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Monday, November 9, 2015

Give Me Those Old Time Western Writers


I’ve been trying to think of the very first western I ever read—but I can’t remember back that far!  Growing up I was a TV western junkie—Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The Virginian… You remember the ones. I know you do.

But there were (and are) some writers who picked up where the dime novels left off, who shaped our genre and set it on the path to where we are now, and beyond.
 
Zane Grey, Louis L’Amour and William Johnstone (who was from southern Missouri!) are three favorites, but even they had many predecessors.
 
Andy Adams – Born in Indiana in 1859. He began writing at the age of 43, publishing his most successful book, The Log of a Cowboy, in 1903 The Log of a Cowboy is an account of a five-month drive of 3,000 cattle from Brownsville, Texas, to Montana during 1882 along the Great Western Cattle Trail. Although the book is fiction, it is based on Adams's own experiences, and it is considered by many to be literature's best account of cowboy life.
 
Owen WisterBorn July 14, 1860 is considered the "father" of western fiction. Best remembered for The Virginian, published in 1902, Wister never wrote about the West again.
 
B. M. Bower -- Bertha Muzzy Sinclair  was born November 15, 1871. She wrote novels, short stories and screenplays featuring cowboys of the Flying U Ranch in Montana. She wrote 57 western novels, several of which were turned into films. 

 
Willa Sibert Cather – Born December 7, 1873. She achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains. Willa won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for One of Ours (1922), a novel set during World War I. Other well-known works include O Pioneers! (1913), The Song of the Lark (1915), and My Ántonia (1918).
 
And, of course--
James Fenimore Cooper – Born September 15, 1789. Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. His historical romances of frontier and Indian life in the early American days created a unique form of American literature.
 
According to William W. Johnstone:  “The Western is one of the few true art forms that is 100% American….the Western has helped to shape the cultural landscape of America.”

Just for fun, let’s all add to the list. Introduce me to another of those amazing writers and tell me just a bit about them and which book of theirs I should read.

12 comments:

  1. The first western I read was Nora Robert's "Lawless." I loved that book. It was this book that had me picking up every new release she put out after that. It was the perfect read, showing the hardships of the times but also sizzling with an under current of raw lust and need. I too watched all the westerns back in the day. My dad loved them. And who didn't have a crush on Little Joe Cartwright? I have recently tried my hand at writing a western and loved the research of the times and the characters I created.

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    1. I'm a Nora fan, too, Barb. And Adam Cartwright did it for my teenage self. lol

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  2. Tracy, I would have to say Bret Harte and Mark Twain were my first 'Westerns'. Now I include Helen (Hunt) Jackson in that list. All well known, but not necessarily for their writings on the West.

    Like you, I grew up on Television Westerns, and remember reading a 'children's novel' about Have Gun Will Travel. I still remember reading Louis L'Amour's "The Quick and the Dead" while working the midnight shift in a mental hospital.

    Oh the memories. Doris McCraw/Angela Raines

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    1. Mark Twain--excellent addition. I'm not familiar with Harte, but I know who Helen (Hunt) Jackson is. ;)

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  3. Because we didn't have a TV on a regular basis until I was sixteen, I missed many episodes of Bonanza and some other popular western shows like Wagon Train. When, at last, my father consented to have a TV, Gun Smoke and Have Gun Will Travel became my dad's favorites, and I loved Maverick and Sugar Foot. My nephew watches old episodes of Have Gun Will Travel and talks about it like it was a new series.
    My first introduction to western books came later in life for me--in my 30's when I picked up an anthology of western stories by different authors at the library. One of the stories was by Linda Lael Miller. I became an instant addict.

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    1. Sarah, that's why I'm thankful for Netflix and Amazon Prime and such! Better than reruns.

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  4. Loved those old westerns on tv--and the western movies! I think one western author to mention would be Dorothy M. Johnson. She wrote a lot of short stories that were later made into movies that we all are familiar with--The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Hanging Tree, A Man Called Horse...my favorite short story of hers was called LOST SISTER. If you have not read that one, it's very well worth it.

    I love Louis L'Amour--just simple stories that are entertaining--and I even enjoyed his contemporary story, THE LAST OF THE BREED--I think just his style of writing is what I love, but that was one excellent story, about how a modern day pilot who gets shot down in Russia manages to call upon the teachings of his youth under his grandfather and survive by using the Indian ways.

    Great post Tracy. You've got me thinking now!

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    1. Another author to add to my list. Thanks, Cheryl!

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  5. Can't think of any others, but I have very old paperbacks, two, in fact, of Willa Cather's O Pioneers and also My Antonia. These "recent" editions were printed in 1980. I love these. Louis L'Amour--read numerous ones, but can't recall any specific titles. Same with Zane Grey.
    Romance novels--wouldn't touch one! But one day I found a paperback titled This Calder Range by Janet Dailey, and I bought it, thinking it was a Western. It was...it was a Western Romance...first romance I ever read and I have read and re-read all her books. I had discovered Romance novels!

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    1. And we're so glad you discovered them, Celia!

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  6. Tracy,

    I can't add to your "to read" list, because everyone else has already suggested some real gems, but I'll share that I'm a Louis L'Amour fanatic. My top three of his are (not counting the Sackett books): "The Man Called Noon", "The Key-Lock Man", and "Reilly's Luck".

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    1. I have to admit I haven't read many L'Amour stories--but I'll be sure to put your favs at the top of the list when I do.

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