columbus, Indian slavery was illegal in much of the American continent. Yet, as Andrés Reséndez illuminates in his myth-shattering The Other Slavery, it was practiced for centuries as an open secret. There was no abolitionist movement to protect the tens of thousands of natives who were kidnapped and enslaved by the conquistadors, then forced to descend into the "mouth of hell" of 18th-century silver mines or, later, made to serve as domestics for Mormon settlers and rich Anglos.
-
-
overall a good book
- By Paola V. Hidalgo on 01-23-17
By: Andrés Reséndez
-
The Ride of Her Life
- The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America
- By: Elizabeth Letts
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Letts, Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1954, 63-year-old Maine farmer Annie Wilkins embarked on an impossible journey. She had no money and no family, she had just lost her farm, and her doctor had given her only two years to live. But Annie wanted to see the Pacific Ocean before she died. She ignored her doctor’s advice to move into the county charity home. Instead, she bought a cast-off brown gelding named Tarzan, donned men’s dungarees, and headed south in mid-November, hoping to beat the snow.
-
-
Not sure….
- By BeagleMom on 06-14-21
By: Elizabeth Letts
-
Never Trust a Sneaky Pony
- And Other Things They Didn't Teach Me in Vet School
- By: Madison Seamans MS DVM
- Narrated by: Madison Seamans MS DVM
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
James Herriot meets Jeff Foxworthy in the real-life adventures of a traveling horse doctor. Climb into the truck alongside large animal vet Dr. Madison Seamans and race to the aid of horses with wounds, stomach aches, allergies, and bizarre behaviors, as well as those in severe physical distress. Quite by accident, you'll find yourself familiar with and understanding common equine medical problems and how they are diagnosed and treated, all while marveling at the remarkable situations a country veterinarian can find himself in.
-
-
spectacular!
- By prairieGirl on 03-30-25
-
American Buffalo
- In Search of a Lost Icon
- By: Steven Rinella
- Narrated by: Steven Rinella
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Both a captivating narrative and a book of environmental and historical significance, American Buffalo tells us as much about ourselves as Americans as it does about the creature who perhaps best of all embodies the American ethos.
-
-
Phenomenal
- By Hunter Cole on 08-01-19
By: Steven Rinella
-
Twelve Mighty Orphans
- The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites Who Ruled Texas Football
- By: Jim Dent
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1930s and 1940s, there was nothing bigger in Texas high school football than the Masonic Home Mighty Mites - a group of orphans bound together by hardship and death. These youngsters, in spite of being outweighed by at least 30 pounds per man, were the toughest football team around. They began with nothing - not even a football - yet in a few years were playing for the state championship on the highest level of Texas football. This is a winning tribute to a courageous band of underdogs from a time when America desperately needed fresh hope and big dreams.
-
-
Great story!!
- By Damian McKeon on 06-14-21
By: Jim Dent
-
A Land Remembered
- By: Patrick D. Smith
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 14 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this best-selling novel, Patrick D. Smith tells the story of three generations of the MacIveys, a Florida family who battle the hardships of the frontier to rise from a dirt-poor Cracker life to the wealth and standing of real estate tycoons. The story opens in 1858, when Tobias MacIvey arrives in the Florida wilderness to start a new life, and ends in 1968 with Solomon MacIvey, who realizes that the land has been exploited far beyond human need.
-
-
Excellent historical tale
- By Boysmom on 04-10-15
By: Patrick D. Smith
-
Next Year in Havana
- By: Chanel Cleeton
- Narrated by: Kyla Garcia, Frankie Maria Corzo
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Havana, 1958. The daughter of a sugar baron, 19-year-old Elisa Perez is part of Cuba's high society, where she is largely sheltered from the country's growing political unrest - until she embarks on a clandestine affair with a passionate revolutionary...Miami, 2017. Freelance writer Marisol Ferrera grew up hearing romantic stories of Cuba from her late grandmother Elisa, who was forced to flee during the revolution. Arriving in Havana, Marisol comes face-to-face with the contrast of Cuba's tropical, timeless beauty and its perilous political climate.
-
-
Amazing story line but the performance...
- By Grace F on 07-10-18
By: Chanel Cleeton
-
The Brave Cowboy
- An Old Tale in a New Time
- By: Edward Abbey
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Brave Cowboy is a classic of modern Western literature. It follows Jack Burns, a loner at odds with modern civilization. He rides a feisty chestnut mare across the New West—a once beautiful land now smothered beneath airstrips and superhighways. An "anarchist cowboy," he lives by a personal code of ethics that sets him on a collision course with the keepers of law and order. After a prison breakout plan goes awry, he finds himself and his horse, Whisky, pursued across the desert towards the mountains that lead to Mexico, and to freedom.
-
-
Cowboy or Grad Student in Philosophy?
- By Peter W. Kalnin on 09-18-24
By: Edward Abbey
-
Where the Lost Wander
- A Novel
- By: Amy Harmon
- Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo, Shaun Taylor-Corbett
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Overland Trail, 1853: Naomi May never expected to be widowed at 20. Eager to leave her grief behind, she sets off with her family for a life out West. On the trail, she forms an instant connection with John Lowry, a half-Pawnee man straddling two worlds and a stranger in both. But life in a wagon train is fraught with hardship, fear, and death. Even as John and Naomi are drawn to each other, the trials of the journey and their disparate pasts work to keep them apart.
-
-
Good story, bad reader
- By LoverofClassics on 06-09-20
By: Amy Harmon
What listeners say about The Last Cowboys
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Brom
- 05-18-21
Excellent book
This book tells a great story about the changing culture of the US west and the story of a good family. Enjoy.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tim Glennon
- 09-25-18
Wonderful window into lives of contemporary cowboy
Great overview of cowboy life, gave me background I was looking for prior to trip to rodeo and ranch in Wyoming. Highly recommended.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- mike walker
- 01-03-23
Super entertaining book
Highly recommend this book. It is one of my favorite audible books the last couple of years
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sal
- 01-23-22
Wonderfully honest family story
I have watched these cowboys perform and I had wondered about their exceptional family. This was a quick, easy read that holds your attention.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Matt McKillip
- 08-10-20
A wonderful break during this crazy year
This wonderful book provided some relief from a world gone a bit crazy from the pandemic, riots, and too much politics. The book offers wonderful insights into the life of modern cowboys and how they work a ranch and perform in the rodeos. When you read this book you'll want to be a cowboy at least for a little while. Like every little boy this man always wanted to be a cowboy. Now after reading this book I really want to give it a try and know just how much work it would be.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 05-10-22
Absolutely love it.
If you follow rodeo you'll know who the Wright family is. This family is the true example of what rodeo is.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Karen Delaibau
- 12-06-22
Inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time
As the ranchers supplanted the indigenous people before them, cowboy culture is being supplanted….
This story was told as a heartfelt saga, gently folding in the dilemma of the damage we’ve all wrought on the land and how those closest to the land pay dearest. It portrayed the grit, tenacity, humbleness and courage… of the people who, though not flawless, provide us our food that we so conveniently pick up in neat little packages at the grocery store at our leisure.
I see this as a valuable historic record. The tone and tenor of the narrators voice was impeccable. He truly brought this tale of the intrepid Wright family to life. Very much appreciated and unforgettable.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark Griffith
- 06-21-24
Well presented.
very well researched and presented. A must listen for any fan of the Wright family or of rodeo in general.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- T. Kee
- 11-09-21
Really good
This was a fascinating page turner with an excellent narration. The author did a great job of mixing in the family history, and ranching business, with the competitive rodeo aspect that is an integral part of the story. Well done.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Russell Bernard
- 06-12-19
Cowboy up
Very informative and enjoyable record of a family and profession. Being from Utah I know the area and wildness of the area. Enjoy this book and stay home. There are to many people trying to visit the high desert,so listen to the book and imagine it from the movies you have seen. If you want to preserve the west leave it to the cows and ranchers. And stay off it with your gear from REI. It is the outdoor groups that are polluting the west with overcrowding.
Enogh of my soap box.
Listen to the book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful