Ready To Ride Into The Wild West?
No genre captures the rugged spirit of America like the classic Western. Characterized by gunslinging antiheros, untamed landscapes, daring heroes, and unforgiving frontier life, these are the stories and ideals that countless Americans grew up on. Here are five of the best, timeless classic Western novels ever written.
1. True Grit
Charles Portis's 1968 novel is a true masterpiece of the Western genre. It centers around a 14-year-old girl who takes the matter of capturing her father's murderer into her own hands, forming an unlikely bond with a gruff, washed-up bounty hunter along the way.
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2. No Country For Old Men
Before Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men was immortalized in cinema by the brilliant Coen Brothers, it was already one of the most quintessential Western novels ever written. After a man finds a briefcase full of money in the middle of the Texas desert, he is engulfed in a game of cat and mouse with a sociopathic killer.
3. Lonesome Dove
Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is a must-read for any Western lover. It follows a couple of retired Texas Rangers on their dangerous cattle drive from their dusty little hometown of Lonesome Dove to Montana. It's an epic, a love story, and an adventure novel all wrapped into one.
4. Shane
Jack Schaefer's 1949 novel, Shane, is the story of a peaceful man with a gunslinging past who arrives at the Starrett family’s ranch, becoming their protector against thugs who come to attack. It's a story about moral integrity and man versus civilization.
5. Hondo
Louis L’Amour's 1953 novel Hondo follows a tough but skilled frontiersman who meets a young woman with her son, whose husband was just killed by Apache raiders. He then tasks himself with protecting her from the dangers of the wild west. It's a story about love, morality, and survival.
