A new book coming

 

A quick note from my publisher, the TwoDot imprint of Globe Pequot, sent me checking listings for my forthcoming nonfiction title, The Most Land, the Best Cattle: the Waggoners of Texas, due out October 1. To my joy, it is available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Bookshop.org, and IndieBound. Probably others, but I did not check beyond these.

The Waggoners have long fascinated me, since my first encounter with the late Electra Waggoner Biggs, a sculptor of some note, in the early 1980s. She was the third generation of Waggoners to live on that vast expanse of land in North Texas—the largest ranch under one fence. Six counties, over 520,000 acres. But more than a story of land and cattle, this is a story of people—some of them admirable, others not so much so, several of them flamboyant and well-known for their excesses, from marriages to famous houses.

Founded in the mid-nineteenth century by Dan Waggoner, a strong stalwart man who personified the stereotype of white settlers who moved ever farther west into Indian lands, he became the patriarch of a family of men who loved horses and cattle, and women who mostly loved money and celebrity. Eventually the family split into factions, and then there was trouble—and lots of lawsuits. The Waggoners may hold the record for litigious families.

Today, for the first time in over 165 years, no Waggoner lives on the land. It has been sold to Stan Kroenke, a billionaire businessman who owns large ranches and sports teams. Change is in the air. If you’re a sentimentalist, you may not see it as progress.

What this book is not: a scholarly study of ranching. It’s more a human story of men, women, horses, and cattle. Red Steagall put it best in his blurb, for which I am ever in his debt: ""The majesty and intrigue of a ranch is of course invested in the land and livestock. But the true soul of a ranching property rests with the humans involved, both staff and owners.  Judy Alter has done a magnificent job of explaining and describing the amazing family of the world famous Waggoner Ranch, all under one fence."

As I work at my desk, I have a huge window immediately to my right. This morning I looked out and saw the mama cardinal on the fence, surveying as though she were queen of all she saw. Well, she is—she and her partner are our resident cardinal family, though by now they’ve raised their family for the year. I watched her, fascinated, and then moved my gaze to the vine on the fence. The seeds were given to me as grape hyacinth, but Christian went online and doesn’t think that’s what they are. Whatever they are, they are suddenly branching out with long tendrils of pale pink blooms. The flowers and the cardinal really made me happy. Unusual, too, for Texas to be this green in late July. I’m loving it. Aren’t you?