The American Cowboy is one of the few national legends to have become a myth while he was still a fact - and to remain a fact of American life despite all of our romanticizing. Today's cowboy works as hard-though with different tools and in somewhat different ways - as his prodessessors. His lot includes meager wages; the uncertainties of weather, economics and machinary; and long periods filled with mundane, sometimes dangerous chores. He is, of necessity, a rugged individualist.

This explains in large part why the cowboy holds such a special place in American legend and romance. Side-by-side with the real cowboy rides the potent ideal: a person operating under his own strict code, owned by no one,beholden to none, and at one with nature and its rhythms.

Panel 1 - Reality and Myth
Panel 2 - Cowboys on the Open Range
Panel 3 - Multi-cultural Cowboys
Panel 4 - Dust, Danger, and Duds
Panel 5 - The Working Year
Panel 6 - Trial Drives
Panel 7 - Rest and Recreation
Panel 8 - Restriced Ranges

Panel 9 - Cowboys Pictured in Words
Panel 10 - The Romaniticized Cowboy
Panel 11 - The Wild, Wild West
Panel 12 - Buffalo Bill and Friends
Panel 13 - Rodeo!
Panel 14 - Capturing Cowboy Life
Panel 15 - Hollywood Goes Cowboy