The Heritage of the Desert

by Zane Grey

Zane Grey (1875-1939) graduated as a dentist from the University of Pennsylvania, but he failed in an attempt to build a practice in New York. In 1904, he published his first novel - "Betty Zane" - which was a historical novel set in the American Revolutionary War and based on the life of one of his ancestors.

He success as a writer was assured in 1912 when "Riders of the Purple Sage" sold close to 2 million copies. He continued to write romances of the American west the rest of his life.

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Adventure, Historical Fiction, Classics, Ebooks, Romance

298 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1910

About the author

Pearl Zane Grey was an American author best known for his popular adventure novels and stories that presented an idealized image of the rugged Old West. As of June 2007, the Internet Movie Database credits Grey with 110 films, one TV episode, and a series, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater based loosely on his novels and short stories.

Reviews

[Henry Avila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zane Grey came from a distinguished family, however this was way back during the Revolutionary War, his ancestors fought well and bravely , brought glory... His birthplace Zanesville, Ohio named after them, yet they were unremarkable financially speaking, his father a dentist and he too ...for a short time. Not interested though in the profession , but a passion for baseball and fishing, average grades in college at the University of Pennsylvania, nothing to be proud of...except writing which both father and publishers rejected, the first book Betty Zane, a famous relative, self-published. He struggled, married a woman with a little money and even more patience. Tough times in the early 20th century, however persistent efforts paid off and produced this novel , a bestseller in 1910 and Mr. Grey transformed the nascent genre into a very popular one, ( he almost made it so , alone) and became a wealthy man. The tale begins in not an unique manner, nevertheless was in its era...a severely sick, hunted like an animal man fleeing not the law, worse a band of rustlers and outlaws ( led by the paranoid Dene) if there is a difference, so in the torrid deserts of southern Utah the wild west of the 1870's. A Mormon party finds the more dead than alive John (Jack) Har, the stranger had come from Connecticut for his health, a " lunger" (TB) as the tell it like it is people said then. Suspected of being a spy of the authorities to bring the criminals to justice...but there is no law in the territory for hundreds of miles. The leader of the Mormons, August Naab, a big, strong, rugged man with a soft heart , hides the dying Jack from the outlaws. Takes him home to his ranch an isolated place in the middle of nowhere, raising cattle and sheep there, kept widely apart from each other, plainly, ( near the Arizona border) not far from the impressive, gigantic Grand Canyon. Treats the friendless young man like a son which he has many, slowly recovers his health , meets and falls desperately in love with Naab's adopted daughter Mescal, named after a beautiful desert flower, very appropriately, half Indian and half Mexican woman. A full beauty , the granddaughter of the influential Navajo chief Eschtah, ( a great buddy of Naab's) which all the men around are after, most particularly the outlaws, Dene, Holderness, the notorious leader of the gang and the estranged son of August's, Snap, the black sheep of the family...The highlight of the story is the brutal exertion of Jack's interminable travels, across the vast Painted Desert with his four legged friends, a horse and a dog...nobody writes better than Grey about the western scenery, the harsh, yet exotic landscapes, the unbelievable colors , twisted formations, the small creatures trying to survive the dry , exhausting heat, the throat burning and swelling tongue inside, the blue , arid skies above, the stark prettiness of the terrain, sand storms that fill your nose, eyes, mouth, ears, hair, it may kill you yet what a wondrous sight, just like the mighty Colorado River close by , but unreachable . Zane Grey's talents are apparent, they cannot be dismissed lightly by anyone. A fine adventure for all.

[Gary Sites · Rating 5 out of 5]

“August Naab’s oasis was an oval valley, level as a floor, green with leaf and white with blossom, enclosed by a circle of colossal cliffs of vivid vermilion hue. At its western curve the Colorado River split the red walls from north to south. When the wind was west a sullen roar, remote as of some far-off driving mill, filled the valley; when it was east a dreamy hollow hum, a somnolent song, murmured through the cottonwoods; when no wind stirred, silence reigned, a silence not of serene plain or mountain fastness, but shut in, compressed, strange, and breathless. Safe from the storms of the elements as well as of the world was this Garden of Eschtah.”

“They say I fell among thieves….I’ve fallen among saints as well.”

Seriously ill, John Hare is on the brink of death in the desert until he is discovered and saved by the kind Morman rancher, August Naab. While Hare is being nursed back to health on Naab’s ranch, he finds himself attracted to Naab’s adopted Navajo daughter, Mescal. But Mescal has been promised as a wife for Naab’s scumbag son, Snap. At the same time, the evil rustler, Holderness, has designs on the girl as well. Hare is soon drawn into a web of adventure where he must fight for what he has grown to love, Mescal, Naab, and the beautiful land of old west Utah.

This wonderful novel was Grey’s first real success in publishing. It became a best seller in 1910, the year of its publication. It has all the ingredients of what Grey’s readers would come to love in his later work. The majestic descriptions are not as elaborate here as they would later be in such a classic as Riders of the Purple Sage, but that may be more of a positive for the modern reader, most of whom don’t seem to appreciate a full-blown fiesta of a paragraph, which Grey was famous for.

[Sheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great classic western by the guy who practically invented the genre. The Log of the Cowboy, by Andy Adams, and The Virginian, by Owen Wister, maybe came out first, but it's Zane Grey whose books have everything we think of as belonging to a western, and there's not many westerns written today who don't copy some plot element he's already done.

Grey got so much grief about his purple prose I sometimes wonder if he deliberately overplayed it in Riders of the Purple Sage (where he uses the word "purple" about twenty times in the first few chapters), because while he always writes long and elaborate descriptions of both scenery and what his characters are feeling, this book doesn't overuse any one word the way that one did. I really enjoy his prose, actually, and, especially in light of the era he was writing (when Edgar Guest's star was rising and James Whitcomb Riley was still broadly popular), his regional dialects are not overdone.

This book is considered the first in Grey's "Mormon Trilogy," so I thought I'd read it before I re-read Riders of the Purple Sage. I started reading the 1910 version of this book at archive dot org, then when that one had a page that was hard to read I switched to one printed in 1976, and to my surprise the 1976 version had considerably more purple prose! So I stuck with that one, because I'm all for Grey's elaborate descriptions and commentary on what his characters are thinking, and thought it enriched the experience. But it surprised me the later version had more information than the former.

I knew Grey was sometimes heavily edited back in the day, because I've got two versions of Riders of the Purple Sage floating around, however the longer one is proud of that fact and brags about it on the cover, which the 1976 version of The Heritage of the Desert does not. But perhaps they got the original manuscript without realizing it wasn't the published version.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate that the local Navajo Indians in this Western were all portrayed as friendly to a gentle Mormon rancher. The romance that was woven into this water rights and cattle rustling story was between the main character and the adopted daughter (half American Indian / half Spanish) of the rancher. The main character had come out West to find healing from his lung disease, had a run-in with some cattle rustlers, and was left for dead. He was found by the Mormon rancher, nurtured back to health, and, while he could not accept the Mormonism of his benefactor, he was loyal to him as a trusted ranch hand. It was a bit hard to accept that the young man became practically a super hero with a gun and wild horses, since he had not been out West very long, but it is fiction, and still quite enjoyable. First published in 1910. I listened to this as a free download from LibriVox.org, read by a talented reader.

[Jackson Burnett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to my GR friends, Scott Rhee, and Ron Scheer, I gave Zane Grey another chance by reading The Heritage of the Desert. Scott has written a great review of Riders of the Purple Sage, a novel I had abandoned because of its anti-Mormonism. Ron commented that Heritage of the Desert provides a more balanced view of Mormonism. I read Heritage of the Desert and found in it those things Scott liked so much in Riders of the Purple Sage. Thanks, Scott and Ron.

Ron has written a better review of this book at his blog than I could ever hope to write. Take a look at it if you are a fan of Westerns or Zane Grey. http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.co... I agree with his critique, but the novel deserves three stars, I think, not the two Ron gave it.

When Heritage of the Desert was published in 1910, the American southwest was an exotic and unknown location. Color photography and color movies didn't exist. Most of Grey's readers would never have the chance to personally experience the beauty and the power of the desert of Northern Arizona and Southern Utah. Portions of this book move very slow but these same parts provide a sensual panorama of the awesome splendor of this location for people who would never experience it first hand.

I strongly believe that place acts as an important character in fiction. (See: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...) Zane Grey develops the desert as a character in this novel as well as even the best fiction writers could. I enjoyed reading this book and will probably now read other Zane Grey books.

[Thom Swennes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Without a doubt Silver Mane, a wild mustang desert stallion, is the hero of The Heritage of the Desert by Zane Grey. This seriocomic narrative takes place on the desolate plains of southern Utah in the mid-1870’s. Sheep and beef dominate the high western plains and water is the only drawback. As in most of Grey's stories, love makes a sub-theme and in this case it is between the cowboy and an Indian maiden. The story explores and reveals Mormon values and family life. Polygamy was still an accepted form of daily life. I enjoyed the fresh innocence of this tale of the old west and would recommend it to all western fans.

[Stephen Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always been interested in reading a Zane Grey book, and someone said this one of his had a dog in it. The dog doesn't really had a big part in the book, but still enjoyed the book. The main thing about his writing is his vivid colorful dramatic style of writing. I will add some quotes so you know what I mean.

The story is of a cowboy, Hare' almost all played out with illness, but a Mormon rancher, 'August Naab' and an Indian lady 'Mescal', pull him out of it. They are beset by two foes, one a murdering cattle rustler, and the other a land robber. Very much a slow burn western with short skirmishes before the big finish. When our Indian princess has to escape the Mormon's son into the desert, our cowboy has to follow to find her.

While the overall treatment of the Native American's I think are ok, there is some dialogue that make you go 'ugh!', like when one of the Indians says 'ugh.' But that was written in 1910 and people's attitudes about things were a might different.

So let's start with a nice description with the dog Wolf:

'Nimble, alert, the big white dog was not still a moment. His duty was to keep the flock compact, to head the stragglers and turn them back; and he knew his part perfectly. There was dash and fire in his work. He never barked. As he circled the flock the small Navajo sheep, edging ever toward forbidden ground, bleated their way back to the fold, the larger ones wheeled reluctantly, and the old belled rams squared themselves, lowering their massive horns as if to butt him. Never, however, did they stand their ground when he reached them, for there was a decision about Wolf which brooked no opposition. At times when he was working on one side a crafty sheep on the other would steal out into the thicket. Then Mescal called and Wolf flashed back to her, lifting his proud head, eager, spirited, ready to take his order. A word, a wave of her whip sufficed for the dog to rout out the recalcitrant sheep and send him bleating to his fellows.'

Here is a nice example of how Zane Grey can add color to the Mormon's land they go to:

'August Naab’S oasis was an oval valley, level as a floor, green with leaf and white with blossom, enclosed by a circle of colossal cliffs of vivid vermilion hue. At its western curve the Colorado River split the red walls from north to south. When the wind was west a sullen roar, remote as of some far-off driving mill, filled the valley; when it was east a dreamy hollow hum, a somnolent song, murmured through the cottonwoods; when no wind stirred, silence reigned, a silence not of serene plain or mountain fastness, but shut in, compressed, strange, and breathless. Safe from the storms of the elements as well as of the world was this Garden of Eschtah.'

The whole book is flowing with all the nice imagery. But where author really works at his words is when he is writing of the love Hare has for Mescal.

'Mescal halted on a promontory. She, with her wind blown hair, the gleam of white band about her head and a dash of red along the fringed leggings, gave inexpressible life and beauty to that wild, jagged point of rock, sharp against the glaring sky.'

'Any other reply from her would not have been consistent, with the impression she was making on him. As yet he had hardly regarded her as a young girl; she had been part of this beautiful desert-land. But he began to see in her a responsive being, influenced by his presence. If the situation was wonderful to him what must it be for her? Like a shy, illusive creature, unused to men, she was troubled by questions, fearful of the sound of her own voice. Yet in repose, as she watched the lights and shadows, she was serene, unconscious; her dark, quiet glance was dreamy and sad, and in it was the sombre, brooding strength of the desert. '

'For Mescal was there. Far away she must be, a mere grain of sand in all that world of drifting sands, perhaps ill, perhaps hurt, but alive, waiting for him, calling for him, crying out with a voice that no distance could silence. He did not see the sharp peaks as pitiless barriers, nor the mesas and domes as black-faced death, nor the moisture-drinking sands as life-sucking foes to plant and beast and man. That painted wonderland had sheltered Mescal for a year. He had loved it for its color, its change, its secrecy; he loved it now because it had not been a grave for Mescal, but a home. ‘Therefore he laughed at the deceiving yellow distances in the foreground of glistening mesas, at the deceiving purple distances of the far-off horizon, The wind blew a song in his ears; the dry desert odors were fragrance in his nostrils; the sand tasted sweet between his teeth, and the quivering heat-waves, veiling the desert in transparent haze, framed beautiful pictures for his eyes. '
'“Mescal, do you love me?”
The trembling of her fingers and the heaving of her bosom lent his hope conviction. “ Mescal,” he went on, “these past months have been years, years of toiling, thinking, changing, but always loving. I’m not the man you knew. I’m wild—I’m starved for a sight of you. I love you Mescal, my desert flower!”'

Amazing writing. Most books I have to search for beautiful prose worthy of picking out to save and to share, but in a Zane Grey book seems every paragraph has that dramatic beauty to it. So even though there could have been more writing about the dog in it, (my focus is still on dog books after all), it does make me want to read more of his books.

[Yibbie · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was so boring, or maybe just not what I was looking for, but either way I quit. I made it about 13 chapters in and found I was dreading picking it up each time. It was so slow, and then there was getting to be more instances of swearing. I didn’t even care if the guy got the girl. He does do a good job of describing the setting. You can really understand his love of the desert. I just didn’t enjoy the rest of it.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a diversity of characters and cultures described in this book, which make the story a fascinating read. Animal heroes in this book include: Silvermane, a larger than life wild mustang stallion; Black Bolly, a mustang mare; Wolf, a Samoyed dog; and Noddle the burro. [Utah: Southern Utah, Salt Lake City, Marysvale; Arizona: Coconino Trail (Fire Mountain), Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Vermillion cliffs, Colorado River (Crossing of the Fathers)]

[Jonathan Ford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read

Ageless story makes one want to sleep under the stars. Zane Grey causes one to relive history. Read and enjoy

[Carol Jones-Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't ever remember reading a Zane Grey book in my past. I found in Audiobooks.com a copy of The Heritage of the Desert by Zane Grey. It was quite a pleasant read, and one that surprised me in a few ways. I am a member of the Mormon Church of preferred named as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS). Gray used LDS characters throughout the book, and it surprised me a lot while reading.

Westerns, however, were okay. (This was in the dawn of the Adult Western era, the Jurassic Adult Western era, if you will, when Belmont was publishing the first few books in the Lassiter series by W.T. Ballard, Peter Germano, et al., writing as “Jack Slade”.) Western paperback covers still looked respectable. They might be violent, but there was no sign of anything sexy. Books by Zane Grey were especially okay, because my mother had read Zane Grey and deemed them inoffensive.

I was happy to try Zane Grey. I found all of them quite enjoyable, but over time I became less of a fan of Grey’s work because the negative things you’ve heard about the books are true for the most part: the writing style is long-winded and overblown, the characters sometimes have incredibly goofy names, and the plots are full of melodrama, coincidence, and contrivance. Most plots from eighty to a hundred years ago seem that way to us now. While I would still read a Zane Grey novel from time to time and enjoy it, I found that I really had to be in the right frame of mind to appreciate his strengths as a writer.

Because despite the criticism, his work definitely does have its strengths. Yes, the descriptions of the landscape sometimes go on and on, but they paint vivid pictures and they do a good job of drawing a parallel between the setting and the characters. And you can call it melodrama if you want, but Grey puts his characters through hell and can really make the reader feel what they’re suffering. Finally, when he does get around to an extended action scene, they’re great, full of color and adventure and excitement.

But to get back to a few comments about THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT, this is the old “sickly guy from back east comes west and toughens up” plot, with Jack Hare being rescued from death by Mormon patriarch August Naab and then getting involved in Naab’s range war against the rustlers Holderness and Dene. There’s also a romantic triangle involving Hare, Naab’s gunman son Snap (isn’t Snap Naab a great name for a gunman?), and the beautiful half-Navajo, half-Spanish Mescal, August Naab’s ward. The plot is a little thin, especially for the book’s length, and suffers from the way it meanders around. Those pacing problems may be because THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT is one of Grey’s first novels. I seem to recall that the later ones flow a little better. There are some great scenes scattered through this book, though, such as the taming of the wild mustang Silvermane and a dangerous encounter with a bear. I guess I was in the right mood, because I was able to throw myself into the book as a reader and wound up enjoying it quite a bit, enough so that I plan to read something else by Zane Grey fairly soon.

If you’ve never read Grey’s work and you have a Kindle, a bunch of the novels are available free on Amazon. You can try one, and it probably won’t take long for you to tell whether or not you like it. There are also plenty of copies still available in most libraries, and you can still find lots of used paperbacks as well. And the best thing about those paperbacks . . . the covers aren’t smutty, so you can read them without being ashamed. For my first book, I quite enjoyed it. I would recommend, and plan on reading another couple to get the feel of his writing style.

[Coleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being a long time fan of Zane Grey, I know it is almost impossible to read everything he has written. But when I find one of his books, I am drawn to it quickly.

The descriptions of the beauty of the Western United States from a hundred and fifty or more years ago, plus the characterizations of the folks in his stories are hard to beat by any other writer - in my opinion. This particular book involved Mormons in Utah, as well as non-Mormons, and I have always had an interest in the Mormon culture. Finally, as with I believe other Zane Grey books, the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad. It makes the plot so much easier to understand !

There are still enough Zane Grey books out there waiting for me to read, and I rarely pass on reading any of them.

[Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

It begins with a man left for dead, discovered by Mormons, hunted by outlaws, but the plot is meandery from there. I am not sure what people loved about Zane Grey back in the day, but the plot seemed flat to me. I read that the plot of Godfather was loosely based on this novel. I did not see it, and, in fact, I didn’t see any plot.

Read 20%.

[Joe Santoro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boy, can Zane Grey paint a picture with words.. absolutely amazing descriptions of the desert abound in this book... perhaps too many.

The actual story is not a surprise at all, and the action actually gets skipped over... so if you're looking for a spaghetti western in a book, this definitely isn't it. The character (though totally idealized) are fun to look at in historical perspective. This is easily the most positive portrayal of Mormons I've read.

I've got 1 more Zane Grey book from a 4 pack I got at Ollie.. not sure I'd read more of his stuff, but I'm glad to have been able to get a feel of such a classic and well known author.

[Will Plunkett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently, this was meant to be Grey's version of the story. It was re-done based on his notes. I should read others of his books to get a better feel for his style of course, but the descriptions were strong and full of imagery. I can't say I was surprised at the ending, but getting there was arduous, just like the journeys of the characters.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am interested in the history of the Lee's Ferry and House Rock Valley areas of Arizona. I knew that Zane Grey had spent time there and that this story was loosely based on the people he knew there, primarily Jim Emet. So this was part of my enjoyment of the book, but I was surprised how much I liked reading this just for the story. For one thing, the romance is really sweet.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite Zane Grey so far! Couldn't put it down. I was almost late for work twice!!
Beautiful love story on the edge of the desert!!!!!!!! Please read!

[Larry Gerdes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story line.

It was not what I had expected from a Zane Grey book, but it was good. It is more of a love story than a western. But good!!!!

[Skjam! · Rating 4 out of 5]

John “Jack” Hare may be dying, but he can’t stop noticing how beautiful the sky is here in the Utah Territory desert. Jack’s a “lunger,” sent out West for his health. It helped a bit, but his money ran out and he needed a job. He was in Salt Lake City when a cattle outfit in Lund offered him work. He never got to find out what the job was.

In Lund, a bad man named Chance accuses Jack of being a spy sent to catch rustlers, and since Chance works for the notorious rustler Dene, Jack��s life was in danger. Jack was smuggled out the back and told to head for Bane, but he’s walked a full day and night before collapsing, and not come to that town.

And that’s where Jack is found by a wagon train of Mormons. The religious folk debate what to do with him; Jack is clearly on his last legs health-wise, and being hunted by Dene’s gang who are visible in the far distance. Mormon rancher August Naab cites the parable of the Good Samaritan and protects Jack with “creative truth” when Dene’s gang arrives.

Out of immediate danger, the Mormons take Jack to White Sage (he’d missed Bane entirely) for basic medical care. Then August Naab gives Jack the choice to come to his own ranch over in the Arizona Territory for a chance to work and heal. Jack is little aware of what lies ahead, but he will have the chance to earn the heritage of the desert.

This 1910 novel was an early work by Zane Grey (1872-1939), whose career as a writer of Westerns was about to really take off. His descriptions of locations and weather were based on his trips out to the Grand Canyon area.

Once out at August Naab’s extensive spread, Jack is assigned to a high pasture to help August’s beautiful ward Mescal (daughter of a nameless Spaniard and a Navajo woman) tend the sheep. The hard work and healthful atmosphere bring Jack into full remission of his lung condition. He also becomes the rider of the formerly wild stallion Silvermane, most excellent of horses.

Jack realizes that he’s fallen in love with Mescal, and she reciprocates. Unfortunately, she is promised to Snap Naab, August’s eldest son, as his second wife. The one thing that’s kept that marriage from being formalized is the objections of Snap’s first wife.

When the sheep are being herded off the butte, it is discovered that the local water hole has been filled in, and tragedy ensues. This starts the more plot-heavy second half of the novel, as August Naab, his sons, and allies like Jack must do battle of one sort or another against a greedy rancher who wants to control all the water rights.

Good: Zane Grey loves him some landscape description, and his lush language makes the desert and surrounding territory its own character. (Mind, some readers may find the prose a bit purple.) Another thing that I liked but some readers may be bored by is that the story takes its own sweet time; this isn’t one of those breakneck speed Westerns.

The depiction of Mormons and Navajo is pretty even-handed for the literature of the time. There are good Mormons (though August tends to the spirit of the Mormon law rather than the letter), less good Mormons who care more about their own hides than doing the right thing, and bad Mormons. Polygamy is pretty much uniformly treated as a bad thing though. The Navajo are less explored, but have both good and bad points.

There’s a nice assortment of antagonists. Holderness is a large-scale enemy of all the independent ranchers and commands a strong array of underlings. Dene and his gang are a more direct threat on a smaller scale, and Snap Naab is a personal enemy to Jack and Mescal (and his own wife)because of his jealousy and hot temper fueled by alcohol abuse. The odds are somewhat whittled down by evil devouring itself.

Jack grows both as a physical character and as a person during the course of the novel, demonstrating this at the end by showing mercy to those who have sinned, but also demonstrated limits to their evil.

Silvermane is awesome, even getting to dispose of one of the villains personally.

A mute character is treated relatively sympathetically by the characters and story.

Less good: Mescal is the only female character who has more than surface characterization and a life outside her relationship to men. Snap’s long-suffering wife doesn’t even get dialogue or a name!

Content notes: domestic abuse, a little period racism, more than one character intends to rape Mescal (though that word is never used), and I’m going to consider closing a water hole deliberately to make animals die of thirst a form of animal abuse.

Overall: A mighty fine Western, though not Zane Grey’s best work as he was still refining his craft. It’s in the public domain, so you should be able to find a legal download if not one of the many reprints.

[Stormrider · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Heritage of the Desert

**

Good Reads Review

by

Stormrider

Grey, Zane. 2005. (Orig pub 1910). Norwalk, CN: Easton. (LB).

Read: 18 - 21 Jan 2023


The Heritage of the Desert

**
Good Reads Review

by

Stormrider

Grey, Zane. 2005. (Orig pub 1910). Norwalk, CN: Easton. (LB).

Read: 18 - 21 Jan 2023

I was born and raised in the cow country of the Great Basin in eastern Nevada and I read this first book of Grey's Utah Trilogy when I was eleven or twelve years old in 1955 - 1956. Growing up as a working cowboy in the type of country Grey set his novel in made me see the scenes he depicted with eyes accustomed to the realities of horses, cattle and the land. The first books I bought with my own money were Zane Grey’s first three novels. I immediately was disappointed with the writing style and structure of the stories. The absurd romanticism and the endless pages of descriptive text regarding the nature of the country, weather, etc. As I graduated to other western genre authors, like Louis L’Amour. I noted the same characteristics in the protagonists. They were on a par with the mythologic heroes of ancient Greek and Roman literature. The behavior of the horse Silvermane, and the dog Wolf were equally beyond belief. The purity of Mescal, the Indian and Spanish girl, was offered up as the ideal for early Twentieth Century young women. The heroes in the stories in both Grey and L’Amour could outride, out fight, out rope, outshoot everyone else. They had no flaws. They could not be related to even by a young boy with an unbridled imagination. I have a copy of the first story I wrote in third grade that reflects the same romantic nonsense. I recognized early that I could not relate to the perfection of the primary characters and I wanted realism in my reading. I understood and related somewhat to the values Grey presented, because in the time and place of my initial reading, much of the Edwardian world and some of its values were still part of the culture. Shane by Jack Schafer dramatically influenced what I expected a Western novel to be.


High Lonesome, A.T.
23 January 2023
350 words

[Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering that this was Zane Grey's first true western (after his Border Trilogy, which was set in the Ohio River Valley), I thought the plot was surprisingly entertaining.

Admittedly, the pretense was weak. The main character, Jack Hare, is hated by the outlaws because he initially came to the area as a "spy" for a cattle company. At no point throughout the book does he act in this capacity, yet still he is the subject of the outlaws' neverending bloodlust.

More nonsensical is the almost immediate animosity he finds from "Snap," the son of his host and benefactor. Instead of introducing this gradually as the natural byproduct of Snap's jealousy, the author describes it as a murderous hatred from the outset.

In spite of those two flaws, the book is strong. It's not overly sappy in the romance department, and it is a good, early example of Grey's gift for describing a majestic setting (Grand Canyon rim and the Painted Desert) with just the right amount of action.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is over 100 years old, so it has a few elements that haven't aged well - long-winded descriptions, instances of melodrama, undertones of racism and sexism - but overall I found it very engaging. The writing is beautiful, even if I did find myself skimming some of the longer descriptions, and the moral dilemmas were pretty gripping at times. The depictions of Mormons isn't 100% accurate (though waaaay better than other non-Mormons writing at the time), but you can tell Grey spent time with them, and even if the details aren't exactly right, the broad strokes he uses on the cultural changes facing southern Utah in the late 1800s are pretty insightful. They make the Utah setting matter to the story even though it isn't at all a religious story - it just adds another layer of tension and conflict.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little book but surprisingly big on its descriptions on the desert. Very stirring in learning the characters coming to grips with what they had always held in their beliefs. Having been to the desert area described, I was immediately taken back their by Grey's very emotive descriptions. I suspect even if one has not been there you will immediately get a feel for the contrasts in the story. Very well written and I am now going to hunt out more of Zane Grey's books. This one had been sitting in a dusty shelf in an op shop and unloved. My copy was printed in 1920's not long after it was written in 1910. So it was a joy to hold and read such a classic which to my mind will never date. Terrific summer reading.

[Christy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Next time I go hankerin’ after a good Western, I dang well won’t pick up anything by Zane Grey. I’ve tried four of his novels now, and this is the only one I could get through. And even at that, I barely made it. The exciting parts were plenty exciting, but then the hero went back to slogging his way through the desert again. There were glorious descriptions of that eternal desert–of the sky and the rocks and the sand and the junipers, but the descriptions went on and on, just like the poor hero. I can sum it up the story in just a few words: The bad guys killed some of the good guys, and then the hero killed the main bad guy and got the girl. The end. Next time I go hankerin’ after a good Western, I’ll go back to Louis L’Amour. He never lets me down.

[Brendan Hough · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ear read 2025 (9.5hrs)
6.59/10 a guy with bad luck starting out to find his place in the world comes across a family of mormons in a community beset by a bad rich rancher and outlaws. It unfurls as the mormons have to accept that god wont magically step in to save them from the evil men as they are killed off 1 by 1. I’m not a mormon so not sure if it was period piece sexism or something that still happens today with women treated like slaves. If. You like a story set about personal sacrifice, then this fits that bill.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every beginning author should read Zane Grey.

Every author should be required to read Zane Grey before they can write a book. They would learn to describe the characters and the life around the story. This might teach a would be author how to describe what should be going on in the book he wants to write. This book makes you feel like you are there, w the description of the county side.

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found a yellowed 60s print of this book at the library sale for a quarter. Figured the book had some character so I'd give it a read. I usually consume fiction like a Roman senator at a banquet but this one was a slog at points. Overall, the narrative is boring. Some of the action scenes are good, some are nonsense. Some of the scene descriptions are nice. I probably won't read another Zane Grey book.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great tale of an easterner, Jack Hare, who has gone west and is left for half dead by a band of outlaws in the desert of southern Utah. He is rescued by a Mormon rancher, August Naab, who has an adopted daughter named Mescal. Of course, Hare falls in love with her and the story goes from there. Read when I was a kid, junior high age, more or less. I remember it as awesome.

[Dystopian Mayhem · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a western genre fan I loved this book, even if the romance didn’t meet my expectations. The limitless imagination of the author was amazing, I loved the how the characters were written and developed. The portraying of the wild scenery was really good that I could almost see it, and the writing style was really enjoyable and absorbing.

[Ed Skipper · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Revelation Zane Grey is a brilliant writer.

Sherman Potter in MASH always sang the praises of Zane Grey, now that I have read this book I understand why.
The writing is wonderfully descriptive, interesting and rewarding to the reader.
I would recommend it to everyone who loves stories of a wild time in the North American West of the 1800's.