"He broke horses with his hands and broke hatred with his heart."

In the early 1900s, the Texas Panhandle was a land of vast horizons and rigid barriers. It was a place where a man was judged by the brand he rode for—unless his skin was the color of a Polled Angus. Enter Mathew "Bones" Hooks: a pioneer, a bronc-buster, and a master of "symbolic diplomacy."

From the dusty corrals of the XIT Ranch to the front pews of the White House's attention, Man of the People chronicles the life of a man who refused to be fenced in. As the unofficial mayor of Amarillo's North Heights, Bones navigated the treacherous waters of segregation not with anger, but with an ironclad Code of Honor and a lone white flower.

This is the untold story of the "Head Dogie" who mentored a generation, sat on historic grand juries, and showed a nation that even in the toughest soil, respect can bloom.