Andy Adams (1) (1859–1935)

The title says it all: this the account of a trail drive from Texas to Montana, with all the classic elements of a Western: rustlers, con men, Indians, and a gunfight or two. But it doesn't read like a typical Western, it reads like a true account, focused on the day-to-day work of a cowboy in a cattle drive. The style is very matter-of-fact, and there's not much emotion on the page, even when people die. But I suppose that's how it was in reality. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get an idea of what cowboy life was *really* like back in the day. Trigger warning (see what I did there?): includes general racist attitudes and language toward black people and Indians.… (more)

Good book! It's hard to keep in mind that this is actually a novel, because it all sounds so factual and real. But THE LOG OF A COWBOY is fiction, if barely. Because Andy Adams's youthful narrator, Tom Quirk, is a thinly veiled version of his younger self, who did indeed make the 2,500 mile trail drive with over a thousand head of cattle from the Mexican border to the top of Montana that is depicted here. The drive took over five months, from April through August in the year 1882. The descriptions herein - of stampedes, encounters with rustlers and bears, fording streams and dangerous, even fatal, river crossings, saloon shootouts and more. The mission of getting the herd to its destination remains paramount, but campfire stories, night herding, and caring for the remuda of 140 horses and mules all figure into this ultra real narrative of one of the longest cattle drives of its time.

The book was first published in 1903, and I don't think it's ever been out of print. That's how GOOD it is. Multiple editions over 120 years is quite a run. My copy is a 2000 edition with a new Introduction by Thomas McGuane, a well-regarded Michigan writer who moved to Montana (Livingston) decades ago and has reinvented himself as a cowboy who specializes in cutting horses. His book, SOME HORSES, is itself a modern classic - and a hoot too.
I thoroughly enjoyed this ol' tome. Andy Adams (1859-1935) is long gone, but his stories live on. Very highly recommended.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER… (more)