Title: Time of the rabies /
Authors: Laxalt, Robert, 1923-
Publisher: University of Nevada Press,
Year: 2000
Subjects: Basque Americans Fiction.; Sheep ranchers Fiction; Ranch life Fiction; Rabies Fiction.; Nevada Fiction.
Abstract: During the 1920s, a rabies epidemic swept across northern Nevada, decimating wildlife and livestock herds. This historic event is the background for acclaimed writer Robert Laxalt's brilliant new novella. Time of the Rabies follows owner Pete Lorda and his family and ranch hands as the epidemic swirls around them, pulling humans and animals into an epic battle against an invisible but deadly foe. Beginning when a roving coyote is bitten by a rabid bat, the epidemic spreads like wildfire through the local coyote population, and soon whole bands of rabid, maddened coyotes are attacking Lorda's sheep flocks. As he and his hands struggle to protect the sheep, the disease appears on the home ranch itself, infecting first valued animals and then some of the hands. Once again, Robert Laxalt has produced a lively, unforgettable story of the West and its hardy people. No other writer has captured so vividly the character of the Basque sheepmen and their harsh, solitary lives, or the precarious community of a ranch besieged by an insidious, lethal enemy.