The Cattle Kings

the long version

Cowboys, gunslingers and superpowered marshals dominate fictionalised accounts of the American West, but they were minor figures in the true history of the region. In 'The Cattle Kings', Lewis Atherton restores the leading role to the cattlemen - the genuine adventurers who opened the plains, built empires and brought prosperity, law, and order to the West. This classic history of the West tells the true stories of rugged cattlemen like Charles Goodnight, Shanghai Pierce, the Lang family, the Marquis de Mores and Richard King, who were attracted by the challenge of the frontier and the astounding economic opportunities it offered.