The Horse Booklist: High School and Adult
Nonfiction
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Cowboy: The Illustrated History
By Richard W. Slatta
Vivid historic and modern photography captures cowboys and cowgirls of the American West. Accompanied by text.
Sterling, 2006. ISBN: 1402718004 -
Fossil Horses: Systematics, Paleobiology, and Evolution of the Family Equidae
By Bruce J. MacFadden
MacFadden is a leading authority on horse evolution and a curator of The Horse exhibition. This academic text covers aspects of the horse fossil record, evolution, anatomy, and behavior.
Cambridge University Press, 1992. ISBN: 0521340411 -
Horse: From Noble Steeds to Beasts of Burden
By Lorraine Harrison
Majestic equine art in all mediums adorns this small-size book, which is organized by the animals’ different roles.
Watson-Guptill, 2000. ISBN: 9780823023349. -
Horse: How the Horse Has Shaped Civilizations
By J. Edward Chamberlain
The long and powerful relationship between horses and humans is described through examples from archaeology, biology, art, literature, and ethnography. Black and white illustrations.
BlueBridge, 2006. ISBN: 0974240591 -
The Horse In The City: Living Machines in the Nineteenth Century
By Clay McShane and Joel A. Tarr
This book details the critical role of horses in urban life in the rise of the industrial age. A bit scholarly for leisure reading, yet a thorough reference for the “One Horse Town?” activity in the Back in the Classroom section of The Horse Educator’s Guide.
The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007. ISBN: 0801886007 -
Horses Through Time
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Edited by Sandra L. Olsen
An accessible cultural and evolutionary walk through horse history, from ancient origins through early domestication to modern breeding. Edited by a curator of The Horse exhibition.
Roberts Rinehard, 2003. ISBN: 1570983828 -
My Guy Barbaro: A Jockey’s Journey Through Love, Triumph, and Heartbreak with America’s Favorite Horse
By Edgar Prado and John Eisenberg
In straightforward prose, the famous jockey relates the triumphs and tragedy of his mount Barbaro, who had to be euthanized after breaking his leg in 2006’s Preakness Stakes.
Harper, 2008. ISBN: 006146418X. -
A Natural History of Domesticated Mammals
The Natural History Museum
By Juliet Clutton-Brock
From dogs to cattle to camels (and many more), this thorough book details how humans came to tame and make use of other species.
Cambridge University Press, 1999. ISBN: 0521634954 -
Ranch Life and the Hunting-Trail
by Theodore Roosevelt
An eyewitness description of ranch life in the 1880s from the perspective of the twenty-sixth U.S. president. It’s illustrated by Frederic Remington, making it a good pick for fans of the American West.
Kessinger Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 142863598X -
River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West
By Rebecca Solnit
A chronicle of the original stop-action photographer Eadweard Muybridge, whose 1882 images of horses in motion catapulted the technological advancement of an era.
enguin Books, 2003. ISBN: 0142004103 -
A Song for the Horse Nation: Horses in Native American Cultures
National Museum of the American Indian
Edited by George P. Horse Capture and Emil Her Many Horses
A rich, accessible compilation of photographs, artifacts, narrative, poems, and songs of Native American cultures to which horses were integral.
National Museum of the American Indian in association with Fulcrum Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 1555911129
© 2008 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
