A ROUNDER'S 31 QUINTESSENTIAL BOOKS FROM THE AMERICAN WEST

Poet Paul Zarzyski
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A Rounder's

31 Quintessential Books

from the American West

Richard Avedon
In the American West

Ralph Beer
The Blind Corral

Barbara Brinson Curiel
Mexican Jenny and Other Poems

Edward Dorn
Way More West: New and Selected Poems

Gretel Ehrlich
The Solace of Open Spaces

Loren D. Estleman
Bloody Season

Jim Fergus
The Wild Girl

William Goyen
The House of Breath

Ron Hansen
Desperadoes

Jim Harrison
Dalva

Kent Haruf
The Tie That Binds

William Heyen
Crazy Horse in Stillness

Julie Jensen
Stray Dogs

Elmer Kelton
The Time It Never Rained

William Kittredge
Owning It All

Adrian  C. Louis
Savage Sunsets

Cormac McCarthy
Blood Meridian

Max McCoy
Hellfire Canyon

Thomas McGuane
Nobody's Angel

Larry McMurtry
Leaving Cheyenne

Michael Ondaatje
The Collected Works of Billy the Kid

Annie Proulx
Fine Just the Way It Is

Kirk Robertson
How the Light Gets In

Lucia St. Clair Robson
Ride the Wind

Billy Joe Shaver
Honky Tonk Hero

Sam  Shepard
Fool for Love and Other Plays

Red Shuttleworth
Western Settings

Jack Spicer
Billy the Kid

Hunter S. Thompson
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Richard S. Wheeler
Masterson

Paul Zarzyski
All This Way for the Short Ride

Note:

Coming up with about three dozen quintessential books from the American West is a tough task.  No excuses, but another couple dozen or so Western writers (and their books) could have (should have?) been listed, like Edward Abbey, Rick Bass, J.V. Brummels, Norman H. Russell, James Welch, and Peter Wild.

    The Late Great Wolfie Shuttleworth

with Red Shuttleworth

Most recent update: October 10, 2022