A Texas Cowboy

"A Texas Cowboy" was one of the first true looks into life as a cowboy. Its author, Charles A. Siringo, was born in Dodge City, Kansas and at the age of 15 started working on local ranches as a cowboy and participated over the course of his ranching career in many cattle drives. A highly influential work that romanticized the life of a cowboy and the Old West, Siringo's book tells an autobiographical account of riding the famous Chisholm Trail and driving 2500 head of cattle from Texas to Kansas, of leading a posse of cowboys in pursuit of Billy the Kid and his gang, and of life in general as a cowboy in the great plains during the 19th century. As the first chapter in the life of Siringo, who would later seek further career adventure as a Pinkerton detective, we find in "A Texas Cowboy" a hugely influential autobiography that gives the reader great insight into this period of time and this type of lifestyle from one of the most interesting characters to have lived it.