The book is the sweeping story of the wild horse in the culture, history, and popular imagination of the American West. It follows the wild horse across time, from its evolutionary origins on this continent to its return with the conquistadors, its bloody battles on the old frontier, its iconic status in Buffalo Bill shows and early westerns, and its plight today as it makes its last stand on the vanishing range. With the Bureau of Land Management proposing to euthanize thousands of horses and ever-encroaching development threatening the land, the mustang’s position has never been more perilous. But as Stillman reveals, the horses are still running wild despite all the obstacles, with spirit unbroken.

"Mustang" helped launch the ongoing conversation about wild horses and burros in the West and the wars against them. It was an LA Times "Best book 2008," won a California Book Award silver medal in nonfiction, and received rave reviews in the Atlantic, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly (starred), the Economist, Santa Fe New Mexican, Arizona Daily Star, and elsewhere. It was praised by Tony Hillerman, Michael Blake ("Dances with Wolves"), and Ian Frazier. It has brought many into the campaign for wild horse preservation and has led directly to the rescue of over 200 wild horses in slaughter pipelines hours before shipping. It was given directly to President Barack Obama and has helped legislators in Congress. As screenwriter John Fusco ("Young Guns" and "The Highwaymen") has said: "Mustang is a hymn to the homeland. "