The Humor of the American Cowboy

To the cowboy the world was a circus of creation and nothing was beyond the scope of his laughter. His fertile imagination could produce trail drives of dry-land terrapins, cowboy firing squads for fighting game roosters, and a breed of "honk-honk birds" that could outrun a horse. He used humor to express his fondness for the West, to exchange sarcasms with railroaders, to teach lessons to tenderfeet, and even - sometimes - to laugh at death. In "The Humor of the American Cowboy", Stan Hoig presents an authentic collection of tall tales, anecdotes, yarns, jokes, and humorous incidents of the Old West which not only will entertain but will focus attention on a relatively neglected phase of cowboy life. The author, whose work has appeared in many magazines and newspapers, is director of publications and professor at Central State College, Edmond, Oklahoma. "A duke's mixture of mirth, irony and downright horseplay, made vivid by the brushpopper's salty imagery and remarkable aptitude for precisely the wrong word in the right place." - "New York Times Book Review". "The whole gives many a chuckle, as wry and dry as the land whence they came...The drawings are among the best Eggenhofer has ever done. " - "San Francisco Chronicle".

Stan Hoig is professor emeritus of journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma. His other books include The Sand Creek Massacre, Perilous Pursuit: The U. S. Cavalry and the Northern Cheyennes, and The Battle of the Washita: The Sheridan-Custer Indian Campaign of 1867–69, available in a Bison Books edition.