Customer Reviews

Unbridled Cowboy

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Arguably, this is one of the finest personal reminiscences of life in the American West. Few memoirs exhibit such breadth--legitimate breadth, that is to say. The writer was a ranch hand, a railroader, a Texas Ranger, an adventurer, and a hobo. He lived through one of the most fascinating periods of American history, including the close of the frontier, the rise of the labor movement, the development of America's transcontinental railroads, and the depths of the Great Depression. He saw the Mexican Revolution from within. The credibility of his observations lie in the wealth of details he provides. His observations on Mexican "exchange rates" during the Revolution are priceless. The point is that these memoirs read with conviction; the writer does not apologize for the truth. He apologizes for some of his actions, and regrets many of them, especially his vendetta against the Mexican cowboys. Simply, the primary contribution of this manuscript is to remind us of the Real West--of human nature in a raw and often dangerous land. The fictional writer that comes to mind is Larry McMurtry. The style is wonderful for someone who claims never to have made it past fifth grade. The word choice is excellent, the descriptions riveting, and written with nouns and verbs. It is as if the author read Strunk and White.
--Alfred Runte, author of Allies of the Earth: Railroads and the Soul of Preservation

This is a captivating memoir. It is not only a great story in its own right, but a window into the social and ethnic history of the wild west (not the urbanizing west) from 1890 to the eve of the Vietnam War. Joe Fussell was a railroad worker, a ranch hand, a husband, an outlaw, a killer, and a cowboy. He was a free spirit who viewed authority about as reverently as Captain Kidd. But I don't want to overemphasize the outlaw side. In a paradoxical way, Fussell respected authority, and though he experienced memorable moments of violence, he was never cruel. He was imaginative and inventive and independent, but he wasn't selfish or mean. Most importantly, he was a master of his own fate. He refused to be pigeon-holed into a life of respectability and social conformity at a time when corporations and state governments were taming the west. What sets this story apart from other memoirs and historical accounts is its honesty, its energy, and its range (sorry, an unintentional pun). Fussell spent decades wandering between Texas and Southern California, from his frontier youth in the 1890s to the conformist 1950s. If some of this book seems politically incorrect in respect to its treatment of women and Mexicans, that's because it is, but let's remember that the concept of political correctness had yet to be invented. Can everything that Fussell writes be verified? Not a chance. There are no stuffy footnotes in this memoir. Yet the story is credible because Fussell never seems to preen. He writes for himself. He doesn't try to impress us, even when his conduct does impress us. And it impresses us because Fussell really does embody the old-fashioned virtues of courage, loyalty, and individualism. His America is mostly gone, which may be why this book has a mythic quality to it. Maybe I can sum up my enthusiasm about "Unbridled Cowboy" by saying that I wish I had the opportunity to know Fussell. Well, in a sense, I do know him. I guess that's what terrific memoirs allow us to do.
One last thing: I had the opportunity to read this memoir even before it was published. I knew nothing of Fussell or of his grandson, Bob, who edited this volume. Because I am an American historian, a mutual friend referred Bob Fussell to me. I said I'd look over the manuscript. I initially figured that reading it would be a quasi-academic chore. It turned out to be a privilege.

Gary Ostrower
Professor of History
Alfred University

Unbridled Cowboy, the autobiography of Joe Fussell, is well written and brings the reader a vivid and realistic portrait of the man and his life. His story telling ability paints a vivid and sometimes raw reality. He brings to life a period of American and western history from a personal point of view that was fraught with change and upheaval.

While reading I found myself sitting next to Joe and hearing him telling me his life story. The ease with which he wrote of his life makes this book an enjoyable journey with a fascinating man.

It is my pleasure to recommend "Unbridled Cowboy". As a person whose Texas Grandparents lived in the times and places of Joe Fussell, I can verify the reality of his experiences. I have heard family stories of East Texas in the 1880's up to the 1930's that explain the character and independence of these proud people.
I feel confident that if you read this book you will come away with a first person account of how the West was changing from the last frontier to modern times. Many local heroes go unnoticed. Here's your chance to walk and ride in the boots of a real cowboy, Texas Ranger, jack of all trades. Joe Fussell was a wanderer who couldn't stay put for long in any one place or trade. He did a remarkable job of self education and examination, making the best of what he had. His writing is clear and descriptive. Joe Fussell a man sure of his principals who paid his way and did unto others what they do unto you. We don't have any like him to know any more so buy this book as the next best thing.

Bob Fussell's treatment of his grandfather J.B. Fussell's autobiography brings to mind a word not often associated with literature: verisimilitude. What makes this account fascinating is that not only is it true, but it rings true. This book should be required reading for every 12-year-old boy and girl in America; boys need to know how to be men and girls need to know what to look for in a man later on in their lives. America could use several million J.B. Fussells about now.

Here's the skinny. I've read thousands of books over the years. I keep a few; the rest I give away to friends or the library. This book is a keeper. Why? I will read this book many times and still be astonished by the history, this amazing man Joe Fussell, and how far this once great country of ours has deteriorated in a century.
The first thought that entered my mind on finishing this book was, "I wish there was more." The second thought was that a man like Joe Fussell would have made an incredible president. In TR's time, when a young man chose to ditch public school at age 14 because he had "itchy feet", he didn't get Ritalin stuffed down his throat--he left home to make his own way. Fussell was a man so full of common sense, intelligence and integrity that the USA would have been privileged to have someone of his ilk as their leader. But alas, with no "education" except life, he was destined to become a laborer. And labor he did.
The chapter on Fussell's adventures in Mexico as a youth are more riveting than anything Hollywood will ever turn out. His depiction of his railroad career reads like you were switching cars alongside him. Fussell is a storyteller akin to Twain. I am still amazed he avoided jail, but then it was a century ago. Different times--a wonderful time in our country. Get this book. Its a keeper.
Norman Woodworth, DVM

Unbridled Cowboy is the autobiography of author Joseph B. Fussell, a free spirit who sought his own destiny in the wild American Southwest during the late 1800s. At the young age of fourteen, Joe Fussell took to the rails to escape the school and harsh authority that chafed him. He became a roving cowpuncher in Texas territory, rustling cattle, tilling land, working in stables, and hitting the road whenever wanderlust stirred. Unbridled Cowboy is filled cover to cover with riveting true tales of undercover work as a Texas Ranger, life on the railroads, and rough justice. A captivating true life narrative of the wild west.

This book is for anyone wondering what life was like during the frontier days of the west and surviving during the bleak days of the depression. The life of a railroad boomer is vividly described for those wondering about this term. Once I started reading I could not stop, before realizing how late it was the clock on my nightstand said 3 o'clock in the morning.

I FOUND THIS TO BE A BRILLIANTLY WRITTEN PIECE OF WESTERN HISTORY BY A FASCINATING AND ACCOMPLISHED MAN, WITH HEAVY EMPHASIS ON "MAN"......BY THE WAY, JOE FUSSELL WAS MY MATERNAL GRANDFATHER!! JOSEPH B. "JOE" JOHNSON