I’ve been fascinated by the Wild West since I was a little boy, playing Cowboy vs Indian with a plastic six-shooter and bow-and-arrow set. I grew up watching movies and reading books about the Wild West, and probably that sense of adventure and necessary courage required in such settings helped build the foundation that led me to join the Marines. It took guts to move out West. (Or desperation.) But either way, the settling of the Wild West is one of our core American stories. To me, the stories of the West are even more enthralling today than they were even fifty years ago.
Good vs evil. Right vs wrong. Sometimes, it’s as simple as that. And when a young lawman pins on a badge in the West, he’ll find out why most (honest) lawmen end up dead.
(But if you're still not convinced, there's also loads of action, gunplay, and an abducted woman, who even the U.S. Marshal won't go save.)
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Put those elements onto the page and then throw into it a cruel, evil rancher, who’s already killed the city marshal and one of his deputies. What do you end up with? A kick-ass Western.
The thing I love about Three-Ten to Yuma is the under-dog nature of the entire situation. And I also love its brevity. It seems impossible that such a story can be so tight and compact, so crammed full of suspense (the entire plot that the movie is based on is actually a short story). It still boggles the mind and shows the genius that Elmore Leonard was.
A confederate soldier, Paul Cable, returns from the Civil War to find Union men have taken over his farm. Cable thinks his fighting is over, but he couldn’t be more wrong.
The book is tense and moves quickly. It’s also short, yet packs a punch far above its weight. Highly recommend.
L'Amour executes the book brilliantly, placing a woman and her six-year-old son in grave danger from some angry, fired-up Apaches, who are on the warpath.
All that stands between them and their safety is one tough man and his dog.
I saved perhaps the best for last. This is an epic story, so grand in scale that it made the list of top 50 books ever written and won a Pulitzer Prize. It’s also one of fewer than five books that almost made me cry. And that’s saying something. The book tells the story of two Texas Rangers, who are just a touch beyond their prime. But not by much. They’ve got more than enough experience to handle anything that comes their way, except for aging and boredom. It’s these two things that they can’t whip, but damn do they try, taking off on one of the most incredible adventures that you can possibly imagine. If you’ve never read Lonesome Dove, then I’d go buy it today. You’ll remember the story thirty years from now.
5,309 authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about American frontier, the American West, and cowboys.
We think you will like The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard, Monte Walsh, and African American Women of the Old West if you like this list.
From Thomas's list on The best historical novels that are packed with action.
Elmore Leonard wrote a ton of books, and almost all of them were darn good. He’s most famous for his more modern books, Get Shorty, etc. His stories are raw, edgy, and exciting. Toward the very end of his career, he did crank out some novels that were, I thought, junk. But for the most part, his writing is terrific, easy to read, page-turning books. What many don’t know is that when he was young, he was writing Westerns. And wow, what fabulous Westerns, too! If you’re lucky enough to get a copy of this collection, you’ll both love it, and feel kind of bad when you get to the end. One of the very best Western writers of them all.
From Steve's list on The best Westerns that will transport you to the American frontier.
Jack Schaefer is mostly remembered for one of his other (very fine) novels: Shane, the basis for the iconic film. But it’s the lesser-known Monte Walsh that really captures what life was like in the waning days of the “Wild West,” especially for cowboys. The episodic novel follows the titular wrangler over the entirety of his life as he wanders the West looking for work and getting into and out of trouble. Like Lonesome Dove, it gives readers a look at cowboy life so up-close-and-personal you can practically smell the smoke from the campfire.
From Rachel's list on The best books about women in the wild west.
Thanks to Hollywood, we tend to think of the Old West as being populated primarily by white people and Native Americans. This book helps dispel that mistaken concept by highlighting the role of African-Americans in the American West during the 1800s. Showcasing the true diversity of that era is something I am passionate about learning more about and including in my own books.
This book brings to life the biographies of ten African American women who bravely tackled life on the frontier. Among them are teachers, businesswomen, civil rights crusaders, and a stagecoach driver! Each story is very different, but they all serve to show how important African American women were to the settling of the West.