Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch

Dan O'Brien

Random House Trade Paperbacks, Oct 1, 2002 - Nature - 272 pages

For twenty years Dan O’Brien struggled to make ends meet on his cattle ranch in South Dakota. But when a neighbor invited him to lend a hand at the annual buffalo roundup, O’Brien was inspired to convert his own ranch, the Broken Heart, to buffalo. Starting with thirteen calves, “short-necked, golden balls of wool,” O’Brien embarked on a journey that returned buffalo to his land for the first time in more than a century and a half.

Buffalo for the Broken Heartis at once a tender account of the buffaloes’ first seasons on the ranch and an engaging lesson in wildlife ecology. Whether he’s describing the grazing pattern of the buffalo, the thrill of watching a falcon home in on its prey, or the comical spectacle of a buffalo bull wallowing in the mud, O’Brien combines a novelist’s eye for detail with a naturalist’s understanding to create an enriching, entertaining narrative.

What people are saying

Review: Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch

User Review  - Allison Fetch - Goodreads

This isn't a book that I ever would have picked up on my own, but because my sister passed it along to me I thought I'd give it a try - I'm very glad that I did. A nonfiction memoir, it tells the tale ...

Review: Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch

User Review  - Sherilyn - Goodreads

Really enjoyed this book. Managed to make the Northern plains an object of interest- clearly he loves that landscape. I plan to purchase some of his buffalo steaks.

About the author

Dan O'Brien, a writer and buffalo rancher, is the author of numerous books of fiction and nonfiction about the West. He has worked as an endangered-species biologist and an English teacher. He lives in Whitewood, South Dakota.


From the Hardcover edition.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch
• Author: Dan O'Brien
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2002
• ISBN: 037576139X, 9780375761393
• Length: 272 pages
• Subjects: Nature / Animals / General; Nature / Animals / Mammals; Technology & Engineering / Agriculture / Animal Husbandry