Critic Reviews
Good
Based on 11 reviews on
The Last Cowboys is Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter John Branch's epic tale of one American family struggling to hold on to the fading vestiges of the Old West. For generations, the Wrights of southern Utah have raised cattle and world-champion saddle-bronc riders--many call them the most successful rodeo family in history. Now they find themselves fighting to save their land and livelihood as the West is transformed by urbanization, battered by drought, and rearranged by public-land disputes. Could rodeo, of all things, be the answer? Written with great lyricism and filled with vivid scenes of heartache and broken bones, The Last Cowboys is a powerful testament to the grit and integrity that fuel the American Dream.
NYTimes reporter in California. I try to write stories you didn't know you wanted to read. Author of The Last Cowboys; Boy on Ice; Sidecountry (paperback 2022)
Favorite moment of the day: Photographer I've never met calls. Says he shot recent NFR rodeo where Wright boys won world titles; Met Grandpa Bill who suggested "The Last Cowboys;" Got the audio book, absolutely loved it; Realized I wrote it. "Wait, John Branch?" Called me.
Just out here trying to function. Past stops: @theobserver @virginianpilot, @ydrcom, @shoshonenews.
Finally picked up “The Last Cowboys” by @JohnBranchNYT. Loving the description: “It was a canyon, a deep and jagged gash in the forever landscape of southern Utah, seemingly carved by impatient gods with a dull knife.” https://t.co/uextjZ4LHr