Chasing the Rodeo - by W K Stratton (Paperback)

About the Book

In "Chasing the Rodeo," Stratton creates a portrait of rodeo that is at onceloving and critical, personal and cultural, and mixes colorful characters andhigh stakes with a story of finding one's truth.

Book Synopsis

From its roots as the quintessential Western pastime, rodeo has grown to an international, prime-time television sport. Steeped in tradition and the independent spirit of the range, aspiring cowboys and cowgirls are called to its high-stakes, rough-and-tumble fame as they risk their lives for eight seconds of triumph.

In Chasing the Rodeo W. K. Stratton follows this quest for one season of the pro rodeo and bull-riding tours. He explores the history of the chutes -- from rodeo's disputed origins (Prescott, Arizona, or Pecos, Texas?) to its current skyrocketing popularity. But out on the trail Stratton finds more than calf-roping and unrideable bulls, uncovering a culture complete with myths, codes of honor, million-dollar purses, Cowboy Church, and the kinds of legends that make good stories unforgettable.

Just such a story emerges here as Stratton tells of his runaway "rodeo bum" father --Cowboy Don -- whose specter haunts his travels on the circuit. As he learns more about the life that proved too seductive for his father to abandon, Stratton fills in a portrait of the man he never knew but whose legacy he couldn't help but inherit.

Filled with cowboy longing and rodeo dreams, this is a tribute to the characters of the West -- Freckles Brown, Lucille Mulhall (the first cowgirl), Wild Bill Hickock, Lane Frost, and today's superstars like Jesse Bail. In the great tradition of Wallace Stegner and Ken Kesey, W. K. Stratton fashions an expansive tale out of the gritty reality of the life around us. Chasing the Rodeo is a bucking, riveting, glorious ride -- you'll want to hang on for the whole go-round.

From the Back Cover

"Filled with delicious rodeo tidbits. Stratton's the perfect tour guide, a natural-born storyteller whose prose is as lean as a cowboy and as poetic as a sunset, rendered with a delight and wonder that are downright infectious."--The Boston Globe
Rodeo has grown into an international, prime-time television sport. Steeped in tradition and Western spirit, it calls aspiring cowboys and cowgirls to its rough-and-tumble fame as they repeatedly risk their lives for eight seconds of triumph.
In Chasing the Rodeo, Kip Stratton takes us into the addictive core of rodeo, bull riding, and the circuit. Immersedin this world, he collides with the specter of his "rodeo bum" father, finding part of the cowboy dream that was his father's legacy.
Chasing the Rodeo is atribute to the famed characters of the old West and a riveting look at the superstars of the new. And best of all, it'sone bucking, riveting, glorious ride.
"If you love the sound of the bell, the thud of hooves, and the sight of a twisting ton-and-a-half bovine, round up a copy of this book. Chasing the Rodeo is a mighty fine book for any cowpoke."--St. Louis Post-Dispatch
W. K. (Kip) Stratton is a native of the Southwest. His journalism has appeared in GQ, Sports Illustrated, Outside, Southern Magazine, and the Dallas Morning News. He lives in Austin, Texas.
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Review Quotes

PRAISE FOR BACKYARD BRAWL
"Backyard Brawl is well-researched and entertaining, and it's a credit to Stratton-a naturalized Texan-that he can weave the stories of past and present together without turning it into a book-sized version of either school's phone-book-size football media guides."
-SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

"Aside from this book's obvious appeal to sports fans and others, it had the power to make a non-fan like myself go introspective. This is the function of art."-THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS