Description
Book SynopsisExplores the changing role of masculinity as the open range slowly disappeared and the cowboys had fewer places to roam
Trade Review"Among the surfeit of books on late nineteenth-century stock raising, this one stands alone. It bridges an enormous academic gap in blending the ranching culture and the emerging feild of masculinity studies." -- James A. Wilson * Southwestern Historical Quarterly *
"Moore, a historian who knows her sources and how to squeeze them, lays clear the many shapes masculinity took among Gilded-Age Texas cattlemen and cowboys. Hers is an in-depth look at their mindsets and behaviors from as many angles as an MRI. How did cowboys change from manly doers to marginal juveniles, and finally, to the mythic idols of recent times? Read it here." -- Walter Nugent,author of Into the West: The Story of Its People
"This fascinating book recounts the stories told by cowboys and cattlemen to pierce through the mythologized tales told about them. These men, who came to model manhood for themselves and others in so many ways, are vividly revealed as both less and more familiarless exotic than the stereotypes we thought we knew and more the working men and capitalist bosses we know and are, defining themselves in terms of gender, race, and class identities through both their work and leisure activities in changing economic times. Highly recommended for anyone interested in new truths about the Old West." -- Harry Brod,editor of The Making of Masculinities: The New Men's Studies
"A solid, well researched, and useful study." * The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era *
"One of the best things about Moores work is her keen balancing of theory with substance. is not only a cutting-edge study of class and gender, it may be the best overall social history of the cattle industry in print." * Journal of American History *
"In this short but significant book, Moore (Austin College) offers a convincing corrective to the romanticized views of cowboys and cattlemen advanced by purveyors of popular culture in the US... Moores book is provocative in its theme and informative in its coverage of the work of both cowboys and cattlemen... Highly recommended." * Choice *
"Moore takes on an old topic, cowboys and cattlemen in Texas, but she adds new insights from masculinity studies to her subject. The result is an insightful probing of ethnic, class, and gender relations on the Texas ranching frontier during the last decades of the nineteenth century." * American Historical Review *
Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Part I : Doing the Job 1 Of Men and Cattle 19 2 From Boys to Men 43 3 At Work 68 Part I I : Having Fun 4 A Society of Men 109 5 Men and Women 141 6 In Town 168 Epilogue: The Cowboy Becomes Myth 204 Notes 217 Index 263 About the Author 269
