From the dust jacket:

"Cowboys have lots of different jobs -- and THE FIRST BOOK OF COWBOYS tells all about them.

Cowboys round up cattle and drive them to market. They do the branding; corral wild horses and gentle them; and in the summer and winter they go out on the range and do the lonely work of line riding.

But that's not all! In between, they have all kinds of other jobs. They know their own special tricks of the trade -- how to lasso a horse, break a bronco, stop a stampede, throw a calf.

And they have their own very special clothes and their reasons for wearing them. A cowboy's hat isn't just something he wears on his head. It's a tool that helps him with his work. He doesn't wear a bandanna because he thinks it looks pretty. It helps him, too. It's the same with his flannel shirt, his "levis," and his chaps and fancy boots. They all have a purpose.

A cowboy has a special language, too -- thirty years' gatherings, warbags, sugans, cavvies, nighthawks, "lazy" brands, remudas, tarps, bronc peelers, sourdoughs -- they're all everyday words to him.

THE FIRST BOOK OF COWBOYS has the whole vivid story of a cowpuncher's life, with lively illustrations in text and pictures to make everything very clear."