Books about the Old West :-)

py2006

Hi there

I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations of books about the old/wild west. I'm curious about this and plan on visiting that part of America one day and the famous old towns.

I'm interested in both fiction and non fiction!

Thanks

Aenaes

Louis L'amour has alot of books set in the Wild West. They can be quite clichè with hero/villain roles but enjoyable.

Dirty Dingus McGee

py2006 wrote: »

Hi there

I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations of books about the old/wild west. I'm curious about this and plan on visiting that part of America one day and the famous old towns.

I'm interested in both fiction and non fiction!

Thanks

True Grit by Charles Portis is a great Western.Its one of my favourite books.

--Kaiser--

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Many find it hard-going though (the language, the themes and the violence)

chasmcb

Fiction:
Desperadoes by Ron Hansen, cracking book about the Doolin-Dalton gang
Lonesome Dove -Larry McMurtry -classic Pulitzer winning novel about a cattle drive. (McMurtry has written a good deal about the old west, definitely worth checking out)

Non-fiction
Empire of the Summer Moon by S. C. Gwynne -fascinating story of Quanah Parker, last chief of the Comanches who was half white which also charts history of the tribe, the fiercest horse tribe of the Plains.

The Last Gunfight -Jeff Guinn -detailed account of the Gunfight at OK Corral and what led up to it.

Decuc500

Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides is an epic account of the American west in the 19th century, part fact, part fiction.

py2006

Thanks for the recommendations. I will definitely look to getting them. The following is what I have ordered so far:

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West
True Grit
The Shootist

goose2005

"The Virginian" was the first major western novel
Also I wouldn't bother with Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, it was important when published but it's quite outdated. "1491" would be a better Indian history

Swiper the fox

The Sisters Brothers is an excellent recent western style novel

Fenwick

+1 for Lonesome Dove...loved the characters!
Just finished 'Doc' by Mary Doria Russell....quite new but reignited my interest in DH

salacious crumb

Try some of Elmore Leonard's early western novels. Highly entertaining.

+1 for Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and True Grit.

Also, Gone to Texas by Benjamin Franklin Carter . It was the basis for The Outlaw Joesy Wales.

maynoothlizard

Ron Hansen's novel The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which was the basis for the excellent film starring Brad Pitt.