The Mammoth Book of Westerns

by Jon E. Lewis

The Western, though a singularly American art form, is one of the great genres of world literature with a truly global readership. It is also durable despite being often unfairly maligned. Ever since James Fenimore Cooper transformed frontier yarns into a distinct literary form, the Western has followed two one populist - what Time magazine famously billed 'the American Morality Play' - capable of taking many points of view, from red to redneck, but always populist, with a sentimental attachment to the misfit; the other literary - eschewing heroism, debunking with unsettling candour many of the myths of the West. It can sometimes be difficult to draw a sure line between the two forms, but both are represented in this outstanding collection which includes stories by Rick Bass, Walter Van Tilburg Clark, Larry McMurtry, Mari Sandoz, Christopher Tilghman, and Mark Twain, among many others.

Genres: Westerns, Short Stories, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Fiction

560 pages, Paperback

First published July 4, 2013

About the author

Jon E. Lewis is a historian and writer, whose books on history and military history are sold worldwide. He is also editor of many The Mammoth Book of anthologies, including the bestselling On the Edge and Endurance and Adventure.

He holds graduate and postgraduate degrees in history. His work has appeared in New Statesman, the Independent, Time Out and the Guardian. He lives in Herefordshire with his partner and children.

From: Constable & Robinson

Reviews

[Jorden Kuijper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love the grounded stories taking place in the west. Instead of outlaws and train robberies, these collected stories from many established authors focus on cowboys escaping a storm, a platoon in thirst struggling through the desert, a locust plague threatening farms, landlord disputes and many more dimensions to the wild west I found very interesting to read about. Even though not every story was as interesting (especially the beginning wasn't too intriguing), this book is a source of inspiration to get a grip on this iconic time in history. It was a great way to discover many new authors as well, and I'm sure I'll check out many of their novels in due time.

[Melanie]

Foreword by Rick Bass - a must have on that basis alone.

[Skye · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn’t a bad collection. But it also wasn’t my favourite… actually, thus far, it is my least favourite Mammoth Books collection. Nothing against the layout or the writing… I just don’t really love Westerns as I have now discovered. A new genre to try, but not one to necessarily fill my shelves with.

Since I didn’t fall head over heels for this, I think that it’s the kind of collection that I will read again. Once I’m a little older and possibly more mature… after all, my tastes in books and genres is constantly changing as I grow and change myself. But, for now, it will go back on my shelves and probably not be touched again for a little while.

One of my favourite aspects of this book is the mini bio at the beginning of each story. Not only did it highlight when and where the author lived, but some of their better-known books. A great bit of information if I had wanted to add any of these authors to my wishlist…

For individual reviews, head to: https://earthandskye.org/the-mammoth-...

[Craig Ferich · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a keeper. A deep insight into what constitutes a western story. I hadn't read many western short stories before this collection, and I was taken by the choices the editor made, especially in the way he extended the classic thread of stories into westerns with cars and modern themes involving the "cowboy way" midset.

[VT Dorchester · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have finally finished re-reading this anthology! I will be posting a review on my blog asap. In short, it's a worthwhile collection, but I'm not sure I needed to reread every single story in it

Review on my blog,

[Anne Patkau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now edition2 "West", maybe "How " is not P.C., but these stories can still move us, about people, same emotions like today, in other places and times. You may prefer some authors, most are dead anyway. Typo: Mcmurtry p6 But IS Bud

[Red Rum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good stories in this and also a lot of bad punctuation errors in the introduction and short biographies of authors.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

An anthology of 35 Western stories originally published as early as 1872 or a recently as the 1990s, with many of the classic authors of the first half of the 20th Century represented. Two of the stories are extracts from key novels, the remainder are short stories of varying length. Some of the more recent stories I struggled to class as Westerns at all, but that certainly was not a problem with most of the contents. The contents themselves are mostly a repeat of the editors 1997 anthology ‘The Giant Book of the Western’ with a few titles added and some changes to the biographical notes – a surprising number of the featured authors have died since the previous book. The book finishes with the Editors personal list of ‘The Hundred Best Western Novels’ and ‘The Hundred Best Western Short Stories’ – very subjective, but some nice choices there.