Elected to the Texas Institute of Letters in 1993, along with James Michener and Bill Moyers, Mike Cox is the author of 31 nonfiction books.
Over a freelance career of more than five decades, he has also written hundreds of articles and essays for a wide variety of publications. Since August 2015 he has edited the internationally circulated Wild West History Association Journal.
In September 2011, Mike received the A.C. Greene Lifetime Achievement Award. Two of his books -- a work on Texas disasters and a two-volume history of the Texas Rangers -- are included in the recently published 101 Essential Texas Books by Glenn Dromgoole and Carlton Stowers.
Cox’ bestseller is his 250,000-word history of the Texas Rangers (Tor/Forge, 2008). His book with Dean Smith, Cowboy Stuntman: From Olympic Gold to the Silver Screen (Texas Tech University Press, 2013), won three national awards, including the Will Rogers Medallion in 2014
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A former award-winning newspaper reporter, Cox served as chief of media relations for the Texas Department of Public Safety and later communications manager for the Texas Department of Transportation before retiring in 2007
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Retiring from retirement in 2010, he went back to work for the state as a spokesperson for Texas Parks and Wildlife. He left the 8-to-5 world for good in February 2015 to write full time.
A native of Amarillo, Cox’ parents met as reporters for competing newspapers while covering a sensational murder trial in West Texas. Mike grew up in Austin and moved from newspaper job to better-paying newspaper job while attending Angelo State University, Texas Tech, and the University of Texas. Later, he attended Texas State University.
When not writing or travelling, Mike spends as much time as he can fishing and hunting. Now based in Wimberley, Mike’s goal is to keep writing at least one book a year until he either runs out of ideas or time.