Fiction:
Angle of Repose
Lonesome Dove
Dalva
River Runs Through it
Tangential:
Grapes of Wrath
The Cheechakos
Non-Fiction:
Great Wyoming Bear Stories
Great Montana Bear Stories
Beyond the 100th Meridian
Dangerous River
Cadillac Desert
Desert Solitaire
A Tough Trip Through Paradise
Andrew Garcia Rocks! Read "
A Tough Trip Through Paradise" first. The other bold fonts in no particular order.
As long as we are talking Steinbeck, I would add "
Of Mice and Men". Steinbeck's intimate knowledge of Salinas and Monterey County makes this an authentic California book.
As opposed to something like Keruac's, "On The Road" which is really only about where to score pot and get laid in Post-War America and Mexico. Virtually all of Steinbeck's works are solidly "western" and rooted in actual history. My mother's family came west in the 1930's and were "Okie" migrant farmer workers. This was a label applied to anyone who fled the Dustbowl, regardless of where they actually came from. Because he so accurately portrays this life, Steinbeck is gold to me.
@neffa3 knows my opinion of Wallace Stegner (and the "Beat" writers, too) . I really liked "
Beyond the 100th Meridian" though. I'm currently reading WWII history, but "
Crossing to Safety" is on my list soon.
I would add any of T.R.'s "western" biographicals. He paints himself in the best light, no doubt, but his descriptions of landscapes, people, life, and animals make it worth reading.
There are attempts to cancel him as a racist, and that's fine, but he describes the West in the post Civil War era. (Andrew Garcia is more honest about himself.)
Cowboy Autobiography? "
Lone Cowboy, My Life Story" By Will James. - If you find this treasure in good condition in a thrift store, buy it and ask questions later. Quality first editions are near $1000. My copy is barely held together by regular applications of duct tape.
Desert Solitaire almost has to be preceded or followed by "
The Monkeywrench Gang." There have been attempts to cancel Abbey as well. The reasons usually given would make us have to cancel Harrison also.
One underrated modern western I read recently is, "
Painted Horses" by Malcolm Brooks. It borders on being a romance novel in some places, but holds up in its plot to save lonely places from land grabbers. Its fiction, don't try to put the places described on a map. For the record, my dad hated it.
Future Reads:
"
Crossing to Safety" by Wallace Stegner
"
The Western Paradox" by Bernard DeVoto
"Confluence" by Zac Podmore
"
Wilderness of Hope: Fly Fishing and Public Lands in the American West" by Quinn Grover
"
A River Lost:The Life and Death of the Columbia" by Blaine Harden
