Review of Catch Rope: The Long Arm of the Cowboy: The History and Evolution of Ranch Roping By John R. Erickson

Authors

Michael C. Coleman, University of Jyvaskyla

Date of this Version

1996

Comments

Published in Great Plains Quarterly 16:2 (Spring 1996). Copyright © 1996 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Abstract

Erickson sets his account in the literature of cowboys and roping and supplies a short but useful annotated bibliography. There is nothing here of the "New Western History," however, and little about socio-economic conditions, gender issues, Indians, or African American cowboys. Sharply focused on catch roping, the book nevertheless communicates well the tribulations and satisfactions of life on the range. The many quotations and paraphrases of stories by fellow cowboys give Catch Rope its evocative sense of camaraderie: we feel like we're sitting around a campfire with the author and his friends. And it is a good feeling.