Kings of Texas: The 150-Year Saga of an American Ranching Empire

From frontier to empire, a dynasty of Texas cattlemen clashes with history.

Kings of Texas is the sprawling saga of the larger-than-life characters who founded, built, and expanded the most famous cattle ranch in American history. Renowned Texas scholar, writer, and storyteller Don Graham weaves a compelling multigenerational family drama into the complex social history of South Texas.

Follow the Kings through generations of conflict, from the Mexican War to the Civil War, and beyond. Witness their rise from humble beginnings to the pinnacle of ranching power, facing off against rival ranchers, border bandits, and the changing tides of society. From humble frontier jacales to the sleek offices of a multinational corporation, Kings of Texas tells an unforgettable story of vision, violence, greed, loyalty, and betrayal, set on a stage as vast as the American dream.

DON GRAHAM is a writer-at-large for Texas Monthly magazine and the J. Frank Dobie Regents Professor of American and English Literature at the University of Texas, Austin. He is also past president of the Texas Institute of Letters and the author of the critically acclaimed biography of Audie Murphy, No Name on the Bullet. Among Graham's other works are Giant Country: Essays on Texas and Lone Star Literature: From the Red River to the Rio Grande: A Texas Anthology.