THE COWGIRL WAY

There’s nothing like seeing a tenacious cowgirl wrangle a bronco to buck notions of a weaker sex—so it makes sense that suffrage came to the American West first, 51 years before the 19th Amendment would grant women the right to vote in the rest of the country. Hats off, indeed! Abundant photographs, rodeo programs and primary-source quotations from Wild West pioneers bring this invitingly designed cowgirl chronicle to life, from 19th-century trailblazers who came West in covered wagons to dime-novel outlaws Belle Starr and Calamity Jane to modern-day cowgirls such as 60-year-old Cowgirl Hall of Famer Jan Youren (who still rides bareback in rodeos) and Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who grew up on a Texas ranch. The straight-shooting if not rip-snorting reportage is at its best when contextualizing the cowgirl in America’s social history and less effective when it, as it often does, devolves into a dizzying litany of names and nicknames. Still, there’s plenty of rich fodder here for equestriennes and those interested in Western or women’s history. (bibliography, sources and photo credits, index) (Nonfiction. 10 & up)