The Cowboy Way

A real-life Western adventure. “A remarkable book, restrained and gritty, droll and lyrical . . . It belongs with the best from the West.” —USA Today

In February of his forty-fourth year, journalist David McCumber signed on as a hand on rancher Bill Galt’s expansive Birch Creek spread in Montana. The Cowboy Way is an enthralling and intensely personal account of his year spent in open country—a book that expertly weaves together past and present into a vibrant and colorful tapestry of a vanishing way of life. At once a celebration of a breathtaking land both dangerous and nourishing, and a clear-eyed appreciation of the men—and women—who work it, David McCumber’s remarkable story forever alters our long-held perceptions of the “Roy Rogers” cowboy with real-life experiences and hard economic truths.

“McCumber witnesses firsthand the gap between Marlboro ads and the experiences of actual cowboys . . . With uncluttered prose and a laid-back sense of humor, he underscores the nobility in hard work, personal responsibility, and the love of the land.” —The Wall Street Journal

“McCumber’s clear, fine writing conveys the push of season, the intensity and danger of ranch work . . . There are hundreds, thousands of books about cowboys and their gear, the old West, the new West, cattlemen, and ranchers. But of the real and gritty ground-level work of the contemporary ranch, there is only one and this is it.” —Annie Proulx, Pulitzer Prize–winning author

“A splendid book that should permanently blow the lid off nearly everyone’s absurd preconception of how a cowboy actually spends his seasons.” —Jim Harrison, New York Times–bestselling author of Legends of the Fall