Difference between revisions of "Westerns"
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*[http://aries.jmrl.org/search/X?the+shootist+swarthout+glendon '''''The Shootist (1975) by Glendon Swarthout'''''] | *[http://aries.jmrl.org/search/X?the+shootist+swarthout+glendon '''''The Shootist (1975) by Glendon Swarthout'''''] | ||
*[http://aries.jmrl.org/search/X?the+treasure+sierra+madre+b+traven '''''The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1935) by B. Traven'''''] | *[http://aries.jmrl.org/search/X?the+treasure+sierra+madre+b+traven '''''The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1935) by B. Traven'''''] | ||
| − | *[http://aries.jmrl.org/search/X?dakota+kill+brandvold+peter '''''Dakota Kill (2000) by Peter | + | *[http://aries.jmrl.org/search/X?dakota+kill+brandvold+peter '''''Dakota Kill (2000) by Peter Brandvold'''''] |
*[http://aries.jmrl.org/search/X?fool's+gold+hodgson+ken '''''Fool's Gold (2003) by Ken Hodgson'''''] | *[http://aries.jmrl.org/search/X?fool's+gold+hodgson+ken '''''Fool's Gold (2003) by Ken Hodgson'''''] | ||
Revision as of 18:22, 13 December 2017
Article in Category:Adult Fiction category.
Contents
Traditional Westerns
Traditionally, Westerns are marked by their strong sense of place in their depictions of the American West (think cattle ranches, frontier towns), and focus on justice, grit, independence, pride, redemption, and strength. Readers might be attracted to historical detail in addition to descriptions of the landscape. Older traditional Westerns are light on graphic sex and violence and qualify as gentle reads, and - especially those from the heyday of the genre in the mid-twentieth century - sometimes succumb to outdated gender and racial stereotyping.
- Riders of the Purple Sage (1912)by Zane Grey
- Hondo (1953) by Louis L'Amour
- The Virginian (1902) by Owen Wister
- Warlock (1958) by Oakley Hall
- The Big Sky(1947) by A.B. Guthrie
- The Ox-Bow Incident (1940) by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
- The Shootist (1975) by Glendon Swarthout
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1935) by B. Traven
- Dakota Kill (2000) by Peter Brandvold
- Fool's Gold (2003) by Ken Hodgson
20th Century Authors of Traditional Westerns
21st Century Authors of Traditional Westerns
Literary Westerns
More modern literary westerns go beyond shoot-‘em-ups and cattle drives to introduce nuance to the traditional tropes, while maintaining the core focus on defining morality, a strong sense of place, and rugged characters. They can also demonstrate the frontier mindset as it survives - or attempts to - in modern times. These Westerns may contain more graphic violence or sexual scenes than older traditional titles. (The Library might shelve/classify some of these in the Fiction section rather than with the Westerns.)
- Five Skies (2007) by Ron Carlson
- Stories by Jane Candia Coleman
- The Diary of Mattie Spenser (1977) by Sandra Dallas
- The Sisters Brothers (2011) by Patrick DeWitt
- In the Distance (2017) by Herman Diaz
- The Whistling Season (2006) by Ivan Doig
- A Sudden Country (2005) by Karen Fisher
- Snow Mountain Passage (2001) by James D. Houston
- News of the World (2016) by Paulette Jiles
- The Weight of an Infinite Sky (2018) by Carrie La Seur
- Cormac McCarthy
*Blood Meridian (1985) by Cormac McCarthy *All the Pretty Horses (1992)-first book in The Border Trilogy
*Lonesome Dove (1985)
- The Son (2013)
- True Grit (1968)
- Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx- collected in Close Range (1999) and Bad Dirt (2004); includes Brokeback Mountain
- Shane (1949) by Jack Schafer
- Letting Loose the Hounds: Stories (2010) by Brady Udall
- A Good Man (2011)
- Butcher's Crossing (1960)
Westerns by non-Western Writers
- Welcome to Hard Times (1960)
- Journal of the Gun Years (1991)
- Centennial (1974)
- Elmore Leonard started out writing Western pulp, then became much more popular as a crime fiction writer
Modern Fiction about Real People
- Doc (2011) by Mary Doria Russell- fictionalized biography of "Doc" Henry Holliday, and his friendship with Wyatt Earp.
- Ron Hansen
*The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (1983) *Desperadoes (1979)-tells the story of Emmett Dalton & the Dalton Gang
- Deadwood (1986) by Pete Dexter- follows the exploits of Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, and friends in the Dakota Territory in the 1870's
- In Calamity's Wake (2013)- the daughter of Calamity Jane seeks out her adventuring mother
Western Mystery Authors
Joe Pickett series by C.J. Box
Longmire series by Craig Johnson
Joe R. Lansdale's Hap and Leonard series
Bad Country by C.B. McKenzie
Tony Hillerman
Michael McGarrity
Loren Estleman
Western Romance Authors
Mary Connealy
Lori Copeland
Deeanne Gist
Linda Lael Miller
Diana Palmer
The Weird West
Westerns that include supernatural, horror, or science fiction elements.
- Karen Memory (2015) by Elizabeth Bear
- The Six-Gun Tarot (2013) by R.S. Belcher
- The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western (1974) by Richard Brautigan
- Territory (2007) by Emma Bull
- The Sixth Gun, Vol. 1: Cold Dead Fingers (2011) by Cullen Bunn
- The Dark Tower series by Stephen King, starting with The Gunslinger (1982)
- The Arrivals (2013) by Melissa Marr
- Iron Council (2004) by China Miéville
- The Builders (2015) by Daniel Polansky
- The Guns of Santa Sangre (2013) by Eric Red
- The Doctor and the Rough Rider: a weird west tale (2012) by Mike Resnick
- Vermilion (2015) by Molly Tanzer
- One Night in Sixes (2014) by Arianne "Tex" Thompson
Related Nonfiction
This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind (1978) by Ivan Doig
Shot All to Hell: Jesse James, the Northfield Raid, and the Wild West's Greatest Escape (2013) by Mark Lee Gardner
Empire of the Summer Moon : Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History (2010) by S. C. Gwynne
Blood and Thunder: an Epic of the American West (2006) by Hampton Sides
Black Gun, Silver Star: the Life and Legend of Frontier Marshall Bass Reeves (2006) by Art T. Burton
Wyatt Earp, a Vigilante Life (2013) by Andrew C. Isenberg
Winning the Wild West: The Epic Saga of the American Frontier, 1800-1899 (2002) by Page Stegner
Lady at the O.K. Corral: The True Story of Josephine Marcus Earp (2013) by Ann Kirschner
Movies & TV - Traditional and Modern
3:10 to Yuma
True Grit (both versions)
The Searchers
The Quick and the Dead
The Revenant
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Unforgiven
Dances With Wolves
Brokeback Mountain
Westworld (TV)
Longmire (TV)
Deadwood (TV)
See also
True Grit Big Read list by JMRL
Rural Noir (Adults), another list by JMRL which investigates questions of justice and independence, frequently revenge-driven, has strong characters, set in a distinctive American landscape
The Spur Awards, awarded by Western Writers of America
Western Heritage Awards, awarded by the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum
Willa Awards, for “women’s stories set in the West”
