Overview

The dime novel and dude ranch, the barbecue and rodeo, the suburban ranch house and the urban cowboy--all are a direct legacy of nineteenth-century cowboy life which still enlivens American popular culture. Yet at the same time, reports of environmental destruction or economic inefficiency have led to calls for restrictions on grazing livestock on public lands or even an end to ranching altogether. In fact, writes Paul F. Starrs, the history of ranching in the United States is full of ongoing tension and conflict--between ranchers and farmers, between U.S. citizens and their government, between Texas ""cowboys"" and California ""buckaroos."" In Let the Cowboy Ride, Starrs offers a detailed and comprehensive look at one of America's most enduring institutions. Richly illustrated with more than 130 photographs and maps, the book combines the authentic detail of an insider's view (Starrs spent six years working cattle on the high desert Great Basin range) with a scholar's keen eye for objective analysis. Tracing the geography and history of ranching in the United States, Starrs tells how Anglo settlers first encountered the open grasslands of the West--an environment quite alien to most of the European experience. Knowing little of the West's unique geography, Congress in far-off Washington enacted land-use laws better suited to the needs of Jeffersonian yeoman farmers, with idealized 160-acre plots in the Ohio Valley, than to those of cattle ranchers in the semiarid West. Starrs describes how these laws, which made it extremely difficult for citizens to obtain the large tracts of land needed for raising cattle, soon came into conflict not only with the stern realities of Western climate but also with customs and practices of the region's Hispanic inhabitants, whose system of land grants--based on group ownership of large tracts of land--was far better suited to ranchers' needs. Starrs tracks the imprint of these conflicts in shaping ranching today, from the communal ranch lands of Hispanic northern New Mexico to the private ranches of the Texas Panhandle, from the vast expanse of public domain territory in northern Nevada to the intricately structured public and private rangelands of Wyoming and the tallgrass Sandhills of Nebraska. He explains how to ""read"" a ranch hand's rig--from the roll of the cantle to the form of stirrups and location of cinches--for clues to a rancher's cultural and regional origins. He explores the paradox of the ""lonesome cowboy,"" whose rugged individualism is in constant conflict with the need to accommodate federal land-use laws (resulting in a situation in which ""the level of rancher unease...is roughly proportional to the amount of rangeland controlled by the federal government."") And he shows how understanding past mistakes can shape land-use reform in the West today. Does ranching still have a future in the United States, or is the cowboy a relic of bygone times? ""For a hundred years,"" Starrs answers, ""we have heard dour forecasts of the demise of ranching and the cowboy in the United States. As a livelihood, as a way of life, as an economic activity, ranching has been written off repeatedly since the late nineteenth century. Yet persist it does. It continues partly because ranching makes sense in semiarid regions; partly because acquiring the use of large tracts of land always attracts attention in a world that has never entirely gotten over feudalism; and partly because the life of the cowboy and the ranch have together gathered an immense international following."" ""This is an important book, a contribution both to scholarship and to urgent public debate. Few of its readers will find their view of the American West unchanged, and those few will probably be of Starr's party already.""--Hugh Brogan, Times Literary Supplement ""His solid and well-written book is recommended for public and academic libraries where there is an interest in Western land problems.""--Library Journal ""Paul Starrs takes us on an lively, insightful ride through the varied ranch lands of the American West. Drawing skillfully on his visits to many different ranching areas, he clearly illuminates the difficulties confronting ranchers yesterday and today. Starrs also levels sharp criticisms at US western land policy. Even readers who disagree with his prescriptions will find Starrs a stimulating, often provocative guide.""--Richard W. Slatta, author of The Cowboy Encyclopedia and Cowboys of the Americas ""Starrs's magisterial book redefines our understanding of the neglected subject of Western livestock ranching. He shows the centrality of ranching in the complex and contentious relationship between fiercely independent westerners and historic federal government policies. Starrs provides a thoughtful and vivid overview while simultaneously deciphering five specific land tenure histories. The history of Western ranching has a new champion.""--John Opie, author of Nature's Nation

Full Product Details

9780801863516

Table of Contents

Reviews

<p>This is an important book, a contribution both to scholarship and to urgent public debate. Few of its readers will find their view of the American West unchanged, and those few will probably be of Starrs's party already.--Hugh Brogan Times Literary Supplement

<p> This is an important book, a contribution both to scholarship and to urgent public debate. Few of its readers will find their view of the American West unchanged, and those few will probably be of Starrs's party already. -- Hugh Brogan, Times Literary Supplement

Author Information

Paul F. Starrs is associate professor of geography at the University of Nevada at Reno, editor of the Geographical Review, and a former cowhand.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available