Vaquero: Genesis of the Texas Cowboy (ISBN 0292705573)

Images of a way of life now gone . . .:
This fine collection of 90+ sepia-tinted photographs was taken in the years 1970-1973 by American photographer Bill Wittliff on a ranch in northern Mexico where the vaquero traditions inherited by American cowboys still survived almost unchanged by the 20th century. Most of the photographs show the vaqueros working cattle and horses. Some show them around the morning campfire, their bedrolls still spread out on the stony ground. A few show them in the bunkhouse at the ranch. The most striking of the images are portrait shots of the vaqueros themselves, looking with smiles into the camera. The book is introduced by Texas writer John Graves, who describes is own experiences with vaqueros and travels in ranch country south of the border. Wittliff's recollections of his visits to the big ranch, which was broken up soon after his pictures were taken, are a series of impressions like photo images in a scrapbook. Altogether, the book is a tribute to a time and a traditional life that existed for many generations, but for the most part exists no more. An excellent addition to any bookshelf of Western literature.