A potentially strong collection of interviews with American
cowgirls of varying ages and circumstances - subverted by excerpts
from novels, journals, and songs which interrupt the personal
stories and mechanically echo their points. (Helen Musgrove, of NX
Bar Ranch in northeastern Wyoming, discusses the problem of being a
woman manager: "But a lot of it depends on the woman and who she
has working for her." Begins the match-up quote: "As for getting [a
man] to work for you if you are a woman. . . .") The interviews are
organized, furthermore, under broad category headings - "Cowgirls
from the Cradle: The Rancher's Daughter," "Cowgirls Carry On: The
Mother-Daughter Tradition," etc. - that seem arbitrary at best, and
at worst mock-sociology. Free of the academic trappings, the book
could have scored as oral history. Jordan, raised on a Wyoming
ranch, is forthright about her desire to give "the cowboy's female
counterpart" an equal place in the sun. The testimonies themselves
make a good case for the physical and mental advantages of this
no-nonsense life and its proximity to the elements. (Or the
elemental: one cowgirl matter-of-factly describes having to
dismember a calf in utero in order to save the heifer.) Some of the
women share the responsibilities of ranching with husbands: others
- like Emerson's 65-year-old granddaughter, Ellen Cotton - go it
alone. But few of the cowgirls, "liberated" by economic necessity,
identify with the women's movement. (There are occasional
grumblings, however, at having to do double-duty, inside the house
and out.) The two concluding sections, about cowgirls working the
rodeo circuits in past and recent times, have little in common with
the rest of the material - though they might be of some independent
and/or historical interest. And the hundred or so promised
photographs will surely be a boon. Still, only the reader with the
wisdom to skip over the excerpts and stick with the narratives will
get the best of what the book has to offer. (Kirkus Reviews)
American lore has slighted the cowgirl, although at least one can
still be found in nearly every ranching community. Like her male
counterpart, she rides and ropes, understands land and stock, and
confronts the elements. The writer and photographer Teresa Jordan
traveled sixty thousand miles in the American West, talking with
more than a hundred authentic cowgirls running ranches and
performing in rodeos. The result is a fascinating book that also
situates the cowgirl in history and literature. A new preface and
updated bibliography have been added to this Bison Book edition.
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