"A genuine cowboy...best of several books of reminiscences by cowboy preachers." -The Cowboy Encyclopedia (1996)

"Will James knew his frijoles." -Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest (1943)

"Only Will James had written about the work real cowboys did with no audience...and the unsentimental way cowboys expressed themselves." -American Cowboy, Mar-Apr 2007

"Unlike many lovers of range life, James does not idealize the cowboy...stands up for them as his own kind." -Kerrville Mountain Sun, Dec. 20, 1945

Why had cattle rustling or "mavricking" become an acceptable way of life on the post-Civil War Texas cattle ranges? Why had it become every cattleman for himself?

In 1893, "genuine" cowboy Will S. James (1856-1945) answers this question and more about "authentic" cowboy life in Texas in his book titled "Cow-boy Life in Texas, or, 27 Years a Mavrick."

In introducing his book, James writes:

"Everything I have yet seen in print concerning the class of men known as 'Cow Boys' has been of a character to, in a large measure, mislead the public who know them not in their real character; others who have tried to lionize them have so far overdrawn the picture, as to hold them up to the ridicule of the more intelligent thinking classes. I have in the pages to come, tried to portray his character as I know him, leaving out much of the sensational that could have been said, but to no good purpose. I have tried to be not only charitable, but truthful."

About the author:

Will S. James was born August 27, 1856, in Fort Worth, Texas, and died June 17, 1945, in El Paso, El Paso, Texas. He grew up on a Texas ranch, worked as a cowboy, and became a cattleman, rancher, and noted author of cowboy life.