25 Books to Read If You Love Yellowstone

Lonesome Dove is a classic Western novel about two aging Texas rangers who drive a cattle herd to Montana during the 1870s, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986. Texan author Larry McMurty said he wrote it to demythologize the myth of the Old West, but, readers are “going to twist it into something romantic no matter what you do.” When you’re done reading Lonesome Dove, watch the miniseries adaptation starring Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, and Diane Lane. This is one of Yellowstone creator Sheridan’s favorite books, and a clear inspiration for his work, particularly Yellowstone prequel 1883.

James Welch, an influential Native American novelist and poet, is key to read to understand the American West. Start with his debut novel, Winter in the Blood, which is set on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana during the late 1960s and told through the perspective of an unnamed Indigenous man.

Another key influence of Sheridan is Gretel Ehrlich’s The Solace of Open Spaces, an essay collection about the author’s experiences in Wyoming. (This book is noted in many profiles of the creator.) In Yellowstone, John Dutton and his daughter Beth both quote from the book. Ehrlich’s essay collection is worth your time—it began as journal entries she sent to a friend, and her honesty shines through its pages.

If you’re missing the multi-generational saga of the Duttons, The Son by Philipp Meyer follows the fictional McCullough family in Texas, beginning with the Comanche Wars of the 1800s to the oil booms of the 20th century. Pierce Brosnan stars in the TV adaptation of the novel, which you can watch on Hulu.

Annie Proulx’s short stories set in Wyoming will evoke the drama of Yellowstone. Best known from this 1999 collection is “Brokeback Mountain,” which was adapted into a film in 2005 starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenahaal. As the publisher notes, “Proulx’s masterful language and fierce love of Wyoming are evident in this collection of stories about loneliness, quick violence, and wrong kinds of love.”

C Pam Zhang’s How Much of These Hills Is Gold is set in the Chinese immigrant community brought to work in a gold rush in the West in the late 1800s. It’s a stunning debut novel telling a little-known part of the history of the American West. “Literature set in the West has always reminded us that ordinary people can lead epic lives. And so that’s part of the duality of living here. Life was hard but also beautiful,” Zhang said in an interview.

The titular story in Norman Maclean’s classic collection is the semi-autobiographical tale of Maclean and his brother growing up in early 20th century Montana. Also in the book are two short stories, “Logging and Pimping and ‘Your pal, Jim'” and “USFS 1919: The Ranger, the Cook, and a Hole in the Sky.” A River Runs Through It was later adapted into a film starring Craig Sheffer and Brad Pitt; director Robert Redford writes the introduction to this edition of the short story collection.

This alternative history novel is set in an America in 1849 where female infertility is against the law. (It doesn’t feel too far from reality, to be honest.) Ada, 17, flees after one year of marriage has not produced a child; she joins up with the Hole in the Wall Gang, a gang of female outlaws. The publisher describes Outlaws as The Crucible meets True Grit. It’s a gripping feminist Western.

Kali Fajardo-Anstine is one of the most exciting authors writing about the West today. Woman of Light, the follow-up to her debut short story collection, Sabrina & Corina, is set in Denver in the 1930s, following Indigenous Chicano woman Luz “Little Light” Lopez. As she navigates the socio-political landscape of her changing hometown, she has visions of her ancestors. It’s a sweeping multigenerational tale of the American west and southwest from an Indigenous perspective, and the characters really come to life on each page.

Central to the Dutton family is their ranch—and if you have ever wondered about the history of cattle ranching in America, Christopher Knowlton’s Cattle Kingdom has you covered, and then some. At its core, it is a boom-and-bust business story, made stronger by Knowlton’s background in finance journalism.

Author Liza Black describes Picturing Indians as a “book that describes how Native people were commodified by Hollywood for their authenticity then criticized for being modern.” It is a critical, vital read to understand the history of Native American actors in Hollywood. Also worth your time: Black’s essay on Native representation in Yellowstone in High Country News.

Téa Obreht’s Inland is set the Arizona Territory in 1893 during a drought. Focusing on Lurie, an outlaw, and Nora, a frontierswoman, Inland tells a tale that lingers on “the West’s beauty and sudden menace,” as the New York Times Book Review wrote. Lurie’s story covers his whole life, while Nora’s focuses in on just 24 hours. It’s a classic Western, rooted in the brutalities of the land—a fitting read for those who enjoy the Yellowstone series.

Sheridan has spoken about the influence of Cormac McCarthy on his work. McCarthy’s historical novel Blood Meridian is a violent story based on real events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s. It follows the Kid, a 14-year-old Tennesseean who joins the Glanton gang, who hunt Native Americans. The subversive Western novel is currently being adapted into a film.

Sheridan’s favorite McCarthy novel is The Crossing, the second in The Border Trilogy (the first is All the Pretty Horses). “The Crossing was my favorite,” he said. “I was a big fan of All the Pretty Horses, and I loved Blood Meridian, but to me, there was something about The Crossing, it was like I was watching that movie.” The Crossing is set in the late 1930s, when Billy, a 16-year-old who lives on his family’s ranch, decides to bring a wolf back to the mountains of Mexico.

Set on a North Dakota Ojibwe reservation, Louise Erdrich’s debut novel, Love Medicine, remains one of her best. Following interconnected Ojibwe families over six decades, the book established Erdich as a leading voice in Native American literature. (May we also recommend The Sentence, The Night Watchmen, The Round House…)

Letters from Yellowstone is an epistolary novel about (you guessed it) a young woman living in Yellowstone national park. Though the Duttons ranch is merely called Yellowstone, Diane Smith’s novel will still appeal to fans of the show for its romance and drama.

This book list needs another James Welch novel—this one, Fools Crow, is set in 1870s Montana and follows a group of Blackfoot Indians (also called Niitsitapi). The story begins: “Now that the weather had changed, the moon of the falling leaves turned white in the blackening sky and White Man’s Dog was restless…”

In Bad Land, Jonathan Raban focuses in on the settlement of southeastern Montana (the badland area between Marmarth, ND and Terry, MT) in the early 1900s. Families, lured by free land from the government and misleading advertising, went to the state to make fortunes—but failed. Raban’s Bad Land is a narrative history of the homesteading movement, illuminating a sliver of American history.

In 1923, one plot revolves around the horrifying Indian boarding school that Teonna Rainwater (Aminah Nieves) is sent to. Margaret Verble’s Stealing is set against a similar backdrop: Kit, a Cherokee girl, is sent to a boarding school in the 1950s and fights to retain her identity and escape.

If you’re looking for a history book on the Indian boarding schools, David Wallace Adams’s Education for Extinction is an exhaustively researched look at what happened to Native American youth in these schools. As one reviewer, Brian Dippie, writes, Adams “offers a great deal of information on an important and difficult historical topic while never losing sight of its human dimension.”