Created at: 2026-08-23
This is the first book in the Lonesome Dove series by Larry McMurtry. Although it wasn't the first to be written, it is the first in chronological order.
The main setting of the story happens in the Texas in the 1840s, where two Texas Rangers, Woodrow Call and Augustus McCrae, are sent on a mission to capture and annex Santa Fe to the Texan republic.
The expedition turns into a massacre, where the initial Rangers force is reduced from 200 men to only 5. During the expedition the rangers are surprised by the Comanche tribe which is led by the famous chief Buffalo Hump (Comanche Potsʉnakwahipʉ "Erection That Won't Go Down" euphemized to "Buffalo Bull's Back"">1, which is a real-life figure. They also perish to the harsh conditions of the desert (great plains), including freezing weather and bears.
The work is mainly that of a historical fiction, you really feel like you are a ranger back in the 1840s - dealing with miserable conditions, following Gus and Call's friendships, and the harsh realities of the time.
Another real-life figure that feature in the book is "Big Foot" Wallace, a great Texas Ranger who became an avenger after his brother and cousin were killed by Mexicans. A 188cm and 109kg beast and survivor of the "Black bean incident", though that is not the case in the book.
The most striking aspect of the book is how divorced society of now is with this bare, unforgiven, and wild land of almost 200 years ago.