I'm looking at some classic old Westerns for the next several weeks. Already I've written about a few lesser-known Zane Grey novels. Today I want to look at a classic novel written by B.M. Bower, the first great female writer of Westerns. Bower's novels often accept contemporary stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. But she also often surprises with strong feminist themes.

CHIP, OF THE FLYING U (1904) was unquestionably B. M. Bower’s best-known novel. It was the novel that established her reputation and the first novel written in what was to be a long-running series based on Happy Family characters from the fictional Flying U ranch in Montana. As with most of her novels, Chip, of the Flying U deals with women in the West. The title character is a cowboy who yearns to be an artist, but the main character actually is Della Whitmore, a physician. The novel opens as if all the stereotypes will fall into place easily. The ranch hands grumble when they find out the boss’s sister is coming out to Montana for the summer. As the original publisher’s blurb reads: “All of the boys at the Flying U did a lot of grumbling – among themselves -- when they heard that the Old Man’s sister was coming out to spend the summer. They didn’t want a woman at the ranch, and certainly not one who had just received a medical degree! But if they – particularly Chip – could have had an inkling of what was really going to happen, they would have done more than grumble.”

If you are interested in B.M. Bower, or if you are interested in Western novels, be sure to check out my book, the Historical Dictionary of Westerns in Literature, listed on my home page here, virtually the only complete reference book related to Western novels, especially paperbacks and popular Western novels.