The Family Ranch: Land, Children, and Tradition in the American West

Ranch families in the twenty-first century face many challenges, from competition with agribusiness corporations to tax laws that encourage development over agriculture and prevent the smooth transfer of land from one generation to the next. In The Family Ranch, available now for the first time in paperback, award-winning author Linda Hussa profiles six diverse ranching families and the land that shapes their lives. Photographer Madeleine Graham Blake's engaging and often moving images portray each family at work and at play. With chapters on critical issues that face each of them - grazing rights, water use, children's education, the emerging rural marketplace - these family stories are set into a larger social and economic context. This is family ranching as it has always been, but made more complex in modern times. By combining their traditions with the tools of modern technology, these people strengthen the ideal of family and give the business of ranching a vibrant and viable future. Essential reading for people who love the West and care about its future, The Family Ranch inspires thoughts about tradition, values, and responsibility that are applicable to all communities. See more