The Log of a Cowboy - (Penguin Classics) by Andy Adams (Paperback)

About the Book

Newly introduced by Thomas McGuane, "The Log of a Cowboy" offers the truest depiction of a cowboy's life and work as well as a classic adventure of the great American frontier. The book is a fictional chronicle of life on the open trail as told by one of our nation's greatest cowboys. 6 illustrations.

Book Synopsis

Straightforwardly told, rich in detail, and laced with appealing campfire humor, Andy Adams's realistic The Log of a Cowboy is a classic portrayal of the western cattle country. Drawing on his own experiences as a cowboy working in cattle and horse drives, Adams presents a vivid portrait of the challenges of trail life on a cattle drive from Texas to Montana--the daily drudgery of cattle trailing, as well as the dramatic stampedes and other treacherous disruptions. Populated by a wide variety of well-drawn, lively characters, The Log of a Cowboy remains the landmark novel of the American West a century after its first appearance. This is the first edition of this work published as a Penguin Classic.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Review Quotes

The most significant fictional treatment of the cattle drive alongside Larry McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove." (Richard W. Etulain, in his introduction)

"If all other books on trail-driving were destroyed, a reader could still get a just as authentic conception of trail men, trail work, range cattle, cow horses, and the cow country in general from The Log of a Cowboy." -- J. Frank Dobie

About the Author

Andy Adams (1859-1935) was born to pioneer parents in Indiana, worked in Texas for ten years driving cattle, and settled in Colorado Springs, where he began writing his "real" stories of cowboys in the West.

Richard W. Etulain is professor emeritus of history and former director of the Center for the American West at the University of New Mexico. He has authored or edited more than forty books.