The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 92, July 1988 - April, 1989 Page: 375

Book Reviews

to live with their maternal grandparents. Eigell left their home at fif-
teen and roamed throughout North Dakota and Montana, following
his dream of becoming a real cowboy. Several barriers and detours de-
layed the realization of his goal for about four years. Urged by Willie
Sanford to become a bronc buster, Eigell finally began to learn how to
be a cowboy. Two years later he stumbled onto a job with the CBC en-
terprise, and he finally had a base.
The author tells us how the real cowboy worked on the open range;
how he dressed; what he ate; how he spent his winter layoffs; and how
the various enterprises and private ranchers interacted. The text in-
cludes minute geographical descriptions, much local color, and de-
tailed accounts of cowboys, cowhands, and their women. Zane Grey
and Louis L'Amour fans will find Eigell's book supportive of these west-
ern masters, as well as informative about many little-known aspects of
cowboy life on the range.
Eigell's writing style is clear, his text reads well, and it is well struc-
tured. Most of the photographs are action shots of various routine
chores, and they enhance Eigell's story immensely. The book should
become a standard for all western libraries-it is truly an epic.
Oklahoma State University SHARON B. HALLBERG
The Texas Longhorn: Relic of the Past, Asset for the Future. By Don Wor-
cester. (College Station, Tex.: Texas A&M University Press, 1987.
Pp. xiii+97. Acknowledgments, illustrations, photographs, notes,
index. $12.95.)
The Texas Cowboy. By the Texas Cowboy Artists Association. Text by
Donald Worcester. Introduction by Elmer Kelton. (Fort Worth:
Texas Christian University Press, 1986. Pp. xx+ 136. Introduction,
illustrations, color plates, photographs. $50.)
The publication of these attractive books illustrates the continuing
interest in the history of the western cattle industry. Good, carefully
crafted works on the subject appear with regularity.
Don Worcester's The Texas Longhorn is a short, but nonetheless thor-
ough, study of the famous Texas breed, a breed that has taken on
mythical dimensions. Although he provides little new material on the
animal's background, development, and contributions to western cattle
raising, the author presents important information on the breed's sur-
vival into the late twentieth century and shows that it is enjoying a
popular comeback among southwestern ranchmen who have grown to
respect its ability to remain healthy on poor rangeland in hot, arid cli-
mates. The Longhorn breed, which produces small calves that grow

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