The cowboy way

The lives of American cowboys have been both real and mythic; hence our continuing fascination with their history and culture. In sixteen essays and an annotated bibliography, scholars explore cowboy music dress, humour, films and literature. Celebrating the cowboy way, the essays also come to grips with false images and the make-believe world that surrounds cowboy culture. Nonetheless, as these essays demonstrate, the American cowboy is destined to remain the most easily recognised of all western character types, a knight of the road who, with a large hat, tall boots and a big gun, rode into legend and into the history books.