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Rating: 
Summary: Terrific Work -- Great Photos -- Wonderful Insight
Review: Having spent the better part of my childhood on the back of a horse pretending to be a 'real cowgirl,' I found myself all wrapped up in memories while reading this fresh look at the life of modern-day cowboys. The author, a true cowboy himself, traveled all over the south and west photographing working ranches and the people who own/work them. The author must have spent a good deal of time interviewing his subjects, because the book offers up some great stories/quotes, too. The book is broken down into interesting chapters such as: THE COWBOY LIFESTYLE - RANCHING COUNTRY - GETTING IT DONE -- FAMILY LIFE - RANCH HORSES (my particular favorite) - DEFINING THE COWBOY - RANCHING TRADITIONS. Some of my favorite quotes: On Ranch Horses: "If a horse ain't plum lame when you get done nailing the shoes on, you've done all right." "There is something about a horse. They are a lot prettier animal than a man is, but not quite as pretty as a woman. They are beautiful animals. I was raising horses when I was raising my children. I raised them together. I credit that relationship with the fact that not one of my children has ever been involved in with drugs." (Rex Allen) Or, the one in Family Life: "I'm Dusty, my wife is Sandy, my boy is Rocky, and my dauther's name is Wendy. Our names describe this ranch perfectly." (Dusty Ray) I'm keeping this book on my coffee table for easy access. When I'm feeling penned up, I'll open it up, look at the wonderful photos, read the quotes and dream of life under the big sky of Montana or the scrub bushes of New Mexico. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Cowboys and ranchers in their own words
Review: This enjoyable book was put together by Darrell Arnold, publisher and editor of Cowboy Magazine. There are 170 quotes on over a dozen different subjects by cowboys and ranchers interviewed by Arnold during 1975-1996, and the book includes more than 120 black-and-white photographs of these men, their families, their horses and gear, and the landscapes that they work in. Topics range across a variety of aspects of cowboy lifestyle as it's lived on ranches throughout the western states from New Mexico to Montana. Among the many working cowboys Arnold interviews are even a few celebrities: Ben Johnson, Wiford Brimley, Rex Allen, Charlie Daniels, and Baxter Black. A short introduction was written by cowboy stuntman and Academy Award winning actor Richard Farnsworth. Most informative for me were the sections on the differing traditions of Texas-style cowboys, who range across the Southwest and eastern slopes of the Rockies, and California-style buckaroos, who work the Great Basin of Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada. The details of cowboy gear are also presented well, with accompanying photographs and interviews with saddlemakers. A glossary at the back of the book defines a lot of these terms: hackamore, jinglebobs, mecate, snaffle bits. It also includes cowboy terminology, which often shows up in the interviews: roping cattle, drag the calves, pull a wagon. A great pleasure is reading the words of cowboys themselves, as they express their various opinions, relate their memories of adventures, and talk about horses. What comes across over and again is a love of this way of life, despite the fact that looking after cattle on horseback is hard physical labor and pays little. You understand their pride, their sense of self-reliance and the importance of being recognized by others as "the man for the job." I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the West, cowboys, and ranching. A good companion volume (out of print) is "Buckaroos in Paradise" by Howard Marshall.
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