Andy Adams is one of the few writers of the American West who had knowledge based on experience that enabled him to record cowboy life authentically. In the early 1880s, at the age of 20, Adams traveled to Texas and remained there for 10 years, eight of which he spent trail driving, becoming a foreman before he left the trail in 1890. Because he knew the real West, he was able to write with remarkable legitimacy - a quality he maintained without compromise, making him an honest interpreter of Western culture.

Cattle Brands is a collection of 14 entertaining tales filled with action, adventure, and the sometimes raw humor characteristic of cowboy life. Volume one consists of two of the best: "Drifting North", a collection of anecdotes about frontier justice and injustice; and "A Question of Possession", in which a Texas sheriff learns the hard way about how not to enforce a court order.