Dian Malouf’s heart has only one other love next to her husband and children. That love is for the brush country. The “real” South Texas. To her, this dusty land means retracing roots. It means passing duty and tough responsibility for a better future from one ranch-weathered eye to the next generation. It mans fifteen years and 40,000 miles of her life spent interviewing, recording, appreciating, and passionately writing about ranching families in hopes others can sit down, read their story, and step for one moment into a sometimes mythical, sometimes painful pair of well-worn ranch boots. If she can give readers a taste of her passion for mesquite trees, sacred family stories, and a rare lifestyle being played on the stage of “God’s country,” she has fulfilled her purpose.

Dian Leatherberry Malouf is a jewelry designer whose work is carried in over 250 stores across the United States. Her first book, Cattle Kings of Texas, sold over 10,000 copies. Dian grew up in Hebbronville, Texas, the heart of the South Texas brush country. She resides in Dallas, Texas.