Roping a buffalo, running off cattle rustlers, sitting out a winter storm in a cave–adventures like these were all part of everyday life for the cowboy. They’re depicted here in stories that have stood the test of time, by writers whose words are just as funny and wise today as they were one hundred years ago.

Covering all corners of the great Western expanse–from Montana to Mexico, California to the Mississippi–the stories in this collection represent not just the Anglo male perspective but also that of the blacks, Mexicans, and women who made their lives on the range. It features works by Owen Wister, Theodore Roosevelt, Frederic Remington, Isabella L. Bird, Nat Love, Bill Nye, Charlie Siringo, Zane Grey, Andy Adams, Mark Twain, E. Mulford, O. Henry (creator of the Cisco Kid), and many others, including some surprises by little-known authors.