The Cowboy Encyclopedia [Paperback]

Richard W. Slatta (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 17, 1996

With 450 broad-ranging entries, The Cowboy Encyclopedia is an informative, comprehensive, and entertaining reference to the history and culture of cowboys.

From Clint Eastwood, cattle drives, Buffalo Bill Cody, and outlaws to John Wayne, rodeos, roundups, and the Cisco Kid, Richard W. Slatta's The Cowboy Encyclopedia is a one-of-a-kind reference to the people, places, equipment and dress, historical events, terminology, and cultural imagery surrounding the cowboys of both North and South America. Extensively cross-referenced and expertly researched, The Cowboy Encyclopedia is a must for the serious student of cowboy life and Western Americana, as well as an enjoyable treat for the armchair cowboy.

In this fascinating volume, myth and reality come together to provide a detailed exploration into how and why the romantic cowboy image came into being. Through numerous topical entries that study the role of cowboys in art, literature, and film, to briefer subject entries focusing on cowboy terminology, readers can take away an insightful and broad perspective of the cowboy culture and its powerful influence over America's vision of the Western frontier.

• Best Reference Source 1994, Library Journal
• Outstanding Reference Sources 1995, RASD American Library Association

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This past year brought forth a spate of cowboy reference books, notably a reediting of Ramon Adams' classic work of 1936, The Cowboy Dictionary (Perigee, 1993), Cowboys and the Wild West [RBB Ja 1 95], and several books of Western slang. Now we have an encyclopedic work, embodying many slang words; famous cowboy names; broad subjects, such as Food or Horses (entries of five or six pages), and narrower topics, such as Holster or Levi's (a column or so). Biographies of cowboys or of movie cowboys usually run to four or five pages. Required accent marks are printed in headings such as la{ }tigo and patro{¢}n unlike Adams' work, which omits all Spanish accents.

There is generous use of see references, though in some cases the reference is to a long article, with no hint as to the precise location of the term referred from. Thus, the entry Coffee Grinder says "see Rope." The term is to be found in the middle of the fourth column of text: "coffee grinding" is what a novice vaquero does when he wraps his lariat the wrong way around his saddle horn.

Many black-and-white illustrations supplement the text. Those copied from tintypes or other early processes, such as one of Billy the Kid, may be excused for poor quality, but a few photos of modern artists or of their work are disappointingly dark.

Though primarily concerned with the cowboy of the western U.S., the book does not ignore Argentina or Canada. The article Gaucho runs to six pages, with several cartoons of F. Molina Campos, who affectionately lampooned gauchos for several decades with his popular illustrations for commercial calendars.

There are several appendixes: a list of film and videotape sources, a list of cowboy museums, an annotated list of periodicals dealing with cowboys, a calendar of "western cultural happenings," a 24-page bibliography, and a detailed index.

This work is recommended for any library with an interest in the West, even if it already has one or more dictionaries of cowboy slang. The Cowboy Encyclopedia is broader in scope, easy to use, and written in a clear, convincing style. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

The entries in this source are like potato chips-bet you can't read just one!
(American Libraries )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (July 17, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393314731
• ISBN-13: 978-0393314731
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,792,178 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite comprehensive, March 20, 2008

By 

K. Hughes "Bad News" (Illinois USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Cowboy Encyclopedia (Paperback)

A well researched and comprehensive book. At first, I was a bit concerned about the information being categorized alphabetically, versus topically, but it is a good system for this type of information. I find myself sitting and reading through a letter of the alphabet at a time. Fun to read, quite interesting, and on double checking the information from other sources, historically accurate.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Cowboy Research Tool, February 20, 2012

By 

Creative Dreams "Kelly" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Cowboy Encyclopedia (Paperback)

As a writer of all things cowboy, from music to fiction, this is the best piece of research material I've added to my library. Whatever you are writing, or just want to check the authenticity of some of the things you see in the movies, The Cowboy Encyclopedia is the book to own.

5.0 out of 5 stars Where does the legend end and the history begin?, April 20, 2009

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J. Guild (Toronto,Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Cowboy Encyclopedia (Paperback)

Any perusal of my Reviews will show that I read a lot about the Old West. Whether one uses the term Westerns,Cowboys ,or whatever,there are so many aspects to it all,that it is impossible to say where one part begins or the other ends.On top of that,there is so much real history and colorful legends that it is nearly impossible to seperate it all.So,I have come to the conclusion,why bother,just enjoy it all.
I have several source books or encyclopedias,and find them all quite useful in my readings.
Richard Slatta takes a somewhat different approach,by addressing the broad subject of "Cowboy". This covers a broad area. He does not even contain it to the American West,but also Mexico,South America,Canada and even Australia.He further expands from the actual cows,cowboys,ranches,Indians,Pioneers,etc.,to include Movies,Books and Novels,Radio Shows,TV,and Music ,both of the Western and Cowboy music and even Country and Western music.
Because the author has cast such a wide net,he had to pick and choose what details he would cover. Because of this, you simply cannot tell what you expect to find ,when looking up something.There seems to be no rhyme or reason why he goes into great detail on one thing and little or none on another.However;what he does address is quite good.As one proceeds through the book ,one comes across hundreds of entries that simply refer to other parts of the book.I really believe the author simply tried to do too much and as a result winds up with a book that one never knows what to expect when turning to it as a resource.
Be that as it may,it is still a worthwhile resource to have on your bookshelf,but the subject of "Cowboy" is so wide and varied,one book can never be enough.