Hard Grass : University of New Mexico Press : 9780826346148 : 15 Feb 2024 : Gold Medal Winner for Best Regional Non-Fiction, 2011 Independent Publisher Book Awards Mary Zeiss Stange's story of running a bison ranch with her husband in southeastern Montana--on the outskirts of nowhere and far-from-here--is a narrative of survival in a landscape and a society at once harsh and alluring. In this series of essays she illustrates the realities of ranch life at a time when the ""New West"" of subdivision, ""ranchettes,"" telecommuting, and tourism collides with the ""True West"" of too much, too little, too hard, and too harsh. This society is molded by the climate, and both run to extremes, simultaneously unforgiving, often brutal, yet capable of unalloyed charm and breathtaking beauty. Her stories explore the myths and realities of ranch life in modern America--the brandings, rodeos, and demolition derbies that are major events, and the social, environmental, and political factors at wor