Lazy B: Growing up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest 
asked by spiderman on November 9, 2006 5:04 AM
Deep in the granite hills of eastern Arizona in 1880, H.C. Day founded the Lazy B ranch, where U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and her brother Alan spent their youth, a time they recall in this affectionate joint memoir.
"We belonged to the Lazy B, and it belonged to each of us," write O'Connor and Day. "We thought it would always be there." Weathering events from the Great Depression to cyclical drought, they worked the ranch's 300 square miles alongside a colorful crew of cowboys, learning the ways of cattle, horses, and people, lessons they share in well-turned anecdotes. They also learned a system of values that "was simple and unsophisticated and the product of necessity," one that has followed them into the larger world. Court watchers and fans of Western writing alike will take pleasure in this multigenerational account of life on the range. --Gregory McNamee
Reviews
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"Lazy B," like the title implies, is the story of Sandra Day O'Connor and her younger brother growing up on a ranch in south-eastern Arizona. They grew up in an isolated environment that mandated self-reliance and initiative. Sandra received much of her formal education through riding the train to El Paso to stay with her maternal grandparents while attending a local girls' school. Her father had wanted to attend Stanford but the responsibilities of taking over the family ranch prevented that. Sandra O'Connor was able to achieve that for him, where she excelled academically, was then inspired by one of her instructors to study law (also at Stanford), met her husband (and also dated classmate William Rehnquist), and then struggled to begin a law career at a time that women had almost no such opportunity. (Despite Sandra graduating from Stanford Law #2 in her class, her early job searches were at best met with "Can you type?")
Then it was on to Phoenix where she started a law partnership, then moved to the Attorney General's office, became elected to the State Senate, became a Superior Court Judge, was promoted to the Arizona Court of Appeals by Governor Babbitt (D), and then selected by President Reagan to the Supreme Court.
Personal Note: In the late 1970s I appeared in Judge O'Connor's court as a witness and was astounded at her astute (and polite) questioning of one of the attorney's. Later, I witnessed the buzz as those who knew her stopped to congratulate her Supreme Court appointment. And most recently I had the opportunity to hear her and her brother give a presentation on this book - very insightful, witty, and again - polite. (She autographed my copy!)
An inspiring person!
Then it was on to Phoenix where she started a law partnership, then moved to the Attorney General's office, became elected to the State Senate, became a Superior Court Judge, was promoted to the Arizona Court of Appeals by Governor Babbitt (D), and then selected by President Reagan to the Supreme Court.
Personal Note: In the late 1970s I appeared in Judge O'Connor's court as a witness and was astounded at her astute (and polite) questioning of one of the attorney's. Later, I witnessed the buzz as those who knew her stopped to congratulate her Supreme Court appointment. And most recently I had the opportunity to hear her and her brother give a presentation on this book - very insightful, witty, and again - polite. (She autographed my copy!)
An inspiring person!
reviewed by onthemic on November 22, 2006 11:16 PM
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This book meant a lot to me on many levels, a special tale for this transplanted Southwesterner. I was attracted first because of the co-author, who is one of Our Country's great ladies. She and her brother have put together an inside look at life in the Southwest, the cattle ranch family life, that is no more. A whole chapter on rain and what it means in an arid land. Their loving but reserved father and how he made a living off the land. It reminded me of my own stern but loving father - when dads were supposed to be that way. The ranch life, the family and characters that inhabited it are fascinating. Wonderful story of a different place and time.
reviewed by dignified1 on November 24, 2006 6:51 PM