The author tells us about the Cowboy and his life in this volume. Cowboy songs, his clothes, his work, his language and exploits are all described in a vivid way. Traditions of the trail are related; his ill deeds and his diversions discussed; and the importance of individual liberty in the traditions of the range emphasized.
The Cowboy and His Interpreters is primarily descriptive, but Douglas Branch has given a narrative tone to it by including interesting excerpts from other books which illustrate cowboy songs and conversations. With his numerous allusions near the close of the book to other works dealing with the same subject and his criticism of such, it is evident that he has read much and concerns himself with the cowboy from a new point of view.
His work has been preceded by two quite well known books, Emerson Hough’s “Story of the Cowboy,” and Philip Ashton Rollins’ “Cowboy.” All three authors have attempted to make the American public see that the cowboy is something besides the type portrayed in the latest “thriller”; that the herding, roundup and branding of cattle was a social necessity within itself.
