Larry McMurty was born into a cattle ranching family, and some of his uncles were old enough to have participated in the end of the cattle driving days. Before railroads went across the country, cattle drives had to be put on in order to move cattle to their set destinations. This timeframe is where the history of the cowboys originated from and eventually became romanticized. Larry McMurty realized being a cowboy was not as good as people made it out to be and decided to write a novel showing the hardships cowboys really faced.
