A Vaquero of the Brush Country: The Life and Times of John D. Young

by John D. Young, J. Frank Dobie

This true story of the Texas brush range and the first cowboys, as thrilling as any tale of fiction, has become a classic in Western literature. It is the story of the land where cattle by tens of thousands were killed on the prairie and where the "Skinning War" was fought. It is the story of the Chisholm Trail up to Abilene and the Platte and of establishing a ranch on the free grass of the Texas Panhandle, of roping elk in Colorado, of trailing Billy the Kid in New Mexico, of the grim lands of the Pecos. And it is the story of John Young, old-time vaquero who was trail driver, hog chaser, sheriff, ranger, hunter of Mexican bandits, horse-thief killer, prairie-fire fighter, ranch manager, and other things—a man who was also something of a dreamer, a man of imagination.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Folklore, Westerns, American History, History

318 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1943

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

In addition to collecting folklore, Dobie also gathered oral history. A Vaquero of the Brush Country is John Young's account of life as a South Texas cowboy from the 1870s to the early 20th century. The book covers a lot of ground from daily life, to the cattle business as a business, the cattle business as a way of life, and a fair bit about plain old Texas violence. Young tells a lot about the hide & tallow business on the Texas coast. There is interesting material about Shanghai Pierce, the King & Kenedy ranches as well.


Dobie often interpolates his own account of Texas history, filling in details that Young didn't know or didn't comment on. This is the only book that gives an inside view of the "Skinning War" in S. Texas. Young also pioneered in West Texas. A Vaquero of the Brush Country is invaluable if you want to get an idea of what life was like on the S. Texas in the heyday of the cattle trade.

[Geoff Sebesta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book. It's the best book about the 19th century range that I've ever read. Nearly every page was fascinating. Dobie is a natural storyteller.

It is also a very, very racist book.

It's so racist that it's an interesting expression of white privilege to be able to read it. Because if you're personally threatened or hurt by racist humor, then this book will make you too angry to be able to read it. I think Dobie was probably about averagely racist for his time and place, though that's pretty racist. He doesn't descend into weird theories or dim allegories, he just tells lots of racist jokes. And then you get to the part about the cook who said he was a horse, and it's so disturbing that it's probably true.

It's fascinating, honest, a true depiction of what a lot of white people believed during his time in Texas. But it's objectively offensive.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dobie writes in his folksy manner of life in the brush country in South Texas. These are stories of cowboys around the beginning of the twentieth century.

[Jim Angstadt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just could not get interested in this. Bailed early.