Clarke, Richard	The Homesteaders
Publication Date	1986
Number of Pages	192
Setting	Southwestern U.S.
Time Period	Late 1800’s
Plot Summary	Constable Walt Cutler has a murder to solve. Elizabeth Bartlett and her husband have come out west to set up a homestead. She killed a man from a nearby ranch who had been harassing them. Walt Cutler thinks Elizabeth’s husband is the murderer so he goes to the Bartlett house. But he is shot and injured in a case of mistaken identity when somebody thinks he is Mr. Bartlett. Everyone, it seems, thinks Elizabeth’s husband is the murderer. The ranch hands are after Mr. Bartlett but he has died from disease. They continue to shoot at Constable Walt Cutler. Will the nearby town of Peralta become a bloody shambles in all this confusion? Constable Cutler does his job to stop this “range justice” lying on a plank recovering from his gunshot wound.
Appeal	The main character is a lawman with spunk. The women characters are survivors. The story tells of the disorder and small town frontier life.
Reviewer/Date	Joanne Gen 6/15/00

Dexter, Pete	Deadwood
Publication Date	1986
Number of Pages	365
Setting	Deadwood, Dakota Territory (Black Hills of South Dakota), with occasional scenes in Cheyenne, and Fort Laramie.
Time Period	1876 - 1879 (Summing up in 1912)
Plot Summary	The personalities of Wild Bill Hickok, his friend Charley Utter, Calamity Jane Cannary, and the residents of Deadwood are fictitiously fleshed out in this story of the events and people involved in the murder of Hickok. The story follows Charley Utter's life and the town events for three years following Hickok's death. Deadwood, in the post-glory days of the Black Hills gold rush is peopled by town Sheriff Seth Bullock and his business partner, Solomon Star, who causes a devastating fire in Deadwood; bar owner Tan You-Chau and Cian, the "China Doll" singer-prostitute; ruthless bar owner, Al Swearingen and one of his upstairs girls, Lurline Monti Verdi; Boone May, bounty hunter, hired gun, and possessor of Frank Towles's head: Pink Buford, bar owner and his fighting bulldog; a "soft-brained man" who is a serial suicide, a bath house operator and a bottle collector; Captain Jack Crawford, scout, long-winded poet, leader of the Black Hills Minutemen and would-be hero; Preacher Smith, author of the Black Hills Bible; actors Elizabeth and Jack Langrishe of the Deadwood Social Club; Jack McCall, cat handler and hired murderer; Malcolm Nash, Charley Nash's brother-in-law (only fictitious character in the book).
Appeal	Raw, realistic descriptions; unglamorized view of western frontier; densely written; eccentric characters; historical detail drawn from real life (aided by materials from the Carnegie Library in Deadwood, North Dakota); multiple plot lines; striking events; strong characterizations; colorful dialogue; life on the edge; storyteller flavor.
Notes	Violence, rape, much sexual language/content, negative terms/portrayals of American Indians and Mexicans, morally non-judgmental presentation.
Reviewer/Date	Patricia S. Harrison 6/15/00

Downing, Sybil	Fire in the Hole
Publication Date	1996
Number of Pages	239
Setting	United States--Colorado
Time Period	1913-1914
Plot Summary	Young widow, Alex MacFarlane, is an attorney visiting rural mining town, Trinidad, Colorado. Upon her arrival she finds a massive coal miner strike that has resulted in martial law being declared and the policing of the region by the Colorado State Militia. She is confronted with the harsh reality of what the miners face: low wages, long hours, and unsafe working conditions. The striking miners and their families are mostly immigrants who moved to the West for the promise of a better life, but are now living in camps, barely surviving, and subject to the brutality of militia members. Sympathetic to their cause, Alex joins their violent struggle and draws upon her powerful government contacts to help influence the mining companies, resulting in a dramatic conclusion.
Appeal	Author recreates the events surrounding the southern Colorado coal miners strike, using both fictional characters and historical figures. Refreshing look at the American West through the eyes of a strong female character.
Notes	Based on a true event- the Ludlow Massacre.
Reviewer/Date	April Cota-Hobbs 6/15/2000

Eidson, Tom	The Last Ride
Publication Date	1995
Number of Pages	245
Setting	The Western frontier
Time Period	Late 1800’s
Plot Summary	An elderly dying man, named Samuel Jones, tries to reconcile with his daughter, Maggie Baldwin, whom he had deserted years ago when he had left her mother for a Native American woman. When Maggie’s eldest daughter Lily is kidnapped by a band of renegade Apaches who plan to sell her to slave traders in Mexico, Jones, Maggie and Lily’s younger sister Dot embark on a rescue mission. During the journey, Maggie, a devout Christian, is disturbed by her father’s strong Native American beliefs and has difficulty overcoming her resentment toward him for his abandonment. The novel is told from several points of view, some major, others minor: Samuel Jones; Maggie Baldwin; Maggie’s husband, Brake Baldwin; Lily Baldwin; Dot Baldwin; Bob Johnson, a farmer, who is quickly killed off; an Apache stalker; and the main villain, an Apache referred to as the “Lame One.”
Appeal	A Western adventure with a balanced mixture of action and introspection. Strong female characters. Touching tale of reconciliation between a father and daughter. Vivid descriptions of the open frontier.
Notes	Violence: Some graphic descriptions of brutal torture and gruesome deaths. Conflict between Christianity and paganism. Some of the Native Americans are depicted as fierce savages.
Reviewer/Date	Donna Marie Atmur 6/15/00

Fergusson, Harvey	The Blood of the Conquerors
Publication Date	1921
Number of Pages	266
Setting	Spanish-Southwest Albuquerque, New Mexico
Time Period	1912
Series	Followers of the Sun trilogy
Plot Summary	A contemporary Southwest tale of the old Mexican families of the Albuquerque region in the final period of total removal of their land grants. Told in first person, the author traces the novel's central character, Ramon Delcasar, a proud Spanish aristocrat. Ramon is suspended between two worlds and two cultures. The underlying conflict is the effect of the rapidly changing social and ethnic conditions, seen dramatically throughout the novel.
Appeal	Clash of cultures and of ethnic groups: the Spanish settlers and the Anglos. Illuminating regional novel. Dreams of the glories of yesteryear. Spanish-Southwest theme.
Notes	Author's assumption of an irreconcilable conflict between "primitive" and "civilized" approaches to life. Bilingual vocabulary. Descriptive Catholic rituals.
Reviewer/Date	Mónica López 6/15/00

Fisher, Vardis	Mountain Man
Publication Date	1972
Number of Pages	305
Setting	American West
Time Period	First half of the 19th century
Similar Authors/Titles	A.B. Guthrie/ The Big Sky, Johnston, Terry/ Carry the Wind and Johnstone, William W. / Battle of the Mountain Men.
Plot Summary	Samson John Minard is a mountain man. He finds a woman one day who is recovering from an Indian massacre. Her children have been killed, her husband kidnapped and she has been left without any resources. Her helps her bury her dead, builds her a cabin, leaves her provisions and stops by several times to check on her welfare. He has a short, but extremely happy marriage to an Indian woman. He returns home after a short absence to find the bones of his wife and their unborn children in their cabin. He seeks revenge by attacking the entire Crow Nation. He cannot find peace until he kills the murderers no matter who they might be.
Appeal	Readers who love the beauty of nature, independence and freedom from government interference and control. Strong individuals.
Notes	Told entirely from the Mountain Men's perspective.
Reviewer/Date	David Stephens July 18, 2000

Guthrie, A.B., Jr.	The Way West
Publication Date	1949
Number of Pages	340
Setting	The Oregon Trail (Independence, Missouri to Willamette, Oregon)
Time Period	1845
Series	The Big Sky, These Thousand Hills
Plot Summary	Leaving their homes in Missouri with the desire to be among the first settlers to arrive and claim this newest frontier for the United States, several unlikely families join together on their quest for a new, and better, life in Oregon. Looking for an experienced mountain man to lead them on the treacherous journey, they finally convince their neighbor, Dick Summers, that he is the man for the job. Nagged by memories of his former life, Summers, together with Lije Evans and his family, would discover the strength and courage that it takes to become leaders not only of self, but of the company they end up leading. This historically accurate story, told through the voices of a variety of different characters, uncovers the perils and hardships of the trail chapter by chapter, as the train makes its way toward Oregon.
Appeal	Strong and varied characterizations, laced with internal conflict and reflection, make this pioneering effort as much an adventure in time, history and geography as one in human spirit.
Notes	Very little gender or racial stereotype as one may expect from a work of this era.A movie by the same name was made in the 60's starring Sally Field and Tim Mathison.
Reviewer/Date	Carolyn Tutt 6/15/00

Haselopp, Cynthia	Satanta’s Woman
Publication Date	1998
Number of Pages	357 (Large Print Format)
Setting	Texas frontier town
Time Period	Late Civil War (1864)
Series	Kiowa Verdict
Plot Summary	A widow three times over, young, wealthy Adrianne Chastain is a busy frontier woman occupied with raising her teenage son, managing a large cattle ranch and outwitting her evil Estate trustees. In the fall of 1864, Adrianne is taken captive by a raiding band of Kiowas. Forced to first witness the deaths of her son and her grown daughter, Adrianne is then spirited away clinging to the only family left alive: her five-year-old granddaughter Lottie. Satanta, the leader of the raiding Kiowas, claims Adrianne and Lottie for his own. Uncomfortable in the presence of Satanta and his wives, Adrianne struggles to accept her new life. As time on the wind-swept Texas prairie passes, Adrianne comes not only accept the Kiowa Nation and Satanta, but she even comes to love them.
Appeal	Intriguing Native American captivity story with a strong female heroine, one who is not afraid to fight back.
Notes	Heavily detailed acts of physical violence. Lack of source notes for references to Kiowa prayers and ceremonies. (The reader is left wondering if the prayers are traditional Kiowa prayers or made up ones).
Reviewer/Date	Pamela Chamberlain 6/14/00

Kingsolver, Barbara	Pigs in Heaven
Publication Date	1993
Number of Pages	343
Setting	Oklahoma
Time Period	Present
Plot Summary	Taylor Greer's custody of her adoptive Cherokee daughter is threatened when an idealistic attorney decides the child should be returned to the Cherokee Nation. Taylor flees with her daughter and is aided by her mother as she struggles to maintain custody of her daughter. Taylor's concern for her daughter's heritage eventually causes her to overcome her initial fear, and leads Taylor and her daughter to Oklahoma and the Cherokee Nation.
Appeal	Fast-paced. Although the subject matter is serious, the tone of the novel is light, upbeat, and optimistic. Interesting quirky characters, told from an omniscient point of view. Complex plot with many subplots.
Notes	Interesting insights and facts about the Cherokee Nation and the lifestyle of the Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.
Reviewer/Date	Ella Manesse 6/15/00

L'Amour, Louis	Kiowa Trail
Publication Date	1964
Number of Pages	148
Setting	An American frontier cattle drive railroad pick-up point.
Time Period	Spring of 1874
Series	An individual book of the over a hundred novels L'Amour penned of tales of the old west.
Plot Summary	Kate Lundy, owner of the Tumbling B ranch of Texas, and her team of cattle drivers, survive the rigors of the trail arriving with their herd at trail's end. The townspeople want the money that comes from dealing with the cowboys but don't want anything to do with them socially. A law even stands that the Texas cowboys must stay south of the main street - out of the area of the "respectable towns folk". Tom Lundy, Kate's young brother, succumbs to a desire to call on one of the town's girls and suffers the consequences. The die is thus cast for trouble. Kate, with the help of her foreman Conn Dury, carry out their style of revenge.
Appeal	Cowboy legends of the old west with the violence characteristic of the time. Lawlessness with good prevailing through in the end. A gallant cowboy supports his proper woman.
Notes	Hard life and lawlessness of the American Frontier with a hint of a gentle love story thrown in.
Reviewer/Date	Chris Vander Weit - 6/12/00

L’Amour, Louis	Sackett’s Land
Publication Date	1974
Number of Pages	185
Setting	North Country, Elizabethan London, and the new Americas
Time Period	Seventeenth Century AD
Series	Sacketts
Plot Summary	This is the first of 16 novels in which Barnabas Sackett, a farmer, sets out to make a life in the New World. Having inherited his fathers temper and fighting skills, he quickly becomes an outlaw in England and seeks freedom and justice in the savage American wilderness. Facing piracy and danger in the new land, Barnabas quickly makes some allies and sets his sights not only on conquering this new wilderness but also on a wealthy young woman who is far out of his league.
Appeal	Full of high-seas adventure, intrigue, swordplay, Indians, pirates, and romance. The first in a saga of an American family conquering the new American frontier.
Notes	Much of this first novel takes place in England.
Reviewer/Date	Kristina Wetherbee 6/12/2000

McMurtry, Larry	Buffalo Girls: a novel
Publication Date	1990
Number of Pages	351
Setting	Mostly the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana
Time Period	1850s through 1890s
Plot Summary	Calamity Jane's life after she made her name in the West. Among her adventures, Calamity and her friends (Jim Bragg, Bartle Bones, and No Ears) travel east to sign on with Buffalo Bill Cody and his Wild West Show. From the Dakotas to England, Calamity's last adventures told with affection for the Wild West. A rich telling of the later years of the West through her story.
Appeal	Other Wild West icons -- Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley, and Sitting Bull. Story of one of the few female figures of the Wild West.
Notes	Point of view shifts from third person to first person (Calamity Jane's letters to her daughter). Basis for TV miniseries, available on video.
Reviewer/Date	Stefanie Frame 6/15/00

McMurtry, Larry	Horseman, Pass By
Publication Date	1961
Number of Pages	178
Setting	A ranch in Dry Bean County, TX.
Time Period	1954
Plot Summary	In this coming of age story, the reader experiences life through the eyes of seventeen-year-old Lonnie Bannon. Lonnie describes in great detail his daily routines, situated somewhere between angst and serenity, on his grandfather's ranch. He has desires for the spirited Halmea, the hired cook, as does Hud, Lonnie's mean and reckless step-uncle. Lonnie struggles with his lack of power as he grows up admiring the strength of his grandfather and Hud. Not an exemplary figure to the father-less Lonnie, Hud is determined to follow his own agenda, full of greed, deceit, mystery, and violence.
Appeal	A boy's coming of age story told from the first-person point-of-view. A non-formulaic western cattle range storyline, involving familial conflict between old rancher (traditional ways) and evil stepson (modern ways). A realistic story about power struggles on the ranch with a cinematic feel.
Notes	Rape, use of the word "nigger," colloquial Texan dialogue. The movie "Hud" was based on this novel.
Reviewer/Date	Yvonne Ng 6/15/2000

Murphy, Pat	Nadya: The Wolf Chronicles
Publication Date	1996
Number of Pages	382
Setting	Western American Frontier
Time Period	Mid-1800's (mainly 1840's)
Plot Summary	Story of a young woman who, inheriting from her European immigrant parents the involuntary ability to change into a wolf during the full moon, finds it necessary to make the difficult journey from Missouri to the West Coast after tragedy strikes her family. Together with another young woman, with whom she has an affair, and a younger girl, Nadya crosses the varied and dangerous landscape of the American frontier in search of safer ground. While Nadya's personal and wolf characteristics give her great strengths, they also make her vulnerable to persecution by the human majority.
Appeal	Descriptive blend of traditional western and fantasy. Fast paced storyline. Well-developed characters, with sympathetic portrayal of wolves and other "outsiders."
Notes	Occasional blood drinking
Reviewer/Date	Martin E. Delgado 6/14/00

HOME | WESTERN Author: A through M | N through Z | CRIME and MYSTERY | ROMANCE | CHRISTIAN | SCI-FI | FANTASY | HORROR

This page was updated 8/10/2000.

Please send comments and suggestions to the webmaster whyvonne@rocketmail.com.