Tells the stories of sixteen women who drove cattle up the trail from Texas during the last half of the nineteenth century.

Offers twenty-four essays about African American men and women who worked in the Texas cattle industry from the slave days of the mid-19th century through the early 20th century.

The author of Texas Dames shares a new collection of profiles featuring the incredible women who helped build the Lone Star State. Texas would not be Texas without the formidable women of its past. Beneath the sunbonnets and Stetsons, the women of the Lone Star State carved out ranches and breathed new life into arid spreads of land. When husbands, sons and fathers fell, bold Texas women were there to take the reins. Throughout the centuries, the women of Texas's ranches defended home and hearth with cannon and shot. They rescued hostages. They nurtured livestock through hard winters and long droughts and drove them up the cattle trails. They built communities and saw to it that faith and education prevailed for their children and their communities. Join author Carmen Goldthwaite in an inspiring survey of fierce Lone Star ladies.

These are the chronicles of the trail drivers of Texas, those rugged men and, sometimes, women who drove cattle and horses up the trails from Texas to northern markets in the late 1800s. Gleaned from members of the Old Time Trail Drivers' Association, these hundreds of real-life stories--some humorous, some chilling, some rambling, all interesting-form an invaluable cornerstone to the literature, history, and folklore of Texas and the West.--Amazon.com.

“Primarily descriptive, this study raises issues of gender, ethnicity, and class which should stimulate further research. . . . Rural sociologists and historians alike will find Maret’s study a valuable reference and a spur to further research.” —Southwestern Historical Quarterly “. . . a valuable contribution to women’s studies and the sociology of occupations.”—Contemporary Sociology “. . .[Maret’s] greatest contribution may be the quantification of women’s involvement and comparison of data for farm women with that for ranch women . . . this is an impressive and ground-breaking work.”—Western Historical Quarterly “Elizabeth Maret has blown big holes in the theory that it was bidness men who single-handedly tamed the West and built the Texas cattle industry. Women of the Range [is] a great addition to any Texan’s library.”—Wichita Falls Times Record News