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Best Westerns
Those books (fiction and nonfiction) that embody the spirit of the Old West, the heroism, tragedy, and drama of this mythic era of American history.
Score
A book’s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book.
| 539 |
|
Ballet Boy
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4.53 avg rating — 73 ratings
score: 100,
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1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Ichabod Wolfe
by
Frank Fiordalisi (Goodreads Author)
4.53 avg rating — 91 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Witches
by
William R. Rohn (Goodreads Author)
it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 3 ratings
score: 100,
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1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Whiskey When We're Dry
by
John Larison (Goodreads Author)
4.04 avg rating — 11,059 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Hornswoggled at Hell Creek
by
3.33 avg rating — 21 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Submitting to the Rancher (Cowboy Doms, #1)
by
B.J. Wane (Goodreads Author)
4.04 avg rating — 2,047 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
The McCoys Before The Feud (The McCoys: Before The Feud #1)
by
3.77 avg rating — 156 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
The Ranch at the Wolverine: Classic Western Fiction
by
4.14 avg rating — 50 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Alta Vista (Sage Country, #2)
by
4.31 avg rating — 249 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Wishing Caswell Dead (Sangamon Novel #1)
by
4.26 avg rating — 39 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
HEROICA, El Carácter de un Hombre es su Destino
by
Samantha Devin (Goodreads Author)
4.43 avg rating — 7 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
The Cowboys
by
Jennifer Uhlarik (Goodreads Author)
4.34 avg rating — 100 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Strongheart: The Lost Journals of May Dodd and Molly McGill (One Thousand White Women, #3)
by
Jim Fergus (Goodreads Author)
4.03 avg rating — 2,023 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Persimmon Apricot, Gunfighter
by
4.45 avg rating — 199 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Marshal Justice
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 5 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
The Rancher’s Marriage Bargain
by
Mary Sue Jackson (Goodreads Author)
4.43 avg rating — 343 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
A Law Unto Himself (Wyatt Earp, An American Odyssey #3)
by
Mark Warren (Goodreads Author)
4.69 avg rating — 49 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Hanging Fire (Joe Noose #2)
by
Eric Red (Goodreads Author)
3.81 avg rating — 58 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
What Was Your Name Downriver? (The Shattered Frontier #1)
by
Anthony Lowe (Goodreads Author)
4.29 avg rating — 31 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Breach of Honor: Revenge Is A Deadly Game
by
4.50 avg rating — 8 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Walks Away Woman
by
Ki Longfellow (Goodreads Author)
4.37 avg rating — 1,186 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Leave My Ashes on Blackheart Mountain (The Two Revolvers Saga #1)
by
4.75 avg rating — 8 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Legend of the Horizon Vengeance (The Two Revolvers Saga, #2)
by
it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 3 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Lead Destiny
by
Sean Morrison (Goodreads Author)
4.75 avg rating — 4 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 539 |
|
The Prairie: Turn Back Time
by
it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 5 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
The Wrangler's Woman
by
Davalynn Spencer (Goodreads Author)
4.64 avg rating — 85 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Bone Necklace
by
Julia Sullivan (Goodreads Author)
4.46 avg rating — 251 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Where the Bullets Fly
by
4.24 avg rating — 236 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Two Wolves
by
Giselle V. Steele (Goodreads Author)
4.54 avg rating — 24 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
The Revenge of Joe Wild
by
Andrew Komarnyckyj (Goodreads Author)
3.80 avg rating — 10 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Hardcase Halloran
by
3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Paper Targets: Art Can Be Murder
by
Steve S. Saroff (Goodreads Author)
4.16 avg rating — 392 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 539 |
|
Red Black Dawn
by
Lea Bronsen (Goodreads Author)
4.75 avg rating — 8 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
The Comanche Kid (The Comanche Kid, #1)
by
4.47 avg rating — 3,004 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Holliday
by
Matthew Di Paoli (Goodreads Author)
4.20 avg rating — 25 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Hell's Half-Acre : The Untold Story of the Benders, America's First Serial Killer Family
by
3.44 avg rating — 4,962 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Abel
by
3.56 avg rating — 3,224 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Climate Conundrum - The Agendas and Forces at Play
by
Balvinder Ruby (Goodreads Author)
4.89 avg rating — 9 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 539 |
|
The Old Cranberry Ladies Garden Club: The Ghost and The Key
by
Bill Cusano (Goodreads Author)
4.70 avg rating — 10 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
The Reluctant Conductor
by
4.65 avg rating — 43 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Wild World
by
Peter S. Rush (Goodreads Author)
3.83 avg rating — 129 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
War in the Nueces Strip: A Double D Western
by
4.80 avg rating — 5 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
The Last of the Mohicans : a Tragedy, in Five Acts, Founded on the Novel of That Name by J.F. Cooper (1842) [Leather Bound]
by
4.20 avg rating — 5 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Charlotte Gray (Those Regency Belles Book 2)
by
Victoria Chatham (Goodreads Author)
4.80 avg rating — 5 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Life Revisited: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Purpose of Existence
by
4.93 avg rating — 15 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 539 |
|
Trust No One: A World War 2 Espionage Thriller (A Conor Thorn Novel Book 4)
by
Glenn Dyer (Goodreads Author)
4.40 avg rating — 85 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Sex And Death in Television Town
by
Carlton Mellick III (Goodreads Author)
3.65 avg rating — 242 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
The Hearts of Horses
by
3.94 avg rating — 5,444 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Branded
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3.90 avg rating — 20 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Streets Of Glory
by
3.46 avg rating — 200 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
The Long Shooters
by
Daniel C. Chamberlain (Goodreads Author)
4.35 avg rating — 230 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Cowboys Versus Zombies
by
3.74 avg rating — 38 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
The River's Song
by
Jim Satterfield (Goodreads Author)
3.40 avg rating — 48 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Growing Up Cowboy: Confessions of a Luna Kid
by
Ralph Reynolds (Goodreads Author)
4.44 avg rating — 9 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Who Owns Arizona? (Drew Steele Civil War Mystery, #1)
by
E.E. Doc Murdock (Goodreads Author)
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 6 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Fistful of Feet
by
Jordan Krall (Goodreads Author)
3.94 avg rating — 255 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
A Century of Great Western Stories: An Anthology of Western Fiction
by
John Jakes (Editor)
4.10 avg rating — 112 ratings
score: 99,
and
2 people voted
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| 647 |
|
Storm over indianenland (De Nachthavik, #11)
by
3.33 avg rating — 3 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Buckskin Brigades
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3.94 avg rating — 191 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Tough Trip Through Paradise, 1878-1879
by
4.17 avg rating — 403 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
America's Fascinating Indian Heritage: The First Americans: Their Customs, Art, History and How They Lived
by
Reader's Digest Association (editor)
4.02 avg rating — 55 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy (Deputy Laney Briggs #1.5)
by
Jodi Linton (Goodreads Author)
4.23 avg rating — 213 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Lawless Desert
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4.15 avg rating — 399 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
The Tainted Dollar
by
Chris G. Derrick (Goodreads Author)
4.27 avg rating — 15 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Red Rose
by
J.C. Hulsey (Goodreads Author)
3.78 avg rating — 41 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Beyond the Outposts
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3.99 avg rating — 150 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
The Valles Caldera: Book Two In The Angus Series
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4.25 avg rating — 4 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Pine Marten
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3.50 avg rating — 18 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Wyoming Showdown
by
Rusty Davis (Goodreads Author)
4.50 avg rating — 4 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
In Time for Christmas (Romance in the Rockies Postquel/Sequel #2.5)
by
Heather Blanton (Goodreads Author)
4.07 avg rating — 373 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Hunt For A Bride
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4.11 avg rating — 9 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Shooter
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4.32 avg rating — 31 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
The Rhodes reader: Stories of virgins, villains, and varmints
by
it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 4 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
To Hell on a Fast Horse (Lou Prophet, Bounty Hunter #12-13)
by
4.30 avg rating — 23 ratings
score: 99,
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2 people voted
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| 647 |
|
.45-Caliber (.45-Caliber #9-10)
by
Peter Brandvold (Goodreads Author)
3.74 avg rating — 19 ratings
score: 99,
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2 people voted
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| 647 |
|
Shoot-Out in Hell: A Western Duo
by
Peter Brandvold (Goodreads Author)
4.54 avg rating — 13 ratings
score: 99,
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2 people voted
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| 647 |
|
Law and Justice (Justice #2)
by
Donald L. Robertson (Goodreads Author)
4.57 avg rating — 1,600 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Armed Men and Armadillos
by
John Earl Sharp (Goodreads Author)
4.83 avg rating — 12 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Cowboys, Indians, and Gunfighters: The Story of the Cattle Kingdom
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3.82 avg rating — 11 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Home To Kentucky (The McCoys: Before The Feud #2)
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4.41 avg rating — 41 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Bear Creek (Sage Country #1)
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4.16 avg rating — 1,051 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
The Rancher's City Girl (Wells Brothers #1)
by
Leslie North (Goodreads Author)
4.35 avg rating — 311 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
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The Seventh Man
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3.87 avg rating — 372 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
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Little Souls
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3.92 avg rating — 7,300 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
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Arizona Ames
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4.14 avg rating — 860 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
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Roll The Wagons
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Welcome to Hard Times
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3.84 avg rating — 2,405 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
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Die Söhne der großen Bärin 1-6
by
4.58 avg rating — 182 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Cash (Lucky River Ranch, #1)
by
Jessica Peterson (Goodreads Author)
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 55,233 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
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The Time It Never Rained
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4.32 avg rating — 2,185 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 647 |
|
Flint
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4.24 avg rating — 7,075 ratings
score: 99,
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1 person voted
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| 692 |
|
Skull Full of Spurs
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3.88 avg rating — 34 ratings
score: 98,
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1 person voted
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| 692 |
|
The Bishop Meets Butch Cassidy: Recollections of Scottie Abner
by
Ralph Reynolds (Goodreads Author)
4.11 avg rating — 9 ratings
score: 98,
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1 person voted
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| 692 |
|
The Storm Testament
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4.04 avg rating — 839 ratings
score: 98,
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1 person voted
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| 692 |
|
Eye of the Storm (Black Eagle Force, #1)
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 80 ratings
score: 98,
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1 person voted
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| 692 |
|
Dodenland (Sundance, #4)
by
4.34 avg rating — 32 ratings
score: 98,
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1 person voted
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| 692 |
|
Red Runs the Plain (The Plains Series Book 1)
by
W.R. Benton (Goodreads Author)
4.41 avg rating — 147 ratings
score: 98,
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1 person voted
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| 692 |
|
Jade: The Law
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4.17 avg rating — 6 ratings
score: 98,
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1 person voted
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| 692 |
|
Talking to the Ground: One Family's Journey on Horseback Across the Sacred Land of the Navajo
by
Douglas Preston (Goodreads Author)
4.22 avg rating — 446 ratings
score: 98,
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1 person voted
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| 692 |
|
The Mystic Warriors of the Plains: The Culture, Arts, Crafts, and Religion of the Plains Indians
by
4.61 avg rating — 62 ratings
score: 98,
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1 person voted
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list created December 19th, 2008
by Ann Keller (votes) .
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Comments Showing 1-39 of 39 (39 new)
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Nina
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Dec 22, 2008 07:32PM
Of course I had to vote for "Unsinkable Molly Brown," as that was the name of our sailboat. nina
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That's an ecclectic selection of westerns. Like a lot of people, my introduction to westerns has been through movies and this has shaped my taste. Of course, most of my novels and film scripts are in fact westerns, even if they're set in places like Birmingham, the Black Country and Yorkshire mining villages during the strike.
I was very surprised not to see more Elmer Kelton!!!!!
deleted user wrote: "I was very surprised not to see more Elmer Kelton!!!!!"
I agree, its amazing!
I agree, its amazing!
Both "Angle of Repose" and a few books by Elmer Kelton are now on the list! :)
Surprised to not see more Cormac McCarthy, especially the Border Trilogy: All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and Cities of the Plain. Glad to see Blood Meridian is high on the list. McCarthy is the greatest Western writer, in my opinion.
"All the Pretty Horses" is on the list, too ... (currently #57).
I had to add Elmer Kelton's Hewey Calloway trilogy and Monte Walsh.
On the Road? The Grapes of Wrath? I can see where there's a case to be made to include Wallace Stegner and Tony Hillerman. But those two books ... and "spirit of the Old West?" Seriously??
This list needs more Zane Grey, too :)
Martin wrote: "This list needs more Zane Grey, too :)"Everyone can add books -- there's a tab up top next to "all votes."
Cold Mountain is not Western!! It is Appalachia - mid atlantic. Please fix.
What about "The Collected Stories of Wallace Stegner"? Many of them are connected and one is a novella.
mountain man needs re-filming; jeremiah johnson didn't do it justice!(john)
Maybe I have misunderstood the purpose of this list, but just because a novel takes place in the west doesn't make it a western.
True, the list is well defined at the top under the title. The owner of the list or a librarian can delete books that don't fit.
Don't get me wrong. I love On the Road, but maybe it doesn't belong in this particular list.
Brian wrote: "Don't get me wrong. I love On the Road, but maybe it doesn't belong in this particular list."I have to agree with you here.
Martin wrote: "This list needs more Zane Grey, too :)"I agree completely.
I am glad to see Westerns making a comeback. There are some really good new authors.
Valerie wrote: "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West is a "Western?""I consider the term "Western" to mean fiction -- although the list maker didn't specify such. That certainly doesn't apply to Dee Brown's book.
How about "Plain Song," by Wright Morris?
Nina wrote: "How about "Plain Song," by Wright Morris?" You should add it if you think it fits the list Nina.
Thanks, I really enjoyed this list. I like the fact that the definition of western is kept broad, so that modern tales with spirit akin to the 'Wild West' are included. I'm still wondering about Steinbeck, though. Into the Wild, for sure; even todays Alaska is in the wild west!
I removed #134 Last of the Mohicans. It is an "Eastern", not a "Western". It took place in New York State and thereabouts.
Yes, but it was 'the West' then. And it ticks the right boxes. The Native and the frontiersmen, the clash, and sometimes harmony, of different civilisations, power exercised by remote eastern rulers, the potential and fragility of the wilderness, good versus evil and so on. Set in the times before the push for American independence, this book forms something of a template for subsequent Westerns. It might be too geographically literal to remove it, though I suppose some criterion of location must apply.
Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales is a set of five novels (available together in a two vol Library of America set) that follows the adventures of the hero, Natty Bumppo, from his youth in the Eastern forests to his final years in '"The Prairie" (published 1827) where he is dealing with Indians on the Central Plains (in his 80s!) and would be a good match for this list geograpically.
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