There are places that shape the people who live upon them.
The Southern Plains of New Mexico and West Texas are one of those places.

For more than two decades, historian, teacher, and storyteller Jim Harris chronicled the lives of ranchers, pioneers, artists, soldiers, writers, cowboys, dreamers, and ordinary citizens whose stories might otherwise have disappeared with time.

These essays travel from the windswept Llano Estacado to the mountains of the Big Bend, from forgotten frontier settlements to courthouse squares, cattle ranches, museums, and family homesteads. Along the way, Harris explores not only history, but the deeper questions of belonging, memory, landscape, community, and what it means to call a place home.

Written with the eye of a historian and the heart of a storyteller, these essays celebrate the people and landscapes that continue to define the American Southwest.

For longtime residents, newcomers, history lovers, ranching families, and anyone who has ever felt called by wide-open country, The Soul of the Southern Plains is an unforgettable journey through one of America’s most remarkable regions.