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Historical "westerns"

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AuntiePam
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Historical "westerns"

Post by AuntiePam » Sun December 7th, 2008, 6:25 pm

I've always loved westerns, especially western movies. Not the white hat/black hat movies from the 40's and 50's, but the "real" westerns like Shane and The Searchers. I lump these together with "pioneer" fiction.

Some good historical fiction set in the American West:

The Homesman by Glendon Swarthout. A homesman is the man who escorts women back East after living on the plains has broken them. Needless to say, this one's a bit dark.

Heart of the Country by Greg Matthews
Wanderers Eastward, Wanderers West by Kathleen Winsor
Tie My Bones to Her Back by Robert F. Jones
Death Comes for the Archbishop, My Antonia and O Pioneers by Willa Cather
Shane by Jack Schaefer
Desperadoes and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford by Ron Hansen
The Mourning Bench and Mamaw by Susan Dodd

And anything by Howard Fast and Larry McMurtry.

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Hunter
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Post by Hunter » Wed December 10th, 2008, 9:45 am

I really enjoyed Al Sarrantonio's novels about a retired Buffalo soldier turned detective, West Texas and Kitt Peak.

I also enjoyed Robert B. Parker's Apaloosa and Gunman's Rhapsody.

If you like a little sci-fi thrown in with your Western, Bruce Boxleitner's Frontier Earth was fun. I have the sequel, but haven't read it yet.

Those and Lonesome Dove are about the only Westerns I've read.

Hunter

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Rowan
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Post by Rowan » Wed December 10th, 2008, 1:39 pm

I love Louis L'amour, personally.

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Wed December 10th, 2008, 2:24 pm

I haven't read too many westerns, yet but I intend to. I did read The Virginian by Owen Wister about a year ago and just loved it. Very different from the old TV series.

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wendallpauls
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Post by wendallpauls » Sat January 10th, 2009, 9:20 pm

[quote=""AuntiePam""]I've always loved westerns, especially western movies. Not the white hat/black hat movies from the 40's and 50's, but the "real" westerns like Shane and The Searchers. I lump these together with "pioneer" fiction.

Some good historical fiction set in the American West:

The Homesman by Glendon Swarthout. A homesman is the man who escorts women back East after living on the plains has broken them. Needless to say, this one's a bit dark.

Heart of the Country by Greg Matthews
Wanderers Eastward, Wanderers West by Kathleen Winsor
Tie My Bones to Her Back by Robert F. Jones
Death Comes for the Archbishop, My Antonia and O Pioneers by Willa Cather
Shane by Jack Schaefer
Desperadoes and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford by Ron Hansen
The Mourning Bench and Mamaw by Susan Dodd

And anything by Howard Fast and Larry McMurtry.[/quote]

Just a quick question about the Willa Cather selections here. Being that I've only read "My Antonia", which I thought was wonderful, I've never viewed any of her writings as being part of the 'Western' genre. 'Pioneering', yes; I could see that very well, as her writing seemed to take place after the turn of the century. Or is there anything I am missing here?

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AuntiePam
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Post by AuntiePam » Sat January 10th, 2009, 9:40 pm

Nope, you're not missing anything. There's no pioneer genre (or if there is I never see it mentioned), so I put Cather with westerns, which for me includes HF set in the American West (which includes the Great Plains), up to about 1920. I'd put Laura Ingalls Wilder's books there too.

It's my own personal categorization and probably doesn't make much sense to anyone else. :)

I'd consider Death Comes for the Archbishop to be a western.

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lindymc
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Post by lindymc » Sat January 10th, 2009, 10:09 pm

Auntie Pam

I noticed you mentioned Shane by Jack Schaefer. Have you read Schaefer's Monte Walsh - another great western. My husband read lots of westerns and one of his favorite authors was Elmer Kelton, lots of good stories with likeable characters.
She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain. (1873) -- Louisa May Alcott

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Post by Volgadon » Sun January 11th, 2009, 2:36 pm

Flashman and the Redskins, about as far removed from PC as possible, but the descriptions of the Apaches are amazing.

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Divia
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Post by Divia » Sun January 11th, 2009, 3:10 pm

I have never read a western book. I guess I'm always the assumption that is wild men running around with guns. Although women had a lot more freedoms in the west. hmm. Anyone know a good Western focused on women's struggles or daily life etc. etc.
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Ariadne
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Post by Ariadne » Sun January 11th, 2009, 4:21 pm

Westerns have changed a lot in the past decade and more. The traditional shoot-em-up type is on the decline, while there are some good, recent examples of frontier/pioneer fiction out there. I usually call them "Historical Westerns" or "Western Historical Novels" and would include Cather in that subgrouping, too.

Some of my favorite novels about women's lives in the West are Janice Woods Windle's True Women, Jane Candia Coleman's Silver Queen and Tumbleweed (these are the paperback titles) and Jeanne Williams' Arizona saga beginning with The Valiant Women. Despite Amazon's characterization, Williams' novel isn't a genre romance.

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