Who gets to decide who you become?
Other people will have their say. Hunt’s work begins with the choice of how much authority to give them, and the responsibility that comes with making up your own mind.
Press room
THE MAP MAY HAVE CHANGED.
As a boy, Chris Hunt was told by his first-grade teacher that he would never learn to read. He learned early that the world would try to tell him who he was, but he could choose whether to accept its verdict. So as the man he became, he put the code he had spent a lifetime living and refining into a book. A way to stay steady when the world shifts beneath you, and to keep the choice of who you become in your own hands.
THE MAP MAY HAVE CHANGED.
THE COMPASS HASN’T.
The original Code of the West was an understanding people carried into hard country about how to live and what they owed each other. It held because people chose to live by it, and counted on their neighbors to do the same.
Hunt brings that same understanding into modern life, where we still need to be able to count on one another. The more the world changes, the more reason we have to hold firmly to the values that make that possible: courage, responsibility, dignity, loyalty, gratitude, and keeping your word.
The book begins with ten terse tenets, and then goes beneath them, into purpose, resilience, identity, community, and practice.
The question is not merely whether the Code sounds true. It is whether we can become the kind of people capable of living it.
Published September 15, 2026
The Code of the West
A Frontier Guide to Modern Living
A lifetime of living and refining the Code, brought together in a full-color book about choosing who you become and holding to the values that let people count on one another.
- Publisher
- Andrews McMeel Publishing
- Distributor
- Simon & Schuster
- ISBN
- 9798881610906
- Hardcover
- 192 pages · $19.99 list
Coverage and conversation
Six ways into the work.
What still holds when the world changes
A changing world gives us more reason to keep our word and stand by our values. Hunt asks what it takes to hold to those standards when doing so becomes difficult.
People you can count on
The old Code depended on neighbors choosing to live by a shared understanding. Its relevance now is personal: taking care of your own life while showing up for the people who depend on you.
The work of living by it
Ten short tenets are easy to read. Keeping your word when it costs you, or taking responsibility when you would rather walk away, asks considerably more. The book goes into that work.
The boy who chose not to accept the verdict
A first-grade teacher told Hunt he would never learn to read. His decision not to accept that judgment offers a way into the Code he kept living and refining, and eventually put into a book.
A code in words and drawings
Hunt’s years in comics, illustration, and art direction meet in a full-color book. An interview can follow how drawing and writing helped him work out the ideas that became Code of the West.
Selected interviews and coverage
In conversation.
Copy-ready bios
Use the length that fits.
Short bio
Chris Hunt is a writer, artist, and creator of Code of the West. His work explores how enduring values shape the choices we make and the lives we build together. His book, The Code of the West: A Frontier Guide to Modern Living, is published by Andrews McMeel. He lives in Idaho.
Medium bio
Chris Hunt is a writer, artist, and creator of Code of the West. His career spans comics, illustration, art direction, and brand building. In words and drawings, he explores what it means to choose who you become, keep your word, and be someone others can count on. His full-color book, The Code of the West: A Frontier Guide to Modern Living, brings together a code he spent a lifetime living and refining. Published by Andrews McMeel in September 2026, it moves from ten compact tenets into purpose, resilience, identity, community, and practice. Hunt lives in Idaho.
Downloads
Everything needed to cover the book.
Complete press kit
All copy, photography, book assets, excerpt, and credits in one ZIP.
Download ZIPBook fact sheet
Title information, ISBN, formats, pricing, description, and takeaways.
Download PDFStory and interview guide
Six coverage angles and ten suggested interview questions.
Download PDFBook excerpt
A six-page introduction to the Code and its modern application.
Download PDF
Press and booking
Start the conversation.
For interviews, reviews, excerpts, events, or image requests, use the contact form and include “Press / Chris Hunt” in the opening line.
Contact Code of the WestEditorial reproduction is permitted with the supplied credits. Commercial and unrelated use requires separate permission.