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The Last Cattle Drive
by
Robert Day
First published in 1977, Robert Day's The Last Cattle Drive--an instant bestseller and Book-of-the-Month Club selection--is now a modern-day Western classic. This anniversary edition features a foreword by acclaimed Western historian Howard R. Lamar, reflecting on the novel's enduring popularity; an after-word by Robert Day recalling the experience of writing the novel; an...more
Paperback, 252 pages
Published
February 1st 2007
by University Press of Kansas
(first published December 1st 1976)
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I read this book when I was living in Kansas. I chose it for one of our adult book talks at the library. The story takes place in Kansas so many of the towns and places were familiar to the attendees at the book talk. It's a modern western. The main character, mad because of the rates the railroad charges to ship his cattle, decides to drive the cattle to Kansas City the old fashioned way. Anyway, I thought it was a good book, but the others at the book talk, mainly little old ladies, didn't car...more
One mark of a great novel is how well it holds up over time. After 30 years, “The Last Cattle Drive” remains fresh and funny, as if it could have been written last week.
Fed up with high trucking costs, rancher Spangler Tukle decides to drive his herd of 250 steers (and one bingy heifer) from Hays to Kansas City. As in, on horseback, down dirt roads, past little towns, under interstates and eventually through downtown Kansas City to the stockyards. His "mercurial" wife, Opal; his old ranch hand,...more
Fed up with high trucking costs, rancher Spangler Tukle decides to drive his herd of 250 steers (and one bingy heifer) from Hays to Kansas City. As in, on horseback, down dirt roads, past little towns, under interstates and eventually through downtown Kansas City to the stockyards. His "mercurial" wife, Opal; his old ranch hand,...more
In a bemused and benevolent and flatly observational tone, Leo narrates the tale of a modern day cattle drive led by Spangler Star Tukle. After the truckers raise prices for hauling cattle to the Kansas City stockyards, Spangler decides to organize his own cattle drive ably asisted by his wife, Opal and their hired hands, Jed & Leo. Along the way the drovers encounter a tornado, movie crew, a stone Garden of Eden, a drunken night of dinner and debauchery at an historic hotel, and some helico...more
As a Kansan, I engaged this story from the beginning primarily because of the route the drive took. I've been to most of these towns and the areas around them. Day's description of the drive and the characters are spot-on. There are some crusty cowboys in Kansas. The rift between western and eastern Kansas is also pretty believable. I enjoyed the book. Not for someone who dislikes crude language.
If you are a Kansan, you will love it. If you are looking for a good story, some great laughs, colorful characters, you might just love it, too. Everyone should do something crazy at least once in his life. The characters in this novel did just that. I laughed so hard when Leo fell in the cattle dip that my cat, sitting on my lap at the moment, looked at me with alarm and ran from the room. Get the book, get a cat, and prepare to be entertained.
This book is hilarious. I was reluctant to read this book as I know nothing about cattle or farming but Day writes in such a way that I felt compeltely connected with the character's and their journey. Being from Kansas, it was fun to visual their journey from Western to Eastern KS. I loved the unpredictability of the book even up to the last pages.
Apr 27, 2013
Julianne
added it
I read this during college, in the 1980s and liked it very much. These stories about contemporary cowboys bumping up against the urban majority were new then. I think the book has stood the test of time, but now I'm noticing things I didn't notice before. Examples include racists & sexist references that I couldn't tell if were supposed to be details of characters or unexamined attitudes the author could have unpacked a bit more. Stopped me in my tracks a few times. Still, the book has a gre...more
I used to live in Kansas, and spent a bit of time familiarizing myself with the Kansas literary scene. Robert Day is a Kansas City boy who lived in D.C. when he wrote this novel. It is a thin volume, but very memorable. I read it over ten years ago, and still remember it as if I had read it yesterday. Spangler is one of the most original characters I have run across in some time. And driving a herd of cattle down I-70 from Hays to Kansas City to protest the rates of those *&^&%&* rai...more
You really have to be familiar with the people, landscape, and geography of Kansas to truly appreciate this book and it's outlandish plot, which after some thought, maybe isn't so outlandish after all . . . (well, perhaps not when it was published.)
This is one of my favorite books of all time. I've read it about four times and laughed out loud each time. Being familiar with the landscape of the whole book, I can see the story unfold. I can't drive across Kansas without thinking of this book. The scene in the Brookville Hotel is still semi-possible - the restaurant has moved to Abilene and it hasn't been a hotel in years, but the owners kept the building looking much the same as it did in Brookville. And every once in a while I think about...more
This was such a fun book to read, being a Kansas native, and having lived right around the places where this book takes place. Much of the book takes place in Hays, where I went to both High School and College, and on the first day of the cattle drive, the main characters venture to Paradise, which is my hometown.
Having said all that, I think this book would appeal to people regardless of where they grew up, because of the entertaining way in which it's written, the colorful characters, and the...more
Having said all that, I think this book would appeal to people regardless of where they grew up, because of the entertaining way in which it's written, the colorful characters, and the...more
Good story, having lived in the area I could relate to where they were going. Well Written
A book I've read several times!
First published in 1977-an instant bestseller and Book-of-the-Month Club selection—is now a modern-day Western classic.
Spangler Star Tukle is a Kansas cattleman with 6,000 acres and a low boiling point. (Tukle is so choleric that he empties a shotgun into a power mower that has offended him.)
This story is exceedingly well told and funny!
It was my added treat to hear Robert Day talk about the book in the fall of 1999. Everyone was hoping it would be made into a mo...more
First published in 1977-an instant bestseller and Book-of-the-Month Club selection—is now a modern-day Western classic.
Spangler Star Tukle is a Kansas cattleman with 6,000 acres and a low boiling point. (Tukle is so choleric that he empties a shotgun into a power mower that has offended him.)
This story is exceedingly well told and funny!
It was my added treat to hear Robert Day talk about the book in the fall of 1999. Everyone was hoping it would be made into a mo...more
Thanks aunt kathy!
This book is hilarious.The only reason I gave it a 4 is because I didn't like the ending and upon further reflection it was perhaps the absolutely correct way to end it. I would love to see a movie made from it. Keep the title and setting the same and it would be great.
One of my favorites from way back--I grew up with characters like the rancher in this book and it brought back such memories. It's past time for Mr. Day to write another one.
Enjoyable, informative and set around this area - small towns in Kansas, has scenes from Lawrence and Kansas City - not that far back in history. Recommend it.
Another Kansas book from a Kansas author.
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W Day
Feb 16, 2013
Rickhill
marked it as to-read
Feb 03, 2013
Sylv8a
is currently reading it
Jan 15, 2013
Tanner Willbanks
marked it as to-read
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