No Life for a Lady

Lincoln, NE, U.S.A.: University of Nebraska Press - Bison Book, 1977. First Bison Book Printing . Trade Paperback. Very Good. 5" x 8. Borein, Edward (illustrator). 356 Pages. A reprint of a 1941 copyright of the Houghton Mifflin series Life in America. The first Bison Book was printed in 1977. Cover is a painting called Sandhill Ladies by Tom Beecham. Front Cover has very light wear to edges. Interior text pages are as new very white and tight. When Agnes Morley Cleaveland was born on a New Mexico cattle ranch in 1874 the term Wild West was a reality, not a cliche. In those days cowboys didn't know they were picturesque. Horse rustlers were to be handled as seemed best on the occasion, and young ladies thought nothing of punching cows and hunting grizzlies in between school terms. Here are the vivid details of the cattle industry from the earliest days of the open range. Contents in Five Parts: We Make Our Own Tracks, Mother Buys an Empire, Ray and I Take Over, Ray The Cattle King, and A New Era and an Old Ranch. Under Mrs. Cleaveland's hand, the whole brightly hued pattern of cow-country life of the latter half of the nineteenth century emerges with clarity. She regrets the changes that come with the years, the invasion of the country by literati and tourists, the theatrical changes in cowboys, the part the government has played in the division and control of the land. But her regret is not bitter; the humor and good sense and philosophy that characterize all her reactions are not absent in her critical iudgment. Authentic, well written, and, in many passages, downright charming.