Don Coldsmith Books in Order

Spanish conquistador Juan Garcia encounters a people of the Great Plains who regard him as a god. Surviving among them requires courage and strength as he confronts the unfamiliar customs and trials of their world.

Owl, the son of a celebrated chief, seeks his own standing through a vision quest and the teachings of an old medicine man. Captivity and slavery interrupt his journey, while a dangerous rival threatens the honor awaiting his return.

A Spanish expedition sets out to find a young countryman reportedly living among Indigenous people. Its guide's unlikely story and the natives' uncanny knowledge of the travelers' movements deepen suspicions as the party approaches a conflict it does not understand.

Injured when his horse plunges over a cliff, Eagle faces winter alone with a broken leg and no weapons. A mysterious old man offers shelter, leaving the young warrior dependent on someone who may be a legendary trickster.

Eagle Woman defies her band's traditions by seeking recognition as a warrior despite the objections of a man who wants to marry her. After tragedy strikes her family, a mission of revenge draws them both toward a deadly trap.

A young brave's spiritual visions take on new significance for the Great Plains community known as the People. What begins as an individual experience becomes bound to the survival of the tribe and its shared future.

A young Indigenous woman is kidnapped and sold into bondage, separating her from her tribe. Her struggle to return home places survival and the recovery of her freedom at the center of her journey.

Lieutenant André Du Pres leads a French expedition down the great river in search of a passage across the continent. His guide Pale Star sees a chance to return to her own people, putting her desires at odds with the mission.

Horses have transformed the People from a hunted band into a powerful tribe enjoying peace. But young warriors hungry to prove themselves defy their elders and attack the defeated Head Splitters, threatening the security their community has gained.

Former French explorer Jean Cartier, now Woodchuck of the Elk-Dog People, takes his son Red Feather on a trading journey. Seeking Spanish steel weapons in exchange for furs, they must cross territory controlled by potentially hostile tribes.

Two former French soldiers have become members of the Elk-Dog People and travel to Santa Fe to trade pelts. Trouble there tests their place within the community and forces them to defend the people they have joined.

Warriors from the north bring violence to the People, killing the medicine man's wife. To confront the threat, the tribe must consider an alliance with the Head Splitters, longtime enemies whose help may be essential to survival.

After leaving his son among the Elk-Dog People, French sergeant Jean Cartier returns to the life of an explorer. Memories of the child he abandoned draw him back toward the community and family he tried to leave behind.

White Fox travels alone to Medicine Rock, seeking spiritual guidance about his people's future. His vision quest produces an unsettling warning instead, turning a search for direction into an encounter with danger at a time of profound uncertainty.

Red Feather of the Elk-Dog People sets out on a trading journey to Santa Fe. He does not know that Spanish authorities have been hanging medicine men, making his destination far more dangerous than he expects.

Red Horse and his son Antelope guide travelers from a French frontier fort to Santa Fe, hoping to establish trade with the Spanish. Their journey becomes dangerous when they encounter a hostile Mandan tribe along the way.

When the buffalo fail to return to their usual spring grazing grounds, the People face an uncertain future. Medicine man Red Horse and Digging Owl leave to search for the missing herd on which their community depends.

White Buffalo faces changes that threaten the traditions and future of his people. As the medicine man struggles to protect their heritage, Gray Wolf of the Head Splitters pursues a bloody revenge that brings further danger.

Calling Bird is abducted by the Pawnee and chosen as a sacrificial bride for the Morning Star. While she faces the prospect of death, her lover Tall Bull leads a party determined to rescue her.

Young warrior Strong Bow longs to demonstrate his courage and earn glory in battle. As Spanish expansion threatens the world of the People, his desire for a warrior's death becomes entwined with the struggle against an encroaching power.

A storyteller and trader travels among the peoples of the Great Plains, witnessing changes brought by outsiders and violence within native communities. His marriage and encounters shape a journey that carries him from ordinary adventurer toward a legendary place in collective memory.

Twelve young men seek better wintering country to the south and encounter landscapes and societies unlike their own. For the holy man accompanying them, surviving disease, loss and unfamiliar dangers becomes a test of spiritual vision as well as the hope of returning home.

After an attack leaves only a man and his granddaughter alive, the two continue onward carrying the traditions of their lost community. Their journey becomes an effort to preserve an ancient heritage while searching for a future beyond devastating personal and collective loss.

Seventeen-year-old Singing Wolf needs to establish himself as a hunter while pursuing a young woman named Rain. A formidable rival complicates both ambitions, making his effort to prove his worth a personal contest as well as a step toward adult responsibility.

A bear’s appearance warns Singing Wolf’s people that a promise of peace has been broken. His resulting spiritual journey confronts him with competing obligations, forcing a choice between investigating the violated covenant and preserving harmony with those he loves.

Wolf Pup pursues his calling as a medicine man through a dangerous vision quest. A sudden disaster destroys his village and drives away its buffalo, forcing him to discover whether bearing his people’s sacred responsibilities demands a sacrifice beyond the spiritual training he expected.

Preparing for an annual ceremony, Singing Wolf discovers a village destroyed by smallpox and one person still alive. Caring for the survivor requires leaving his own people to prevent infection, turning a duty of compassion into separation from the community he serves.

Two carefully selected longship crews depart eleventh-century Norway for Vinland and a distant colony. Crossing the sea brings them into contact with the continent’s native peoples, making an expedition into unfamiliar territory a meeting between cultures with uncertain consequences.

A young shaman dreams of a horse with unusual markings, then sees the same markings on a newborn colt. Seeking their meaning sends him and his wife into Pawnee and Lakota lands disguised as traders, where spiritual questions meet unfamiliar people and danger.

The arrival of Spanish explorers begins a sweeping account of cultural conflict on the Great Plains. Native nations, traders, priests and other newcomers shape a changing landscape, where the ambitions of individuals become entangled with the transformation of an entire region.

Kansas changes rapidly as migration, new technology and the approach of civil war reshape the frontier. Farmers, soldiers, immigrants and opportunists face divided loyalties and recurring violence, trying to protect families and build futures in a territory pulled toward national conflict.

A long-missing band’s history is revealed through the struggle of captives to preserve their identity. While one woman accepts security within the society that captured them, another secretly maintains the traditions that could allow their descendants to reclaim a place among their people.

An elderly Cherokee healer is blamed after an infant dies, threatening her standing within her village. Further deaths deepen suspicion, placing spiritual authority, grief and unexplained violence together in a conflict that becomes harder to separate from accusations against her.

A Native American runner preparing for the Olympics encounters celebrated athlete Jim Thorpe and pioneering Black cowboy Bill Pickett. Their meeting places his personal sporting ambitions alongside figures whose achievements broaden the world through which he is making his way.

Selected newspaper columns from the 1990s and early 2000s revisit Don Coldsmith's long-running Horsin' Around feature. This later collection brings together favorites from two decades of his writing, extending the series beyond the earlier volumes published years before.

Sensing unusual power in red pipestone, seventeen-year-old Beaver travels north with a trader’s family toward its only quarry. Dreams, apparitions and fears of a curse complicate the journey, forcing him to trust his instincts while confronting questions that may resist explanation.

A young man once regarded as foolish returns with a story of a great earthquake and a river flowing backward. His account of rescuing the woman he loves reveals courage amid widespread chaos, changing how his people understand both the disaster and the storyteller.