Cowboy CL

Granfield rustles up a plum wonderful read, masterfully distilling a swirl of cowpoke history, memorabilia, trivia and myth into a comprehensive compendium. Punctuating all is a stampede of photographs, art by Remington and Russell, sidebars, songs--even a recipe for chili. The heyday of the cowboy, according to the author, was a brief span in American history (roughly 1866-1886), but life on the high lonesome quickly caught the nation's imagination and has never let it go. Granfield eschews romanticized notions of the cowboy and concentrates on the real nitty gritty--the monotonous, dusty grind that constituted the roundup and cattle drive; hazards on the trail; an amusing look at ``cowboyspeak''; and the lowdown on such cowboy essentials as boots, hats, spurs--even underwear (usually long johns). The reader also learns about famous outlaws, ``prairie nymphs'' and the rodeo, as well as how the cowboy myth has been perpetuated by Hollywood. This thoroughly engrossing volume ends with an interview with 13-year-old Jessica Chalmers, a fourth-generation rancher in Alberta, Canada. Ages 8-up. (Mar.)