Biting the Dust: The Wild Ride and Dark Romance of the Rodeo Cowboy and the American West

by Dirk Johnson

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.

239 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1994

Reviews

[Kate K. F. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book more than I did because the author had fantastic access to cowboys at all levels on the rodeo circuit and clearly knew how to do great interviews. Sadly the style of writing at times got in the way as did the fact that the structure of the book felt more like a series of articles put together than a book. There was one through line story that was well done but the rest of the time, it felt more like randomly going and now to talk about the history of rodeo and cowboy culture in this part of the country. A style element that bothered me would be that when one of the cowboys would be riding a bronc or a bull, the author would go in between using the cowboys name or say 'the cowboy'. It pulled me right out of what was vivid writing and felt lazy.

I also wanted more of the overall history of rodeo which was mixed in but this book was more a portrait of the cowboys competing during one rodeo year. An interesting read which provided a sense of how diverse the reasons why men compete in rodeo can be, but there was little discussion of other elements of rodeo culture and most of the women were presented as wives or on the side. I left this book wanting to read more about rodeo and grateful for the chance to meet these athletes and see their world.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent. Engaging writing style. A REAL look at the cowboy, rodeo, and ranching life.

Will read this again.

7/22/21: AM reading again

9/20/21: after a few pages, decided not to read again.

[Suzie Quint · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding up-close and personal look at the hard life of rodeo cowboys.