Lone Cowboy: My Life Story [Paperback]

Will James (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2004

1930. Illustrated by the author. The narrative of Lone Cowboy tells how a little boy, hardly more than a baby, becomes an orphan in the West; how an old French trapper, whom the boy calls Bopy, adopts him and takes him on his long, long hunts; how when he is hardly more than a little boy Bopy is lost in an icy river and the child, heartbroken, rides down into the prairie region alone-on his own. James gives a complete and varied idea of how a cowboy lives as he moves toward his remote objective-becoming an artist. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This first appeared in 1930 as James' life story, following the author's evolution from boy to cowboy to artist and writer. The reprint will offer new audiences a spirited ble nd of fiction and autobiography as James traces the early influences which marked his life - half of which have proved fictional, but which are absorbing and realistic nonetheless. -- Midwest Book Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

9 1.5-hour cassettes --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 444 pages
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing (May 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1417917083
• ISBN-13: 978-1417917082
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,798,595 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lone Cowboy, December 12, 2000

By 

fred johnston (Charlotte,NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lone Cowboy: My Life Story [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

Independance is riding a Wyoming ridgeline on Christmas eve in a blizzard,catching the lights of a remote cabin in the valley below,and deciding whether or not to ride down to the cabin,based soley on how badly you think that you really need a cup of coffee.Will James is the "Lone Cowboy"in this turn of the century autobiography of the life of a drifter who roams from Mexico to Canada in search of ranch work.Abandoned as an infant,James was raised by a French Canadian trapper who provide equal doses of love and sink or swim trials.James fills the many lonely and isolated hours of his youth with drawing.The book contains many of James's illustrations of cowboy life and particularly beautiful renditions of his favorite subject,horses.A simple cowboy tale to most,this story will, to some readers ,provide a moving testimony to the spirit of courage,stubborness,independance that characterized the itinerent cowpokes of the old west.A wonderful book for young readers who will love the early stories about trapping,camping and getting that first horse.All will enjoy the beautiful artwork that so effectively illustrates the storyline.This sensitive story,told by the roughest of men, will provide a moving experience for all readers.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fictional Bigography is great story telling for all ages, February 27, 2009

By 

N. Golash "horse-crazy book-a-holic" (NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lone Cowboy: My Life Story (Hardcover)

I first read an original copy of this book, in my late mother's library (she was our village librarian), in the mid-70's...and re-read it many times over, since then.

It is a candid, entertaining view of life in the fading days of the wild west, and western life at the turn of the 20th century. The stories with which James' regales his reader come alive on the page, with the voice of a real cowboy.

Reading Lone Cowboy, is like sitting around a campfire on the range, having a cowboy tell you stories in the firelight. Added to its charm, are Will James' own original pen drawings, which make the tales spring to life, all the more.

Although in reality, this is actually a work of fiction--despite what the uninformed will say, it's still well worth reading.

Will James isn't the author's real name, he wasn't born in the west, but is French-Canadian, having been born in a small town outside of Montreal, Canada, in 1892. He changed his name and his place of birth (several times over) only when coming to the west. His name became Bill James, when he crossed the border into Montana, later changing it to Will James upon becoming a published author.

However, don't let this knowledge put you off: James' was a real cowboy! He jumped off a train and learned his trade at the age of 15, at a working cattle ranch in western Canada. He was always interested in art, and studied at the School of Fine Arts in San Francisco, and also, believe it or not, breifly attended Yale University! He also was a rodeo cowboy, a broc buster, a convicted cattle rustler (he served 15 months in a Nevada prison for it), a probable horse theif, movie stuntman, artist-illustrator and a rancher.

Two of his books made it into film, including Smokey the Cowhorse, which was filmed three times--last in 1966, starring "Daniel Boone" and "Davy Crockket" TV star, Fess Parker. Will James died alone and penniless, of cirrosis of the liver, in a hospital in Hollywood CA, in 1942.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read, June 26, 2007

By 

Helen Hunt - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lone Cowboy: My Life Story [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

This is a favorite from childhood. It's a good novel to get a picture of what a cowboy's daily life and background were truly like in the period of U.S.history when ranches were a big part of the western scene. The sketches by James add much charm.