Cow People

by J. Frank Dobie

Book Overview

Cow People records the fading memories of a bygone Texas, the reminiscences of the cow people themselves. These are the Texans of the don't-fence-me-in era, their faces pinched by years of squinting into the desert glare, tanned by the sun and coarsened by the dust of the Chisholm Trail. Their stories are often raucous but just as often quiet as hot plains under a pale Texan sky.

A native Texan, J. Frank Dobie had an inborn knowledge...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0292710607
• ISBN13: 9780292710603
• Release Date: January 1981
• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Cow People

I have several titles by J. Frank Dobie, and I also am an aspiring writer of western historical lore. I use Dobie books in my research and as guides to find information. Cow People is an excellent reference for pieces that happen on or around the big spreads of the 19th century, and an interesting read. I enjoy reading about the old timers that I have heard so much about through the years, especially the ones that were here in our area. I too have worked cattle and horses on these same lands, so it takes me to places and times with which I am very familiar. I identify with the Dobie take on things because he's home-folks. He reported faithfully the way of life in this Brush-Country of ours and was one of my grandfather's best friends.

Real men never even heard of quiche....

J.Frank Dobie was memorialized in Austin Texas at the famous Barton Springs pool with a statue along with 2 other famous Texans, at a place called philosophers rock. This book is part of the reason why. In it he chronicles the stories of the real mean of the old west, the cooks, cowhands, drive captains, and cattle barons from that famous era of the late 1800's. This is done through his own experience, his uncle owned a ranch in south Texas, direct interviews with his subjects and second hand stories. His book, Cow People, originally published in 1964, doesn't just paint a picture of these people and their time, he blasts the whole place with technicolor. Must be read by all 'cow people' and wannabes.