Panhandle Cowboy

Description

Panhandle Cowboy is the classic description of cowboy life by master storyteller John Erickson. His observations about the Crown Ranch in particular, and the cowboy lifestyle in general, are filled with humor and pathos as Erickson describes the ranch, individual cowboys, roundups, wild cattle, and horses. Panhandle Cowboy is a treasured addition to the literature, life and lore of the American cowboy. The Midwest Book Review, March 14, 1999. James A. Cox, Editor. "Panhandle Cowboy is a sensitive, admirable straight-forward book about the texture of modern cowboying in the Oklahoma Panhandle. These truthful and affectionate descriptions of life and work in that severe locale serve to reinforce an old point: that hardship and risk are woven deeply into the appeal of cowboying. Often as not the elements themselves provide all the hardship that anyone could well want. Should the weather happen to be comfortable, animals or the cattle market will contribute the hardship. In this one regard cowboys resemble desert Arabs; their best qualities are forged by extreme conditions. Enrich or suburbanize a Bedouin or a cowboy and taste, vigor, and sense of craft are soon lost. Keep them out where the winds blow, the sands storm, and the animals resist all reasonable effort and they remain superb workmen, alert, humorous, and subtle." --Larry McMurtry