It is written from the unique perspective of Mercer, who had come to Wyoming to edit the North West Live Stock Journal, the official publication of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA), which represented the monied interests intent on controlling the cattle industry. As the events of the range wars unfolded, Mercer came to sympathize with the homesteaders and turned against the WSGA. The book reflects his pro-settler view, and is an important document of the events.
The book was suppressed from the time of its 1894 publication, and very few first editions remain.