XPost: alt.culture.us.southwest   
   From: gudie@dontemailme.com   
      
   Anyone read this non-fiction book yet? It   
   hit the bookstores just this summer and   
   here is what one review says. You can read   
   a lot more reviews on the Barnes and Noble   
   web site, or Amazon.com:   
      
   Across the rugged and beautiful landscape of the   
   contemporary American West, Tom Groneberg paints   
   an unsparing portrait of his flawed, funny, and   
   sometimes triumphant efforts to become a cowboy.   
   It is a classic tale: a young man, facing a future   
   he doesn't want to claim, has an inspiration -- Go West.   
      
   Leaving behind his friends and family, Groneberg   
   follows his heart and heads to a resort town in   
   the Colorado Rockies, where he earns his spurs as   
   a wrangler leading tourists on horseback. Like an   
   old saddle blanket, the tale unfolds, revealing   
   the clean threads of a new story. Groneberg moves   
   to Montana, working for wages at a number of ranches   
   before getting a chance to become the owner of a   
   sprawling ranch, fifteen square miles of grass and sky.   
      
   In lean but passionate prose, Groneberg demystifies   
   the image of cowboy as celluloid hero and introduces   
   us to the tough and kindhearted men who teach him   
   how to be a real cowboy, the woman who teaches him   
   how to love, and their son, who teaches him how to   
   be a man. The Secret Life of Cowboys is both a   
   coming-of-age story as stunning as the land itself   
   and a revealing look at America's last frontier.   
      
   (Groneberg continues to "cowboy" today on his ranch).   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)