The Day the Cowboys Quit - Softcover

Kelton, Elmer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0765360551 ISBN 13: 9780765360557

Publisher: Forge Books, 2008

Synopsis

"The Day the Cowboys Quit was inspired by an historic event, a strike against large ranches on the Texas high plains, when the encroachment of an Eastern corporate mentality drove freedom-loving cowboys to drastic measures―no matter the cost." --Elmer Kelton

In later years people often asked Hugh Hitchcock about the Canadian River cowboy strike of 1883.

Wagon boss Hugh Hitchcock knows the cowboy life better than most: In 1883 if you're a cowboy, you can't own a cow and you are stigmatized as a drunk. Worse, you are exploited by the wealthy cattle owners who fence the range, replace traditions and trust with written rules of employment, refuse to pay a livable wage, and change things "that ought to be left alone." The cowboys working in the Canadian River country of the Texas Panhandle decide to fight back, to do the unthinkable: go on strike.

In this celebrated novel, Elmer Kelton uses the true but little-known Canadian River incident to focus on the changes brought to ranching by big-money syndicates.

About this title

From the Publisher

From one of the West's greatest living storytellers, winner of numerous awards, including the Golden Spur, the Saddleman, and the Western Heritage Award, here is Elmer Kelton's rousing novel of the Canadian River cowboy strike of 1883.

This was cowboy country once: a land of hardworking hands who rode for the brand come hell or high water. Now a different breed is moving in--big outfits backed by Eastern syndicates and run by power-hungry "managers," men who figure to make a profit, even if it means crowding a cowboy too far...

Hugh Hitchcock tried to keep the peace between rancher and cowboy, but when push came to shove the wagon boss knew where his loyalties lay. And when the ranchers stole his cattle, when they lynched his friend and hired a back shooter to put him in his grave, he kept on fighting...because even is they took everything he had, they couldn't touch his pride--or his willingness to fight to the bloody end.

Elmer Kelton is "one of the best of a new breed of Western writers who have driven the genre into new territory." -- The New York Times

From the Back Cover

Elmer Kelton is "one of the best of a new breed of Western writers who have driven the genre into new territory." -- The New York Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Forge Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0765360551
• ISBN 13: 9780765360557
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288