As the years roll by and times change, all the jobs in the world change with them—even the work of a cowboy.

Long ago, the Mexican riders, vaqueros, started the traditional cowboy way of working and living. Many cowboys still rope, cut out, break horses, ride range and brand in much the same way. But, on some ranches, the old skills are carried out with new equipment. Herding is done by jeep; hay may be dropped to snowbound and starving cattle by plane; some roundups work on modern business schedules, with traffic rules and all the latest improvements. Here the cowboy life is at its most streamlined. Even cattle rustlers follow the same pattern—they operate with refrigerator trucks!

From the early times of the cowhunters on through the colorful days of the Chisholm Trail and the wide open range to the coming of barbed wire, The Real Book About Cowboys gives the fascinating story of a cowboy's life. It is a lively narrative of the old and new in the world of cowpokes and cattle.

From the dust jacket