The Last Cowboys, John Branch
The Last Cowboys, John Branch
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
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The Last Cowboys
A Pioneer Family in the New West

Author: John Branch

Narrator: John Pruden

Unabridged: 8 hr 8 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/15/2018

Synopsis

A Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter’s gripping portrait of one western family struggling to hold on to age-old American waysNew York Times reporter and bestselling author John Branch takes listeners to the magnificent red soil and rocky arroyos of southern Utah, where the Wright family of Smith Mesa have for generations raised cattle and world-champion saddle-bronc riders—some call them the most successful rodeo family in history. Filled with vivid scenes of cattle ranching and the high drama of rodeo, The Last Cowboys follows three generations of Wrights through the seasons as they are battered by drought, the falling price of beef, battles over land-use and federal regulation, and rodeo’s ever-present risks of serious injury. This is an epic but intimate story of real-life cowboys squeezed by social change in the twenty-first century, their soiled boots planted firmly in the past while they optimistically build a future.

About John Branch

John Branch is a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter for the New York Times. His first book, Boy on Ice, was a New York Times bestseller and the winner of the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sportswriting. He lives near San Francisco.

About John Pruden

John Pruden is an Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator. His exposure to many people, places, and experiences throughout his life provides a deep creative well from which he draws his narrative and vocal characterizations. His narration of The Killing of Crazy Horse by Thomas Powers was chosen by the Washington Post as a Best Audiobook of 2010.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Roxane

Cowboys. White people facing a changing way of life so let’s write a whole book on it. Ok.......more

Goodreads review by Karen

It's quite a saga of an extended family descended from original Mormon settlers in Utah. The original homestead is very close to scenic Zion National Park, and the author practically embedded himself into the family after gaining their trust following a newspaper story that he wrote for the New York......more

Goodreads review by David

John Branch's resume speaks for itself. Pulitzer. PEN. Flat out, he's one of the most, if not THE most, talented sports writers at work. His essay "Deliverance From 27,000 Feet" might've been my favorite thing I read last year. Now comes The Last Cowboys, one of the books I was most looking forward......more

Goodreads review by Cody

"Rodeo could be passed down, like a family tradition, like land and manners, but it could spit you out too, without warning. Rodeo was rooted in the past, but it had no sentimentality. All the years and all the successes, all the rides and sweat and blood and miles on the tires bought you no guarant......more

Quotes

“This compelling audiobook grabs the listener’s attention and holds it. Narrator John Pruden pivots skillfully from the megawatt excitement of saddle bronc riding to the lonely drudgery of driving long distances between rodeos. His engaged style fits the eight-second adrenaline-soaked life of the rodeo/ranching Wright family from southern Utah…Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” AudioFile

“A beautiful book, threading deep reporting into a gorgeously written narrative. It is American portraiture at its best.” Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author

“Remarkable….It’s a story not just of rodeo but of the contemporary West…Branch avoids the sentimentalism that can seep into such a tale. He also does an impressive job of making the rodeo life come off the page. New York Times Book Review

“Compelling…The Last Cowboys is an excellent, compassionate book.” Minneapolis StarTribune

“What Branch focuses on so beautifully is how one remarkable American family navigates the situation of wanting to do dangerous, peculia,r and deeply impressive kinds of work.” Los Angeles Times

“An excellent, compassionate book.” Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“Avoid[s] country clichés and reveal[s] not only why rural Americans must adapt, but also the reasons they might want to.” Outside magazine

“A real-life story that’s not only compelling, but oddly reassuring.” Los Angeles Review of Books

“A tribute to the things that matter.” Deseret News

“The Last Cowboys isn’t just about winning saddle bronc titles…It’s about the Old West becoming new.” Associated Press

Awards

  • Audible Pick
  • Amazon Editors' Pick
  • Amazon.com Bestseller
  • New York Times Pick
  • iBooks Pick
  • AudioFile Earphones Award
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