Novels With Western Themes

When you think of western themes, you often envision cowboys, Indians and outlaws. This is what the Old West is all about, the early times when all these characters were the prominent populations in the West. Many writers wrote about the West and the western novels were popular among those who would never get to see the Old West. Western novel popularity dropped off in the 2000s, but it is being revived.

"Log of a Cowboy" is about a 3,000 mile cattle drive from Brownsville, Texas to Montanan in 1882. Other novels by Andy Adams include "Texas Matchmaker," "The Outlet," "The Ranch on the Beaver" and many others. Clifton Adams wrote "Tragg's Choice" and "The Last Days of Wolf Garnet;" both won the 1969 and 1970 Spur Award.

Larry McMurtry wrote the "Lonesome Dove" series, one of the best loved of the western novels. He also wrote "The Good Ole Boys" and "The Time it Never Rained." He was voted the "Best Western Writer of all Times." Louis L'Amour wrote great novels; among some of the most popular were the "Sackett" series, which were made into movies. Some of L'Amour's earliest novels were four about Hopalong Cassidy.

He wrote them under the name Tex Burns and spent the next 37 years trying to make them go away. He denied he had written them. After the Cassidy books began to fade, he was inspired to writing 86 more novels as Louis L'Amour, such as "The Riders of the Purple Sage," "Trail of Seven Pines," "Riders of High Rock" and "Rustlers of West Fork." His paperback novels sold millions before his death. More are listed on the internet; just surf and you will find them.