The bawdy and moving story of two contemporary bronco busters, The Rounders, originally published in 1960, was Max Evans's first novel and is still his best known work, thanks largely to the success of the 1965 movie version starring Henry Fonda and Glenn Ford. Acclaimed for its realistic depiction of modern cowboying and for its humor, it is also a very serious work, described by the author as a tragicomedy.

"It is a book to read if you are in need of a good laugh or if you are tired of reading cowboy novels where there are no cows and where the cowhands never stop waiting around the local saloon for a final showdown with the visiting Indians."—San Francisco Chronicle

"One of the funniest cowpoke yarns to come off the presses in many a fall roundup."—Denver Post