Biting the Dust: The Wild Ride and Dark Romance of the Rodeo Cowboy and the American West | 
 enlarge | Author: Dirk Johnson
Publisher: Bison Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $9.11
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Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 434220
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 239
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 0.6
ISBN: 0803276249
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.840978
EAN: 9780803276246
ASIN: 0803276249
Publication Date: May 1, 2005
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Condition: Brand New Book! Delivered direct from our US warehouse in 3-6 days (Expedited) or 10-14 days (Standard). Expedited shipping recommended for speedy delivery. Over 1 million satisfied customers.
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Product Description
To the fan, the rodeo cowboy is the distinctly American embodiment of the romantic Old West. But to the young men who live the profession, the realities are modest pay, continuous travel, and the constant threat of injury. While he was the Denver bureau chief of the New York Times, Dirk Johnson spent a year on the professional rodeo circuit with cowboys, watching them try to hang on to bucking horses and Brahma bulls—and to wives and livelihoods that seemed only one fall away from disappearing. Biting the Dust covers the circuit’s biggest events in Denver, the capital of the New West, to small towns on the Great Plains like McCook, Nebraska, where rodeo continues to thrive even as the population shrinks. Johnson takes the reader beyond sentimental visions of the rodeo cowboy and the American West and provides an unforgettable and authentic story of the rodeo today.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
Student not sucking up. September 24, 2008
For the record, I should confess that I am currently in a course taught by Dirk Johnson at Northern Illinois University. My review, however, will not affect my grade (probably.) This is a lovely little book, true in both its telling and in its honest portrayal of rodeo cowboys. You will not want to put it down as you trail several of its featured characters, as they pursue fame and fortune in one year on the rodeo circuit.
Many years ago while seeking my urban fortune in Houston, Texas I attended the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. There, I watched drugstore cowboys (Rexall Rangers) costumed in expensively hand-tooled ostrich boots and Resistol cowboy hats venture down from their high rise offices in day jobs pursuing oil leases to look at REAL cows and horses. This book is NOT about John Travolta pursuing Debra Winger while clutching a Lone Star longneck.
This is a book for people interested in looking behind the scenes at real modern cowboys, living a hardscrabble hand-to-mouth existence in pursuit of dreams. This is what old time NASCAR used to look like before people started painting their cars and clothing with Tide branding and STP decals. These are real people, flesh and blood characters you will care about and root for, as they launch themselves into a dusty ring, to survive 8 seconds atop a furious 2000 pound beast, intent solely on dislodging the denim-clad interloper perched on its back.
Read this book and you will learn a lot about rodeo, about hard luck athletes pursuing their future using the only skills they know. It is a tale of heartbreak and heroism, competition and camaraderie, full of authentic detail and real life drama.
Even if you don't much care for rodeo, aren't taking an NIU creative non-fiction class or don't know a bronco from a baquette, read this book and hold on for a wild ride. I promise you will find honesty in its pages and learn the story of what it means to live like a real cowboy daredevil. Hat and boots not required.
True stories of rodeo life June 12, 2001
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I was blown away by this book for 2 reasons: 1. I have rodeoed before and knew exactly what these guys (and families) go through; and 2) Dirk Johnson did not sugar coat anything, he did not make them out to be something they're not, nor did he "sell out" their stories as real life stories are done so many times in the entertainment industry. It's great to see that people actually take an interest in their lifestyle, profession, job or whatever you choose to call it. I highly recommend this book for the person who doesn't know the 1st thing about rodeo or for a veteran of the sport/profession.
TRUE TO LIFE January 23, 2000
A BOOK FOR THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN BEHIND THE CHUTES AND THOSE WHO LONG TO
if you want to know why... September 1, 1999
I became intrigued with rodeo, 10/93, while dating a PRCA steerwrestler. PRCA cowboys earn less than you or I, get injured beyond repair, with no health insurance to pay the bills...heck..they often die doing what they love. I wanted to know "why" they pursue this lifestyle. So...I searched for anything I could find to get a better understanding. I happened upon Dirk Johnson doing a local TV interview, prior to the Grand Nationals (10/95), and wrote down the name of his book. It's out of print, but, if you can get a copy it's worth it. I now know more about "why" they do what they do, and I've also had the opportunity to chat with the some of the cowboys Dirk followed for his book. They are wonderful and so is this book. I've read it several times, and if I could just get it back from my friend MB, I'll read it again!
Gripping realistic March 5, 1999
This book to me tells of real life, real heartache and real people who struggle in a very competitive and low paying sport. There is no second best in my opion only that gold buckle
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