In February of his forty-fourth year, David McCumber went to work on rancher Bill Galt s expansive Birch Creek spread in Montana, to take measure of himself as one of a fabled breed: the American cowboy. The Cowboy Way is a compelling and intensely personal account of a year spent in open country, weaving past and present into the vibrant and colourful tapestry of a vanishing way of life. McCumber s time spent at Birch Creek is an adventure of the body, spirit and senses, a celebration of a breathtaking land and a real appreciation of the men - and women - who work it.