text: how is the cowboy a cultural icon? specifically in america please. cowboys are specifiacally american!!!!  what country do you think of when you see a cowboy????  russia?  not even south america or new zealand comes to mind.  you automatically think midwest to fully west.  cowboys carved out a whole area of the united states and are our heros and villians of yesteryear.  they are one of our mythologies...like the 1920's mafia or 1930's bank robber.