J. W. Williams's classic survey of the big ranches of the Southwest reaches deep into the stories of key players in American ranching history. Colorful tales of the finest cutting horse, the meanest cow thief, the most princely cowman of them all - even the hair-raising details of gun play with a bad man whose name cannot be revealed are told in bare-knuckle fashion that leaves no cushion to soften the truth.. "Williams was the first to publish maps of most of the great Texas ranches and tells many little-known stories of the land that once was home to Boley Brown, the prince of good neighbors; Quakers who moved to the plains to escape the wicked world; and the Hank Smiths, whose famous old rock house was once the last "outpost of civilization.".