Brazos River Books

Brazos River Books sits in the heart of the Fort Worth Stockyards, where the daily cattle drive still rumbles past the front door and the air carries the scent of leather and mesquite smoke. Founded in 1997, the store honors Fort Worth's identity as Cowboy Town with one of the most impressive Western heritage collections in Texas, ranging from scholarly histories of the Comanche Wars to well-thumbed Louis L'Amour paperbacks and beautifully illustrated volumes on Frederic Remington and Charles Russell. The rare books room features signed first editions of Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove and other Texas literary landmarks. The cafe serves cowboy coffee and pecan pralines, and the worn wooden floors creak with the same authenticity that draws visitors from around the world to the Stockyards. Cowboy poetry gatherings on Saturday evenings regularly fill the store to capacity, with working cowboys and weekend poets sharing the microphone.