Eugene Manlove Rhodes (1869-1934) was an American writer who was nicknamed the "cowboy chronicler". He was an avid reader, and he was mostly self-educated in his youth. In 1888, he studied at the University of Pacific in California. He began publishing anonymous works in the college newspaper. In 1890, he was unable to continue his studies due to financial problems. His first non-anonymous work was the poem Charlie Graham. In 1899, Rhodes married May Louise Davison Purple, a widow with 2 sons. He spent the next two decades away from New Mexico. He published seven novels during this time. He and his wife returned to New Mexico in 1926. He published ten books between 1910 and 1934. Most of his works were published in newspapers and magazines before they were published individually. Despite his literary success, he was not financially successful. His works include: West is West (1917), The Desire of the Moth, and The Come On (1920), Stepsons of Light (1921) and Copper Streak Trail (1922).