Cow Boys And Cattle Men

Cowboys are an American legend, but despite ubiquity in history and popular culture, misperceptions abound. Technically, a cowboy worked with cattle, as a ranch hand, while his boss, the cattleman, owned the ranch. Jacqueline M. Moore casts aside romantic and one-dimensional images of cowboys by analyzing the class, gender, and labor histories of ranching in Texas during the second half of the nineteenth century. As working-class men, cowboys showed their masculinity through their skills at work as well as public displays in town. But what cowboys thought was manly behavior did not always match those ideas of the business-minded cattlemen, who largely absorbed middle-class masculine ideals of restraint. Real men, by these standards, had self-mastery over their impulses and didn’t fight, drink, gamble or consort with "unsavory" women. Moore explores how, in contrast to the mythic image, from the late 1870s on, as the Texas frontier became more settled and the open range disappeared, the real cowboys faced increasing demands from the people around them to rein in the very traits that Americans considered the most masculine. Published in Cooperation with the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University.

Papers from a conference held at the Glenbow Museum in Sept. 1997.

Surveys the past and present-day activities, character, and ways of life of the cowboy and the history of the American cattle industry

The real story of cowboys and cattlemen.

Prostitution, gunfights, barroom brawls and cattle rustling - while prevailing images from the American old West - have typically been absent from histories of the Canadian frontier. In Cowboys, Gentlemen, and Cattle Thieves Warren Elofson demonstrates that the Canadian frontier was less restrained, law-abiding, and insulated from death and violence than has been believed. He challenges traditional views that Canadian ranching society was a microcosm of the "Old World," arguing that the greatest influence on ranchers and settlers was the need to deal with the frontier environment.

A lore-filled, detailed account of the lives, personalities, and legends of the cowboys, from the days of bronco busting and longhorn herding to the present, chronicling the actualities behind the myths.

Despite being neighbouring provinces with long ranching histories, British Columbia and Alberta saw their ranching techniques develop quite differently. As most ranching styles were based on one of the two dominant styles in use south of the border, BC ranchers tended to adopt the California style whereas Alberta took its lead from Texas. But the different practices actually go back much further. Cattle cultures in southwestern Spain, sub-Saharan Africa and the British highlands all shaped the basis of North American ranching. Digging deep into the origins of cowboy culture, Ken Mather tells the stories of men and women on the ranching frontiers of British Columbia and Alberta and reveals little-known details that help us understand the beginnings of ranching in these two provinces.