Cattle Brands [Paperback]

Andy Adams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 24, 2009

An Unabridged, Digitally Enlarged Edition With Original Illustrations - Chapters Include: Drifting North - Seigerman's Per Cent - "Bad Medicine" - A Winter Round-Up - A College Vagabond - The Double Trail - Rangering - At Comanche Ford - Around The Spade Wagon - The Ransom Of Don Ramon Mora - The Passing Of Peg-Leg - In The Hands Of His Friends - A Question Of Possession - The Story Of A Poker Steer

Product Details

• Paperback: 140 pages
• Publisher: Merchant Books (July 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1603862390
• ISBN-13: 978-1603862394
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,234,328 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 14 Slices of Old West Life - a review Andy Adams "Cattle Brands", December 17, 2007

By 

Pam Tee "Busy Mom" - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Cattle Brands (Paperback)

Andy Adams was born on a farm in Indiana in the year 1859. Over his lifetime he tried his hand at a number of careers, but the two he is his most famous for are cowboy and writer. His first and most popular book, "Log of a Cowboy", was published in 1903. It remains in print today, and is widely available. This book followed in 1906 and is a lesser known volume comprised of 14 short stories. A list of titles follows:

I. DRIFTING NORTH

II. SEIGERMAN'S PER CENT

III. "BAD MEDICINE"

IV. A WINTER ROUND-UP

V. A COLLEGE VAGABOND

VI. THE DOUBLE TRAIL

VII. RANGERING

VIII. AT COMANCHE FORD

IX. AROUND THE SPADE WAGON

X. THE RANSOM OF DON RAMON MORA

XI. THE PASSING OF PEG-LEG

XII. IN THE HANDS OF HIS FRIENDS

XIII. A QUESTION OF POSSESSION

XIV.THE STORY OF A POKER STEER (my fav story. Told from the point of view of a cow :)

In general, I liked this collection, although I wouldn't recommend it to my literati friends. For one thing the writing is a rough in places, and for another thing, there is just something odd about the structure of some of the stories. "A Winter Round-Up" demonstrates this phenomena well. Set in winter, the author describes a wolf hunt, but there is no main character, and no real point that I could see to the story, except to describe what such a hunt was like.

The other thing that Andy does, which is a little disconcerting, is create two plot lines within a story that don't have a clear link between them. In "Around the Spade Wagon" for example, the story begins with a chance meeting of two friends during a trail drive. As evening arrives, they fall to discussing what they've been doing, as well as what happened to the girls they knew. Then, out of nowhere, talk veers off to focus on an acquaintance who died of consumption. The story ends with a description of this man's last days and the reactions of his devastated wrangler friends. The girls aren't mentioned again; there is no dénouement, nor any overlaying element that ties these two halves together. (Although it is entirely possible that I'm just dense and don't 'get it').

In any case, the end result for many of the stories is that you get more of a view of what life was like on the trail, than you do character development. If that doesn't bother you, and if you are interested in the Old West, you ought to enjoy reading through this book. Three Stars [C+]

Pam T's 'look inside this book' ~

The deputy secretly engaged seven or eight bad men

of the long-haired variety, such as in the early days

usually graced the frontier towns with their presence.

This brand of human cattle were not the disturbing

element on the border line of civilization that writers of

that period depicted, nor the authors of the

bloodcurdling drama portrayed. The average busy

citizen paid little attention to them, considering them

more ornamental than useful.

And from another story:

"We made a fine stream, watering early in the afternoon.

As they grazed out from the creek we fed them through

between two of the boys. The count showed no cattle

short. In fact, the Val Verde boy's count was confirmed.

It was then that our medicine man played his cards

wrong. He still insisted that we were cattle out, thus

queering himself with his men. He was gradually

getting into a lone minority, though he didn't have

sense enough to realize it. He would even fight with

and curse his horses to impress us with his authority.

Very little attention was paid to him after this, and as

grass and water improved right along nothing of

interest happened."

2.0 out of 5 stars Not what I thought, January 10, 2011

By 

Country Gal - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cattle Brands (Paperback)

This is not what i thought it would be. I was looking for a book to teach me about reading brands and that sort of thing. This book is a STORY to read,,,, not to learn.