“The American cowboy is a mythical character who refuses to die,”
says author John R. Erickson. On the one hand he is a common
man: a laborer, a hired hand who works for wages. Yet in his
lonely struggle against nature and animal cunning, he becomes
larger than life. Who is this cowboy? Where did he come from
and where is he today?

    Erickson addresses these questions based on firsthand
observation and experience in Texas and Oklahoma. And in the
process of describing and defining the modern working cowboy—his
work, his tools and equipment, his horse, his roping technique, his
style of dress, his relationships with his wife and his employer—
Erickson gives a thorough description of modern ranching, the
economic milieu in which the cowboy operates.

    The first edition of this book was published in 1981. For this
second edition Erickson has thoroughly revised and expanded the
book to discuss recent developments in cowboy culture, making
The Modern Cowboy the most up-to-date source on cowboy and
ranch life today.

_________________________________________________________

JOHN R. ERICKSON, a fifth-generation Texan, was born in Midland
and raised in the Panhandle town of Perryton. He worked as a ranch
cowboy, farm hand, and handyman while writing four hours each
morning. He and his wife, Kristine, now run their own ranch and a
commercial beef cattle operation. In 1982 Erickson created the Hank
the Cowdog series, with sales now of more than six million copies.
He is also the author of Catch Rope: The Long Arm of the Cowboy;
Through Time and the Valley; LZ Cowboy: A Cowboy’s Journal,
1979–1981; Panhandle Cowboy; Some Babies Grow Up To Be
Cowboys; and Friends, all published by the University of North
Texas Press. KRISTINE C. ERICKSON has published her
photographs in numerous magazines and has illustrated seven
books by Erickson on cowboys and ranch life.


Number Seven: Western Life Series


What people are saying about this book

“We meet the modern cowboy (his dress depends on weather,
chores, and vanity) and follow him through the year: spring roundup,
branding and ‘working’ the calves; spotting problem animals and
cutting them from the herd; repairing windmills and mending fences;
fall roundup, and feeding animals in winter. . . . This is a lively
portrait, sure to appeal to all Western buffs.”—Publishers Weekly

“For a straightforward, highly readable account of today’s cowboy,
you can’t do better. . . . Informative, engaging, and clearly the real
thing.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Erickson has caught the ambience of the working cowboy, what
he loves to do, and what he must do to keep a ranch operating
day-to-day and season-to-season. In doing this, he actually
provides an account of how much cowboying has changed in the
hundred or so years of its existence.”—Western American Literature