The Log of a Cowboy

This first-hand account of a cowboy brings the Old West to life authentically and vividly for the modern reader. Written by Andrew Adams during and after his many years working as a cowboy in the rugged plains of the southwest USA, this book was first published in 1903. At the time, the ways of the Wild West were rapidly being superseded by the unstoppable modern advancement of the United States. As such, this book may be viewed as a sort of retrospective upon the 19th century, illustrating a time when the frontier culture reigned supreme over great tracts of North America. Much of the book is presented as a story with dialogue, whereby aspects of the cowboy trade, the geography of the rural West, and landmarks such as Yellowstone are detailed. We hear accounts of the lives of the ordinary people; although exciting action abounds throughout the book, we are shown that most people in the Wild West were simply making a living in a land untamed by human civilization.