Gold Buckles Don't Lie: The Untold Tale of Fred Whitfield

World champions of rodeo win gold buckles, and Fred Whitfield%E2%80%94an African-American calf roper originally from Cypress, Texas%E2%80%94has eight of them. While Whitfield has related the highlights of his life and career to interviewers before, he and coauthor Powers claim the great cowboy tells all in this autobiography, which includes details about Whitfield%E2%80%99s abusive father who was jailed for murder, and his older sister who was hit by a truck at age four and later died when she rammed a truck into a tree at age 22. For Whitfield, a short dalliance with cocaine, stints living with various families, and a traumatic romantic relationship followed. Through it all, Whitfield endured redneck racism, while turning endless hours of daily practice into big pro-rodeo paydays. Whitfield%E2%80%99s story has mass appeal, but this book doesn%E2%80%99t do the man justice. The cowboy%E2%80%99s first-person prose is laced with grammatical errors%E2%80%94and while this may be a part of the author%E2%80%99s voice%E2%80%94it takes readers out of what amounts to an unevenly told story.