The Day the Cowboys Quit [Dramatized Adaptation]

Written by Elmer Kelton

Narrated by A Full Cast, Thomas Keegan, Scott McCormick and 22 more

In later years people often asked Hugh Hitchcock about the Canadian River cowboy strike of 1883.

Wagon boss Hugh Hitchcock knows the cowboy life better than most: In 1883 if you're a cowboy, you can't own a cow and you are stigmatized as a drunk. Worse, you are exploited by the wealthy cattle owners who fence the range, replace traditions and trust with written rules of employment, refuse to pay a livable wage and change things “that ought to be left alone.” The cowboys working in the Canadian River country of the Texas Panhandle decide to fight back, to do the unthinkable: go on strike.

In this celebrated novel, Elmer Kelton uses the true but little-known Canadian River incident to focus on the changes brought to ranching by big-money syndicates.

• Language: English
• Publisher: GraphicAudio
• Release date: Jun 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781648799228

Elmer Kelton

Elmer Kelton (1926-2009) was the award-winning author of more than forty novels, including The Time It Never Rained, Other Men’s Horses, Texas Standoff and Hard Trail to Follow. He grew up on a ranch near Crane, Texas, and earned a journalism degree from the University of Texas. His first novel, Hot Iron, was published in 1956. Among his awards were seven Spurs from Western Writers of America and four Western Heritage awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. His novel The Good Old Boys was made into a television film starring Tommy Lee Jones. In addition to his novels, Kelton worked as an agricultural journalist for 42 years. He served in the infantry in World War II. He died in 2009.

Reviews for The Day the Cowboys Quit [Dramatized Adaptation]

[anthony.whitt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book set the standard for me as an author. It was the first Kelton book that I read and his work in this novel is outstanding. His storytelling skills take the reader back to a time when the character of men was tested out in the open for all to see. And that is what this tale does. I actually felt like I was watching a movie on the big screen while swept up in the turmoil between the characters Kelton so capably created. This story will make you a Kelton fan!

[profh-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I was “just tickled” by this silly study of cardboard characters. Each actor is a mechanical wind-up toy set in motion and the outcome is predictable from the first couple of pages. There is little imagination, development, or drama here. I can’t give it the lowest review because it is, at least unintentionally, at times funny. It’s also useful as an example of a stale genre that greater writers (Cormac McCarthy) would respond to later.