Reading the West
On Jeff Arnold’s West we have reviewed or discussed various Western books – mostly biographies, novels, history and film studies.
I thought it might be helpful for readers to have easy access to the books, so they are listed below alphabetically with links, and I will update as new reviews are posted.
Just look for WESTERN BOOKS in the index or put that in the Search box.
A Frontier Doctor by Henry F Hoyt; autobiography.
A Man Called Horse by Dorothy M Johnson; short story.
Appaloosa by Robert B Parker; novel.
A Serpent’s Tooth by Craig Johnson; novel.
A Texas Cowboy by Charles A Siringo; autobiography.
Across the Plains and The Silverado Squatters by RL Stevenson; memoir.
Al Sieber, Chief of Scouts by Dan L Thrapp; biography.
Alder Gulch by Ernest Haycox; novel.
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy; novel.
Another Man’s Moccasins by Craig Johnson; novel.
Anything for Billy by Larry McMurtry; novel.
As the Crow Flies by Craig Johnson; novel.
Bar-20 by Clarence E Mulford; novel.
Bat Masterson: the man and the legend by Robert K DeArment; biography.
Billy the Kid Western Annual; children’s book.
Black Hat Jack by Joe R Lansdale; novel.
Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides; history.
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy; novel.
Blood on the Moon by Alan K Rode; film study.
Blue-Eyed Devil by Robert B Parker; novel.
Brimstone by Robert B Parker; novel.
Buffalo Bill and His Wild West by Joseph G Rosa and Robin May; biography/history.
Bugles in the Afternoon by Ernest Haycox; novel.
Cavalier in Buckskin: George Armstrong Custer and the Western Military
Frontier by Robert M Utley; biography.
Christmas in Absaroka County & Messenger by Craig Johnson; short stories.
Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino; film studies.
Cities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy; novel.
Cloudy in the West by Elmer Kelton; novel.
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier; novel.
Cole Younger, by Himself; memoir.
Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry; novel.
Commie Cowboys: The Bourgeoisie and the Nation-State in the Western Genre by Ryan A McMaken; political science.
Company of Heroes: My Life as an Actor in the John Ford Stock Company by Harry Carey Jr.; memoir.
Conagher by Louis L’Amour; novel.
Coroner Creek by Luke Short; novel.
Crazy Horse: A Life by Larry McMurtry; biography.
Crossfire Trail by Louis L’Amour; novel.
Cuba Libre by Elmore Leonard; novel.
Dallas Stoudenmire: El Paso Marshal by Leon Metz; biography.
Dead Man’s Walk by Larry McMurtry; novel.
Deadwood by Pete Dexter; novel.
Dear Old Kit: the Historical Christopher Carson by Harvey Lewis Carter; biography.
Death Without Company by Craig Johnson; novel.
Debt of Honor by Luke Short; novel.
Desperadoes by Ron Hansen; novel.
Escape from Five Shadows by Elmore Leonard; novel.
Faillir être flingué by Céline Minard; novel.
Fiddlefoot by Luke Short; novel.
Fire in the Hole by Elmore Leonard; novel.
Flint by Louis L’Amour; novel.
Forty Lashes Less One by Elmore Leonard; novel.
Geronimo by Robert M Utley; biography.
Gone to Texas by Forrest Carter; novel.
Gunman’s Rhapsody by Robert B Parker; novel.
Gunsights by Elmore Leonard; novel.
Guns of the Timberland by Louis L’Amour; novel.
Hard Money by Luke Short; novel.
Hell is Empty by Craig Johnson; novel.
High Noon in Lincoln: violence on the Western frontier by Robert M Utley; history.
High Vermilion by Luke Short; novel.
Hombre by Elmore Leonard; novel.
Hondo by Louis L’Amour; novel.
100 Westerns by Edward Buscmbe; film studies.
Injuns! Native Americans in the Movies by Edward Buscombe; film studies.
In the Rogue Blood by James Carlos Blake; novel.
I, Tom Horn by Will Henry (Henry Wilson Allen); novel.
It’s Your Misfortune and None of My Own: A New History of the American West by Richard White; history.
Jeff Arnold and the Riders of the Range; comic.
Jesse James Was His Name by William A Settle; biography.
Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War by TJ Stiles; biography.
Jock Mahoney by Gene Freese; biography.
Joe Pepper by Elmer Kelton; novel.
John Ringo: The Gunfighter Who Never Was by Jack Burrows; biography.
John Wayne: The Life and Legend by Scott Eyman; biography.
John Wesley Hardin: Dark Angel of Texas by Leon Metz; biography.
Junkyard Dogs by Craig Johnson; novel.
Killoe by Louis L’Amour; novel.
Kindness Goes Unpunished by Craig Johnson; novel.
L’Alliance brisée: Le Western des années 1920 by Jean-Louis Leutrat; film studies.
La Colère des Justes by Raoul Walsh; novel.
Last Stand at Saber River by Elmore Leonard; novel.
Law of the Desert Born by Louis L’Amour; graphic novel.
Lee Marvin: Point Blank by Dwayne Epstein; biography.
Life of Tom Horn: Government Scout and Interpreter by Tom Horn and John C Coble; autobiography.
Little Big Man & The Return of Little Big Man by Thomas Berger; novels.
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry; novel.
Lucky Billy by John Vernon; novel.
Luke Short by Wayne Short; biography.
Man in the Saddle by Ernest Haycox; novel.
Monte Walsh by Jack Schaefer; novel.
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy; novel.
Northfield by Johnny D Boggs; novel.
Pat Garrett: The Story of a Western Lawman by Leon Metz; biography.
Powderkeg by Leo V Gordon and Richard Vetterli; novel.
Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford by Scott Eyman; biography.
Pronto by Elmore Leonard; novel.
Quantrell’s Raiders by Frank Gruber; novel.
Raw Land by Luke Short; novel.
Raylan by Elmore Leonard; novel.
Rebel Road by Frank Gruber; novel.
Rereading Frederick Jackson Turner, ed. John Mack Faragher; essays.
Resolution by Robert B Parker; novel.
Ride Lonesome by Kirk Ellis; film study.
Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey; novel.
Riding the Rap by Elmore Leonard; novel.
Roughing It by Mark Twain; autobiography.
Saddle by Starlight by Luke Short; novel.
Shalako by Louis L’Amour; novel.
Shane by Jack Schaefer; novel.
Showdown at Yellow Butte by Louis L’Amour; novel.
Silver Rock by Luke Short; novel.
Spirit of Steamboat by Craig Johnson; novella.
Stage to Lordsburg by Ernest Haycox; short story.
Stagecoach to Tombstone: A Filmgoers Guide to the Great Westerns by Howard Hughes; Western guide.
Stay and Die by Jeff Arnold; novel.
Streets of Laredo by Larry McMurtry; novel.
Tales of Tom Mix: Cowboy Justice by Scott McCrea; novel.
Tales of Tom Mix: Mountain Killer by Scott McCrea; novel.
Tales of Tom Mix: Savage Mesa by Scott McCrea; novel.
Telling Western Stories by Richard W Etulain; literary criticism.
Ten Shoes Up by Gary L Stuart; novel.
Tennessee’s Partner by Bret Harte; novella.
The Adventures of Don Valiente and the Apache Canyon Kid by John Aragon & Mary Walters; novel.
The Apache Kid by Will Henry; novel.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford by Ron Hansen; novel.
The BFI Companion to the Western, Edward Busombe, ed; Western Guide.
The Bounty Hunters by Elmore Leonard; novel.
The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky by Stephen Crane; short story.
The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson; novel.
The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard; short stories.
The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy; novel.
The Dark Horse by Craig Johnson; novel.
The Earp Brothers of Tombstone by Frank Waters; biography.
The Encyclopedia of Western Movies by Phil Hardy; Western guide.
The First Fast Draw by Louis L’Amour; novel.
The Friends of Pancho Villa by James Carlos Blake; novel.
The Furies by Niven Busch; novel.
The Girl of the Golden West by David Belasco; novel
The Gunfighter by Joseph G Rosa; history.
The Homesman by Glendon Swarthout; novel.
The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull by Robert M Utley; biography.
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper; novel.
The Law at Randado by Elmore Leonard; novel.
The Lawbringers by Brian Garfield; novel.
The Lives and Legends of Buffalo Bill by Don Russell; biography.
The Lone Ranger Green Hornet by Michael Uslan; comic book.
The Lone Ranger, Volume 1: Now and Forever by Sergio Cariello and Brett Matthews; comic book.
The Lone Ranger, Volume 2: Lines Not Crossed by Sergio Cariello and Brett Matthews; comic book.
The Loving Wrath of Eldon Quint by Chase Pletts; novel.
The Mammoth Book of Westerns, ed. Jon E Lewis; short stories.
The Outcasts of Poker Flat by Bret Harte; novella.
The Philosophy of the Western, ed. Jennifer L McMahon & Steve Csaki; philosophy.
The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout; novel.
The Significance of the Frontier in American History by Frederick Jackson Turner; history.
The Silverado Squatters and Across the Plains by RL Stevenson; travel memoir.
The Some-Day Country by Luke Short; novel.
The Son by Philipp Meyer; novel.
The Spoilers by Rex Beach; novel.
The Tall Men by Clay Fisher; novel.
The Three Godfathers by Peter B Kyne; novel.
The Valles Caldera by Gary L Stuart; novel.
The Vengeance Trail of Josey Wales by Forrest Carter; novel.
The Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch novels by Robert B Parker.
The Virginian by Owen Wister; novel.
The Wrath of the Just Ones by Raoul Walsh; novel.
They Called Him Wild Bill by Joseph G Rosa; biography.
Thomas H Ince: Hollywood’s Independent Pioneer by Brian Taves; biography.
Three Bad Men by Scott Nollen Allen; biography (of John Ford, John Wayne and Ward Bond).
Tom Mix and Pancho Villa by Clifford Irving; novel.
Trail Town by Ernest Haycox; novel.
True Grit by Charles Portis; novel.
Twelve Peers by Max Brand; novella.
Vengeance Valley by Luke Short; novel.
Warlock by Oakley Hall; novel.
Western Films: A Complete Guide by Brian Garfield; Western guide.
Wild Times by Brian Garield; novel.
Wild West Movies by Kim Newman; Western guide.
Wildwood Boys by James Carlos Blake; novel.
Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal by Stuart N Lake; biography.
Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend by Casey Tefertiller; biography.
100 Westerns by Edward Buscombe; film studies.
8 Responses
I’ve read True Grit, The Virginian, The Tall Men, Shane, The Outcasts of Poker Flat, and The Spoilers. All are keepers, but I did not think Phil Hardy’s book was.
Brian Garafield’s book is probably a keeper, but when I read his The Last of The Mohicans (1936) in color, I threw it far and fast.
Garfield did make the occasional mistake of that kind and he also had some strong opinions! But overall the book is superb, entertaining and insightful.
The picture was actually announced in color (SCREEN NOTES in the New York Times, August 14, 1935) but producer Edward Small scrapped the project as being too expensive. Garfield may possibly have seen a colorized version. He says in his entry on the film that the color was “like that of a badly tuned color TV set.”
Fair enough.
I like most all of the guide books even when I disagree with them.
Jeff, there are so many top-notch book titles listed here to savor. I’ve read over half of them and enjoyed them so much.
I got to thinking about some of the first books that I read when I first began the wonderful journey of reading as a youngster. I have very fond memories of reading the COWBOY SAM series of books first published from 1951-60. They were written by Kansan Edna Walker Chandler and illustrated by Jack Merryweather. My favorite is COWBOY SAM AND THE RUSTLERS(1952).
Sounds good!