Cattle: An informal social history by Laurie Winn Carlson, Ivan R. Dee,
Chicago, $27.50, ISBN 1566633885
AS American writer Laurie Winn Carlson drove along country roads to a rural
history class at Washington State University, she became fascinated by cows. The
university was 75 miles away, and there was nothing much else to look at. She
began to watch eagerly for a glimpse of the new calves with their mothers, or
the “boys’ club” of bulls. She even looked forward to spotting them lying in the
shade, chewing the cud. Smitten by the beasts, she set out to write a…
