Updated:January 1, 2012->

Old West fun for all ages! Ride our ranges and enjoy cowboy history and culture with Rich Slatta, the Cowboy Professor. Like other fabled ranches, my Lazy S Ranch is ever changing and expanding. Do you Wordle? Check out this Wordle of Cowboyprof.com.

From here at ranch headquarters you can ride off in all sorts of wild and wonderful directions. You'll find history, humor, popular culture, political commentary, public service pages, and links. Older sections of the Lazy S Ranch date back to the early days of the Internet.

Need a good book for yourself or as a present for your favorite cowboy or cowgirl? Check out my books at Amazon.com

Need to shape up? I recommend Pat's Personal Training

Cowboy Up!: Latest News

We have met the enemy--and they are right-wing wackos, like Palin and Limbaugh who criticize the miniscule funding given to the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Billions for questionable billionaire taxbreaks, but not a penny for culture. Great priorities! Details: New York Times, 4/11/2011, p. A 15, A 17. Isn't it time to admit that right-wing crazies have once again run amok? Forget the tea party and get back to real American values.

Celebrate the annual National Day of the Cowboy, 23 July.

National Cowboy Symposium & Celebration News

This annual event in Lubbock, Texas, is a must-do for any fan of cowboy culture. In 2011, I moderated a western writers panel, with Gail Woerner and Dusty Richards in attendance, and made a PowerPoint presentation on Theodore Roosevelt, Dakota Badlands rancher and US president.

I received the American Cowboy Culture Award for Writing and Publishing at the 2008 Symposium & Celebration. I participated in a writer's panel, with Elmer Kelton and others at the Cowboy Symposium in Sept. 2007 and 2008. Alas, Kelton died in August 2009 at age 83,so my sad task at the 2009 writer's panel was to read his "welcome" message to my history of the symposium [picture right]. He will be sorely missed by all. I wrote a brief note on Elmer Kelton and the Symposium for the December 2009 issue of Roundup magazine (Western Writers of America.)

Speaking of the symposium, my social and cultural history of the National Cowboy Symposium & Celebration appeared in the fall of 2010. . Give it a look-- you'll find lots of your favorite singers, poets, chuckwagon cooks, dancers, writers, and other western celebs described and discussed. I've added new pictures so use the symposium pictures link for a look at the 2010 event.

Recent Articles

Cowboys of Color in South America, published by BlackPast.org

Making and Unmaking Myths of the American Frontier." European Journal of American Culture, 29: 2 (2010): 81-92.

"'Just a Continual Rumble and Roar': A Texas Cowboy Remembers an 1884 Cattle Drive." Southwestern Historical Quarterly, 94: 2 (October 2010): 172-79.

In March 2011, I enjoyed playing cowboy once again--this time at a delightful festival of cowboy songs in Central Arkansas! Elliott West and Dick Etulain also participated.

Have some cowboy fun!

[Pictured at right, Rich visits with Santa on their favorite Caribbean island, 2011. DELTA is the Distance Education division at NC State Univ. Rich teaches DE courses.]

• Enjoy a ride around my virtual ranch, enjoying Lazy S Ranch Scenes. Have a cup of virtual coffee and ride around my cyberrange. Keep on the lookout for my herd of invisible cattle.
• Visit Lazy S Ranch Headquarters and take a ride around our ranges. You'll see sites you've never seen before in this cyberspace ranch.
• Cowboy Reading
  • Have a look at western pop culture through a unique news--dinnerware! See Corrine Joy Brown's Come and Get It! The Saga of Western Dinnerware. Collectors and fans of western popular culture will be charmed. See my further comments on the book website (link above).
  • Cowboy: The Illustrated History Published August 2006, inexpensive paperback spring 2008, both out-of-print but can be found on the Internet. Elan Penn took photographs of contemporary cowboy life to complement the many historical photos.
  • My book Cowboys of the Americas (1991) provided the basis for a film documentary by the same title, now available on DVD from King Productions in Canada. Call 1 800 630 7840 to order.
• Cowboy Music Corner
  • Need some mellow western music? Check out Sons of the San Joaquin Joe, Jack, and Lon Hannah. Enjoy them performing From Whence Came the Cowboy, a great musical history of the cowboy written by Jack Hannah (with some info and inspiration from my book, Cowboys of the Americas).
  • Looking for a wonderful musical history of the US? Looking for an engaging, novel way to add variety to your American history teaching at any level? Look no further than "This is My America," a 3 CD set that features original, historically based songs that run the gamut of American history. See details and song samples. Many of the songs would make great introductions to new topics in a US history survey or other US history classes. Students today are well attuned to music in all its varieties, so this collection makes a great "hook" to draw them into discussions and questions about the American past. Excellent writing, production, and performances add to the attractiveness of "This is My America."
• Cowboy Poetry Corner
  • Hankering for some good cowboy poetry? Views from the Saddle, 65 poems by Clark Crouch, is now available on order through internet and local booksellers. Read my brief foreword to the book and find more book info. ISBN: 978-0-9624438-6-2, $11.95 list. Views from the Saddle, won the 2010 Will Rogers Medallion Award for Cowboy Poetry.
  • Read "Reincarnation" by Wally McRae
  • Read "The Oyster" by Baxter Black
  • Read "Mama, I want to be a cowboy" by Rich Slatta [No-- I certainly don't consider myself in the same league as Baxter or Wally!]
• Personal and Family Links Family fun, humor, political commentary, consumer advice, spiritual guidance, and more.

  Explore cowboy and frontier life

• Afterword to Cowboy Life: The Letters of George Philip, Cathie Draine (editor) and Mick B. Harrison (illustrator) South Dakota State Historical Society Press, 2007.
• Cyberspace Cowboys and Cowgirls Explore recommended web sites about Old West, including Women in the West, Cattle and Horses, Western Museums, Associations, Art and Artists, Photography, Poetry, Humor, Dude/Guest Ranches, Music, Film, TV, Rodeo, First Peoples, African Americans, Vaqueros, Outlaws, Gunfighters, Lawmen, Books, Magazines, Writers,and Other Ranges, Other Frontiers, including Canada and Hawaii.
• Read sample entries from The Mythical West An Encyclopedia of Legend, Lore, and Popular Culture. Click on the title link for further information Please ask your local school or public library to order the book--it's a must-have western history and culture reference for all ages.
• Free cowboy fun-- learn! Read essays by the Cowboy Professor
• Explore ranch and paniolo (cowboy) life on the island of Hawaii I'm consulting with the Kona Historical Society in Captain Cook, Hawaii, to create a living history site, the Kona Heritage Ranch.
• The Cowboy Professor is also the Snorkeling Professor. Review my cruise ship lecturing service and book some fun lectures for your next cruise. In 2005, I begin lecturing on some of the Holland America Line's Caribbean routes.
• Do you you or your organization, museum, or historic site need a first-rate consultant? Contact Tom Woods of "Making Sense of Place, Inc." I've worked with Tom, and he is excellent across the board.