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The Cowboy Way: Seasons of a Montana Ranch
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 307
EAN: 9780380788415
ISBN: 0380788411
Label: Harper Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: March 01, 2000
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Release Date: March 07, 2000
Studio: Harper Paperbacks
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Editorial Review:
The cowboy as hero, David McCumber reminds us, is one of America's abiding myths. John Wayne, Clint Eastwood--even the ubiquitous Marlboro man--endure as symbols, perhaps because of our need to believe (in a technology-savvy, urbanized culture) that "cleaner country ... something rougher, less despoiled, harder to win" still exists.
At midlife, McCumber abandoned "corporate striving" in California and spent a year learning what it means to be a real cowboy at one of Montana's largest ranches. His unsentimental, gritty, yet evocative account defies and confirms our preconceptions. Cowboying, he quickly learns, has always meant backbreaking, isolating work: mending endless stretches of fence, weeks spent digging ditches, rousting livestock in subzero weather. But ranch life has not been immune to the times: today's cowboys choose four-wheel drive vehicles over horses, regularly deliver calves by cesarean section, and might as easily hold a degree in English as in agriculture.
Ultimately, McCumber reveals that the cowboy is alive and kicking in the West, his ethic defined by a firm belief in the value of hard work and an unshakable respect for the weather and the land. "Cowboys are heroes," he tells us, "but not of the Hollywood variety. Their heroism comes in small portions. John Wayne may have saved the stampeding herd in Red River, but in real life the herd is saved one calf at a time." --Svenja Soldovieri
In February of his forty-fourth year, journalist David McCumber signed on as a hand on rancher Bill Galt's expansive Birch Creek spread in Montana. The Cowboy Way is an enthralling and intensely personal account of his year spent in open country—a book that expertly weaves together past and present into a vibrant and colorful tapestry of a vanishing way of life. At once a celebration of a breathtaking land both dangerous and nourishing, and a clear-eyed appreciation of the men—and women—who work it, David McCumber's remarkable story forever alters our long-held perceptions of the "Roy Rogers" cowboy with real-life experiences and hard economic truths.
In February of his forty-fourth year, journalist David McCumber signed on as a hand on rancher Bill Galt's expansive Birch Creek spread in Montana. The Cowboy Way is an enthralling and intensely personal account of his year spent in open country—a book that expertly weaves together past and present into a vibrant and colorful tapestry of a vanishing way of life. At once a celebration of a breathtaking land both dangerous and nourishing, and a clear-eyed appreciation of the men—and women—who work it, David McCumber's remarkable story forever alters our long-held perceptions of the "Roy Rogers" cowboy with real-life experiences and hard economic truths.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - It made me want to fly out to Montana
David has a natural, easy way of describing such a difficult land. I have never been to Montana but long to go there, and this book makes my longing more profound.
David was fair to everyone in this book, to the cows who naturally were raised for food, to the ranch owner and manager and the many ranch hands he worked with. He even made me like ranchers even though I am more of an environmentalist.
The countryside, the skies, the sun, the weather, the winds, the mooing of ... Read More
Rating:  - An honest, funny and entertaining look at real life
What happens when a 44-year-old assistant newspaper editor becomes a working cowboy on a Montana ranch? This is an intensely personal account of 2 years spent in open country (although written as if it were one year)---a book that paints a colorful, insightful and humorous canvas of what cowboys on a working ranch really do (changing oil, riding ATV's, building irrigation dams, running loaders, feeding cattle... and yes, even a good old-fashioned roundup.)
Like many new jobs, he's ... Read More
Rating: - Cowboying for real . . .
It took me a while to get into this book, but once I did, I really enjoyed it. The author, a newspaperman, spends a year on a large ranch in western Montana, and his account of that year is the best book I've ever read on modern-day cattle ranching as told by a cowboy. McCumber, in fact, is not a cowboy and has to learn nearly everything there is to learn about it on the job. And the reader learns along with him.
His employer, Bill Galt, is a hard-driving man, leaving no room for error ... Read More
Rating: - Personal account
In June 2001, I visited Birch Creek Ranch after picking up the book (The Cowboy Way)at a local chapters in Richmond Hill Ontario, Canada. After many arrangements, I travelled to White Sulphur Springs and met Bill Galt, his family and his crew.
I visited and worked with his wonderful crew (different visits)
(Dave, Kirk, Tyson, Mike, Russ, Terry, Don, Aaron,& Justin) throughout calving, haying, irrigating and branding, from which evolved some of the most memorable moments of my ... Read More
Rating: - A really good book
I liked that the author keeps his focus on the ranch and does not tell us much about his love life or his thoughts on politics. Just what he did at the ranch day by day, season by season. Hard to explain why, but it's fascinating. Especially after coming home from an office job. There is a lot about the people he works with and a little about the history of the ranch and environs. Great portraits of people and horses. I would have liked a map... also photos of the trucks, machines, horses, fields, ... Read More
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