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The Feudist: A Novel of the Pleasant Valley War
Reader Views Bronze Award for Historical Fiction
Reader Views Western Mountain Regional Award Winner
Royal Dragonfly Book Awards, Second Place, Western Fiction, 2021
The SPR Book Awards, Finalist 2021
National Indie Excellence Awards, Western Fiction, Finalist 2021
American Book Fest's Best Book Awards, Western Fiction, Finalist 2021
The A Novel of the Pleasant Valley War is both a traditional Western—tense, authentic, fast-paced—and an anti-Western that tells the story of what was perhaps the bloodiest range war in US history, Arizona’s 1880s Pleasant Valley War. The narrator—a small-time rancher named Ben Holcomb who reflects back on his adolescent experiences—begins the story as a stockboy in Globe City, Arizona. Bored with his job, he agrees to become an apprentice cowboy. His journey to his employer’s ranch leads him into a smoldering range war. Over the next year, he rides with a charismatic trickster; a Texas “colonel” and his idealist daughter; a polygamous Mormon elder with a teenaged wife; and a winsome, mixed-race cowboy who is deeply embroiled in the feud. Though Ben tries to stay out of the quarreling, he finds himself embroiled as he stumbles through passionate love, devastating loss, and moral uncertainty. Herman’s attention to historical forces, his spare style, his self-deprecating narrator, and his authentic characters give the novel a verisimilitude that transcends the genre Western and far surpasses Zane Grey’s 1922 romance about the Pleasant Valley War, To the Last Man .
Reader Views Western Mountain Regional Award Winner
Royal Dragonfly Book Awards, Second Place, Western Fiction, 2021
The SPR Book Awards, Finalist 2021
National Indie Excellence Awards, Western Fiction, Finalist 2021
American Book Fest's Best Book Awards, Western Fiction, Finalist 2021
The A Novel of the Pleasant Valley War is both a traditional Western—tense, authentic, fast-paced—and an anti-Western that tells the story of what was perhaps the bloodiest range war in US history, Arizona’s 1880s Pleasant Valley War. The narrator—a small-time rancher named Ben Holcomb who reflects back on his adolescent experiences—begins the story as a stockboy in Globe City, Arizona. Bored with his job, he agrees to become an apprentice cowboy. His journey to his employer’s ranch leads him into a smoldering range war. Over the next year, he rides with a charismatic trickster; a Texas “colonel” and his idealist daughter; a polygamous Mormon elder with a teenaged wife; and a winsome, mixed-race cowboy who is deeply embroiled in the feud. Though Ben tries to stay out of the quarreling, he finds himself embroiled as he stumbles through passionate love, devastating loss, and moral uncertainty. Herman’s attention to historical forces, his spare style, his self-deprecating narrator, and his authentic characters give the novel a verisimilitude that transcends the genre Western and far surpasses Zane Grey’s 1922 romance about the Pleasant Valley War, To the Last Man .
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 9, 2020
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8 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 12, 2021
Set in the turbulent western 1800s, “The Feudist: A Novel of the Pleasant Valley War” by Daniel Herman a historical fiction accounting of true events surrounding the deadly and terrible family feud between two ranching families; the Graham’s and the Tewksbury’s. In fact, both families were close friends until a certain event by a third person caused the feud.
The author goes into great detail revealing the hows and whys of this significant event, told through the eyes of and narrated by one Ben Holcomb, the central character. The murders, mayhem, love, hate, and malicious revenge is revealed in very graphic imagery. It’s reported that the feud was so great, that Congress refused to annex the Arizona Territories into statehood because of the violence. Think the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s on steroids and you’ll have a good image of the story.
“The Feudist” is a novel, but more of a hybrid-novel/non- fiction. It’s written sort of in the third person but the book is actually based on historical facts which I found very refreshing.
I am usually able to ascertain within reading 10 pages of “Western” based books whether its well-written; this one only took me 2 pages!
The way the book incorporates a narrator was Herman’s first brilliant move. It sounds as if you’re not just reading a book but you’re a part of the book! His second brilliant move is expressing the facts of the story without any mistakes. This is vitally important to “connect” the novel with the facts! As a side note, I actually performed some research as I was reading to verify the factual history (Yes, I’m that type of reviewer). I’m purposely not revealing a lot of other detail about this good story and you’ll thank me for that when you read the book. Finally, I believe that any potential student who wishes to study the “art of writing” read this book. The syntax, verbiage, flow patterns, paragraph and chapter spacing and introduction injections is superb!
“The Feudist” is one of the many western novels that I would read again. Definitely a keeper. Well done, Professor Daniel Herman…Easily 5 stars!
The author goes into great detail revealing the hows and whys of this significant event, told through the eyes of and narrated by one Ben Holcomb, the central character. The murders, mayhem, love, hate, and malicious revenge is revealed in very graphic imagery. It’s reported that the feud was so great, that Congress refused to annex the Arizona Territories into statehood because of the violence. Think the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s on steroids and you’ll have a good image of the story.
“The Feudist” is a novel, but more of a hybrid-novel/non- fiction. It’s written sort of in the third person but the book is actually based on historical facts which I found very refreshing.
I am usually able to ascertain within reading 10 pages of “Western” based books whether its well-written; this one only took me 2 pages!
The way the book incorporates a narrator was Herman’s first brilliant move. It sounds as if you’re not just reading a book but you’re a part of the book! His second brilliant move is expressing the facts of the story without any mistakes. This is vitally important to “connect” the novel with the facts! As a side note, I actually performed some research as I was reading to verify the factual history (Yes, I’m that type of reviewer). I’m purposely not revealing a lot of other detail about this good story and you’ll thank me for that when you read the book. Finally, I believe that any potential student who wishes to study the “art of writing” read this book. The syntax, verbiage, flow patterns, paragraph and chapter spacing and introduction injections is superb!
“The Feudist” is one of the many western novels that I would read again. Definitely a keeper. Well done, Professor Daniel Herman…Easily 5 stars!
September 16, 2020
A fast-paced novel of an historical event of the American West: The Pleasant Valley War. Range war, loyalty, romance and bigotry intertwine in this novel to make it an exciting read. The dialogue is so well developed the reader could imagine his/her own southwestern relative speaking the lines. Anyone with knowledge of ranch life in the Southwest will appreciate the accuracy of the slang and the vocabulary. An unexpected plus is the detailed Epilogue which aligns the fiction to the reality informing the reader what happened to the main characters in addition to documenting where the novel departs from the historical record.
February 20, 2021
Another great historical fiction novel you'll enjoy.
June 13, 2022
Although I don't usually read westerns, I found this to be a well-written, engaging story.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews