The Way West is the second in the series of great Western novels by A.B. Guthrie. The story picks up in 1846 in Independence, Missouri, jumping off point for the Oregon Trail.

Former mountain man Dick Summers is coaxed out of farm life and back in to the saddle as the pilot of an early wagon train bound for the Willamette Valley. Summers is an American archetype - doesn't say much, doesn't get excited, knows how do the important outdoor things, he's beyond mere competence, but not braggy, even-tempered, yet underneath it, a compassionate man. Elijah ('Lije') Evans, the main new protagonist, becomes an unlikely leader of the cavalcade.

Guthrie introduces the characters that populated the Old West - big and small, courageous and cowering, mostly ordinary people. The book is excellent in historical detail - you feel like you are climbing Independence Rock along with Brownie Evans or crossing the Snake. The reader gets a real sense of the extreme difficulty of these early wagon train trips. To quote Dick Summers, "It ain't easy, but it ain't beyond doin' either."

Highest recommendation for anyone interested in the American West. ( )

I read this when I was eighteen or nineteen years old. It is a good epic depicting the challenges facing the people who came west to finish birthing America. ( )

I read this book while flying from Dallas to LA, and what struck me was the contrast between my three hour flight and the months-long life changing epic that these pioneers undertook to travel the same distance. I wonder how much the ease of travel has changed our romantic notions of travel, far off places, and new beginnings. This was a great read, capturing the expanse of the western scenery in an age where thoughts and people moved slowly enough to notice it while it was still young-old. Guthrie has some other particularly elegant turns of phrase on Mack's love for his wife, Brownie's still innocent admiration for Mercy McBee, and on a fight that destroys a strong man.

In this series, from The Big Sky to Fair Land, Fair Land, Summers really comes to life, and you come to admire him and to identify with him. ( )

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