the rodeo?

the cowboy hat?

chaps?

and many lasso tosses?

Almost everything we associate with cowboys -- how they rode, roped, dressed, and lived -- began with vaqueros. These Spanish-speaking cowmen developed their skills on ranches throughout Mexico and the Southwest, even in Hawaii, but they have disappeared from history.

Martin Sandler, author of the popular book Cowboys, highlights vaquero clothing and vocabulary and shows in words and pictures vaqueros on horseback, leading roundups, branding, lassoing and tying. Readers meet Ramon Amuhada, who is in the Cowboy Hall of Fame; great ropers such as Pablo Romero and Jose Berrara; valiant riders, including Antonio Jose Esquival; and other true American heros.