The Old West or the American West has captivated the imagination of readers since even before the Old West had entirely left the stage. (In some cases the myth of the Old West began to influence the way people actually behaved.) The myth rested on some factual foundation. Heroism, savagery, physical hardship, endurance, as well as the breaking of mind and spirit, and the clash of whites and natives all took place against a backdrop of the unparalleled natural beauty found in the western United States. The Old West produced enduring stereotypes, among them: the Cowboy, Lawman, Gunslinger, Gambler, Savage Indian (sometimes the Noble Savage). Take a peak at the list of historical figures at the nd of this post and you'll be surprised how many of them you recognize.
Americans are not alone in their love of the Old West fiction. Europeans, Germans in particular have a thirst for such yarns. (Max Brand, an amazingly prolific American writer and immigrant from Germany has enjoyed popularity in his homeland.) Max Brand Online is the Official web site owned by the writer's heirs.
The Wikipedia entry on the Western genre has some useful classifications.
See also, Wikipedia entry on Western fiction.
The Old West or Western genre covers a wide range of quality from pulp novels to literary works. I offer the following Westerns that I have enjoyed.
Early Days in Texas
Not Between Brothers by David Marion Wilkensen. My review.
From Publishers Weekly:
Spanning three decades in the early 19th century that saw the birth and early years of the Independent Republic of Texas, this well crafted, gripping first novel portrays three cultures-Mexican, white immigrant and Comanche-in bloody collision....Wilkinson is a gifted storyteller who brings Texas history to life with a tale rich in adventure and high emotions.
The Borderland : A Novel of Texas by Edwin Shrake
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. “Cormac McCarthy's nightmarish yet beautifully written adventure masterpiece” of the Texas borderland circa 1830.
“The novel recounts the adventures of a young runaway, the kid, who stumbles into the company of the Glanton Gang, outlaws and scalp-hunters who cleared Indians from the Texas-Mexico borderlands during the late 1840's under contract to territorial governors. Reinvisioning the ideology of manifest destiny upon which the American dream was founded, Blood Meridian depicts the borderland between knowledge and power, between progress and dehumanization, between history and myth and, most importantly, between physical violence and the violence of language.” From the official web page.
Many Westerns also include a good bit of humor:
Little Big Man (Panther) by Thomas Berger
Flashman and the Redskins by George MacDonald Fraser
The Ballad of Dingus Magee by David Markson. An example of “acid western”.
From New York Magazine: "Long before David Markson became critics’ favorite underrated writer of experimental fiction, he was a pulp novelist. This newly reissued 1966 Western is an outrageously ribald take on the genre (marred, unfortunately, by a subpar Frank Sinatra film that was later made of it). A sample sentence: “‘Nice to have you back, you double-dealing, women-and-children-terrifying dishonorable skunk,’ Hoke said, setting aside the pen.” Trust us: there’s a lot more where that came from."
Friends of pancho villa by James Carlos Blake. From my review: James Carlos Blake takes the reader through the Mexican Revolution (and civil war) beginning in 1910 when Rodolfo Fierro, the narrative voice, joins Pancho Villa's small gang during a train robbery. Villa's fortunes rise and fall rapidly and Fierro has the ultimate insider access. Thirteen years later political opponents ambush and gun down Villa, by then retired, on the streets of Parral.
In Blake's telling, Villa and his friends had a grand time fighting, drinking, dancing, screwing, and loving (except for Pancho who rarely drank - he seemed to get married instead). At times the book is laugh-out-loud funny, which is a bit disconcerting because the bodies are piling up quickly. The confrontation between the Scotsman William Benton and Villa is hilarious in a profane and violent way. Pancho and Rodlfo inhabit a brutally violent world that frequently turns murderous almost without warning.
One paragraph captures the sense of history, the humor, and Villa's somewhat vague political identity when Pancho describes the impact of his brief invasion of New Mexico. "From now on their books will have to say, 'Nobody ever invaded the United States except for Francisco Villa, the magnificent Mexican patriot who tried so hard to be our friend but who we treated so shamefully because we are such stupid sons of bitches and have no honor.' "
Realist portrayals:
The Big Sky by A. B. Guthrie Jr. Won the Pulitzer Prize in 1950.
Guthrie wrote the Big Sky in 1947 and then a sequel, The Way West in 1949 and a second sequel Fair Land, Fair Land in 1982.
Shadow Country (Modern Library Paperbacks) by Peter Matthiessen (actually on the frontier in Florida)
True Grit by Charles Portis.
Deadwood by Pete Dexter
The Last Crossing: A Novel by Guy Vanderhaeghe
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. If you enjoyed Lonesome Dove, I highly commend the other three books in that series: Streets Of Laredo : A Novel, Dead Man's Walk : A Novel, and Comanche Moon (Lonesome Dove)
Wikeipedia provides this handy summary of the Lonesome Dove books:
The order in which the books were written:
1. Lonesome Dove (1985)
2. Streets of Laredo (1993)
3. Dead Man's Walk (1995)
4. Comanche Moon (1997)
Chronology of Events
1. Dead Man's Walk
2. Comanche Moon
3. Lonesome Dove
4. Streets of Laredo
McMurtry also wrote a trilogy of Berrybender books:
The Wandering Hill: The Berrybender Narratives, Book 2 (Berrybender Narratives)
Sin Killer : The Berrybender Narrative, Book 1
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Americans are not alone in their love of the Old West fiction. Europeans, Germans in particular have a thirst for such yarns. (Max Brand, an amazingly prolific American writer and immigrant from Germany has enjoyed popularity in his homeland.) Max Brand Online is the Official web site owned by the writer's heirs.
Max Brand - King of Westerns: Frederick Schiller Faust Was a Prolific Author of Western Novels
by Matthew Pizzolato
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A web page with a list of the actual gunfights in the Old West.
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How many of these Old West historical figures do you recognize?
Billy the Kid
Buffalo Bill
Wild Bill Hickok
Judge Roy Bean
Jesse James
Bass Reeves
Frederic Remington
Annie Oakley
Butch Cassidy
Kit Carson
Bat Masterson
William Breakenridge
Alan Pinkerton
Will Rogers
Sam Bass
Calamity Jane
George Custer
Wyatt Earp
Black Bart
Bill Pickett
Belle Starr
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