Zane Grey (1872–1939)
Author of Riders of the Purple Sage
About the Author
Zane Grey was born Pearl Zane Gray in 1872, in Zanesville, Ohio. He studied dentistry at the University of Pennsylvania, married Lina Elise Roth in 1905, then moved his family west where he began to write novels. The author of 86 books, he is today considered the father of the Western genre, with show more its heady romances and mysterious outlaws. Riders of the Purple Sage (1912) brought Grey his greatest popular acclaim. Other notable titles include The Light of Western Stars (1914) and The Vanishing American (1925). An extremely prolific writer, he often completed three novels a year, while his publisher would issue only one at a time. Twenty-five of his novels were published posthumously. His last, The Reef Girl, was published in 1977. Zane Grey died of heart failure on October 23 in Altadena, California, in 1939. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:
born Pearl Zane Gray. Family changed spelling to Grey and he dropped his first name.
Image credit: By Original uploader was Chalupa at cs.wikipedia - Transferred from cs.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Faigl.ladislav using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5656661
Series
Works by Zane Grey
Five Complete Novels: Riders of the Purple Sage, To the Last Man, The Thundering Herd, The Hash Knife Outfit, and West… (1980) 36 copies
Three Complete Novels: Riders of the Purple Sage, The Rainbow Trail, & The Lone Star Ranger (1994) 25 copies
The Best of Zane Grey: Riders of the Purple Sage / The Trail Driver / Rangers of the Lone Star (2009) 16 copies
Four Complete Novels: The Lone Star Ranger, The Rainbow Trail, Under the Tonto Rim, and Wyoming (1982) 11 copies
The Last of the Plainsmen and Last of the Great Scouts: Two Complete Novels (2015) — Contributor — 9 copies
Obras completas : novelas 8 8 copies
CLASSIC TALES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE OF ADVENTURE. Riders of the Purple Sage; King Solomon's Mines; Greenmantle; The… (2008) — Contributor — 8 copies
Western Heroes: "Riders of the Purple Sage", "Last of the Plainsmen", "Lone Star Ranger" (1992) 5 copies
Zane Grey: 5 orange color hardbacks no dust covers West of the Pecos,The Lost Wagon Train,The Trail Driver,Raiders of… (1936) 5 copies
Country Gentleman 3 copies
Tex Thorne Comes Out of the West. Based on the Famous Adventure Strip. The Big Little Book (1937) 3 copies
50 Eternal Masterpieces of Western Stories (Golden Deer Classics): The Last Of The Mohicans, The Log Of A Cowboy,… (2017) 3 copies
The Fort Henry Saga : Complete in One Volume : Betty Zane/The Spirit of the Border/The Last Trail (2000) 3 copies
Geen broedermoord in Lost Lake 2 copies
To The Last Man 2 copies
Zane Grey Collection: Riders of the Purple Sage, The Call of the Canyon, The Man of the Forest, The Desert of Wheat and… (2016) 2 copies
The Ohio River Trilogy The Purple Sage Saga The Lone Star Ranger The Border Legion (7 Western Classics in One Volume):… (2015) 2 copies
Tappan's Burro: and Other Stories 2 copies
Zane Grey Combo #3: The Rustlers of Pecos County/The Last of the Plainsmen/To the Last Man (Zane Grey Omnibus) (Volume… (2013) 2 copies
Sence na poti 2 copies
Grey's The Dude Ranger 2 copies
THE CALL OF THE WILD WEST - Ultimate Western Collection: 175 Novels & Short Stories in One Volume: Famous Outlaw Tales,… (2017) 2 copies
Nevada - Bantam # 1067 1 copy
La lunga pista 1 copy
Vogntoget som forsvant 1 copy
Betty Zane 1st Edition Book 1 copy
Karr 1 copy
The Collected Complete Works of Zane Grey (Huge Collection Including The Call of the Canyon, Riders of the Purple Sage,… (2017) 1 copy
Zane Grey's Westerns (Volume 1), including The Last of the Plainsmen, The Heritage of the Desert, The Young Forester,… (2015) 1 copy
The Red-Headed Outfield 1 copy
Tales of Swordfish & Tuna 1 copy
La heroína de Fort Henry 1 copy
Obras Completas: Novelas, VI 1 copy
Obras completas : novelas 5 1 copy
O Vale Dos Cavalos Selvagens 1 copy
Fogo Selvagem Livro 1 1 copy
Kraljica pašnikov 1 copy
Country Gentleman March 1930 1 copy
L'ORO DEL DESERTO 1 copy
Auringonlaskun sola 1 copy
Do posljednjeg čovjeka 1 copy
Pljačkaško gnijezdo 1 copy
Der Texas Reiter 1 copy
Zane Grey Library: Volume 5 1 copy
Thirty Thousand on the Hoof 1 copy
Das Greenhorn. 1 copy
Karavane se bojujejo 1 copy
Pobegla reka 1 copy
Jezdeci škrlatne kadulje 1 copy
The Code of the West 1 copy
Lovec divokých včel (1926) 1 copy
The Wild Horse Mesa 1 copy
Zane Grey A Biography 1 copy
Ørkenguld 1 copy
The lost wagon train zane 1 copy
Río perdido 1 copy
El cazador de ciervos 1 copy
12 Volume Set: Twin Sombreros; Riders of the Purple Sage; West of the Pecos; Knights of the Range; the Border Legion;… (1961) 1 copy
The Definitive Zane Grey Collection: 26 Westerns in One Volume (Unexpurgated Edition) (Halcyon Classics) (2009) 1 copy
Zane Grey, the Man and His Work: An Autobiographical Sketch, Critical Appreciations and Bibliography (2011) 1 copy
Classic Western Sampler #3: 12 books by 12 different authors, in a single file, improved 8/14/2010 (2009) 1 copy
Set of 7 Zane Grey Novels: The Deer Stalker, Knights of the Range, Wild Horse Mesa, Riders of the Purple Sage, Shadow… (1952) 1 copy
Duch pogranicza 1 copy
Sporet som forsvant 1 copy
Doupě uchvatitelů 1 copy
Riders of the Spanish Peaks 1 copy
Texasin tyttö 1 copy
Obras Completas VI. Arizona; Al Oeste del Pecos; La Caravana Perdida; Guarida de Ladrones; La Montaña del Trueno; Los… (1959) 1 copy
Tvirtovės apsuptis: romanas 1 copy
Heyne Western Classic Sammelband 2683. Bis zum letzten Mann - Der Marshal von River Bend - Shannigan. (1983) 1 copy
Prospector's Gold 1 copy
Riders of the Purple Sage 1 copy
Ranger 1 copy
The Last Man Standing 1 copy
El rancho Majestad 1 copy
50 Classic Western Stories You Should Read (Zongo Classics): The Last Of The Mohicans, The Log Of A Cowboy, Riders of… (2017) 1 copy
Ocelový oř. Seš. 1 1 copy
Grenselandets sv 1 copy
Obras completas II - 1 copy
3 Books: The Heritage of the Desert, The Young Forester, Blue Feather and Other Stories (1910) 1 copy
Tales of the Gladiator 1 copy
Kämpfende Karawanen 1 copy
Obras completas. Novelas VII 1 copy
Associated Works
A Century of Great Western Stories-An Anthology of Western Fiction (2000) — Contributor — 104 copies
Best of the West: Classic Stories from the American Frontier, Volume 2 [Audiobook] (2003) — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Grey, Zane
- Legal name
- Gray, Pearl Zane
- Other names
- GREY, Pearl Zane
GREY, Zane - Birthdate
- 1872-01-31
- Date of death
- 1939-10-23
- Burial location
- Union Cemetery, Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania, USA
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Zanesville, Ohio, USA
- Place of death
- Altadena, California, USA
- Cause of death
- heart failure
- Places of residence
- Avalon, Catalina Island, California, USA
Altadena, California, USA
Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania, USA - Education
- University of Pennsylvania (DDS|1896)
- Occupations
- usher
dentist
baseball player
author - Relationships
- Grey, Romer C. (brother)
Grey, Romer Zane (son)
Grey, Loren (son) - Organizations
- Sigma Nu
Orange Athletic Club
Outdoor Life Magazine
Tuna Club of Avalon - Awards and honors
- Hall of Great Westerners (1977)
- Disambiguation notice
- born Pearl Zane Gray. Family changed spelling to Grey and he dropped his first name.
Members
Discussions
Zane Grey November - Group Reads in 2013 Category Challenge (December 2013)
western about a woman who runs a ranch in Name that Book (March 2013)
Reviews
Lists
Art of Reading (1)
Best Westerns (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 417
- Also by
- 18
- Members
- 18,135
- Popularity
- #1,217
- Rating
- 3.5
- Reviews
- 252
- ISBNs
- 4,049
- Languages
- 22
- Favorited
- 19
(Print: 1915 | 8/10/2020; 978-9354044311; Alpha editions; 298 pages )
(Digital: Yes.)
Audio: 1/21/2010; 9781449877262; Recorded Books; Duration 10:25:55 (10 parts); Unabridged.
(Film: multiple times).
CHARACTERS: (Not comprehensive)
Buck (Buckley or Dodge) Duane – (more commonly referred to by his name, Duane, in the narration) A fellow, fast with a gun, excommunicated from his home when he shot someone in self-defense, forcing him to go “on the dodge” which is a Nomad status that generally put one in company with Outlaws.
Luke Stevens – The first fellow Buck befriends after going “on the dodge”.
Bland – an outlaw
Kate Bland – Bland’s wife
Jenny – A captive of the Blands held in servitude under the constant threat/fear of sexual abuse.
Euchre - An outlaw Buck befriends
MacNelly – A Texas Ranger who wants to recruit Buck
Bullet – Buck’s large black horse
DEDICATION:
This book was dedicated to Texas Ranger Captain John R. Hughes who it is believed inspired the protagonist. Hughes is also believed to be the inspiration for the radio and tv series, “The Lone Ranger”. There are many similarities, but the reason in the series for the name “Lone” was apparently because the character lost all of his fellow Rangers including his Ranger brother, leaving him the only Ranger left. Whereas, with this book it is because Texas is “The Lone Star State”.
SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
I never got attached to any Western themed movies or books, but several years ago I woke with the name Zane Grey in my consciousness. I didn’t realize, until several days later when I saw a biography about him in a used book sale, that this was actually a person. Seeing that he’d been the author of Western books, I didn’t purchase the biography at the time, but was still curious why I had the name on my mind when I woke up. I didn’t think of it again until one of the recent Connelly books I listened to mentioned a hotel on Catalina Island named Zane Grey. That re-ignited my curiosity enough to decide to listen to at least one of his books, so this was one of the few that was available on LAPL’s Overload.
It made me realize that what I don’t like about Westerns is that they romanticize and promote violence. Gunplay is always involved and the stereotypes of the characters were never appealing. The horses were the only attraction.
This was originally written in 1915 and things were much different then, but I still can’t help but find the many racial slurs distasteful.
BUT, if you LIKE Westerns, no doubt you’ll like this one.
I did enjoy it for its historical value.
Something I found mildly annoying was that a more current decade was mentioned. I believe it was 1970’s—there seemed to be no need to update the time period and it was incongruous. It also made me wonder what other edits had occurred.
AUTHOR:
Zane Grey (1/31/1872 – 10/23/1929). From Amazon-dot-com: “Zane Grey, the greatest and most prolific storyteller of the American West, was born in Zanesville, Ohio, on January 31, 1872. In his youth, Zane was a semi-professional Zane Greybaseball player and a half-hearted dentist, having studied dentistry to appease his father while on a baseball scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania. He wanted above all to write and taught himself to do so with stern discipline to free his innate and immense storytelling capacity. Many a lean year came and went as he searched for a publisher, but Zane soon became the best-selling Western author of all time as well as the best selling author of non-fiction fishing novels. For most of the teens, 20s, and 30s, Zane had at least one novel in the top ten every year. His marriage in 1905 to Lina Roth, whom he called Dolly, was a triumph of the old-fashioned, “complimentary” model of matrimony, wherein the husband ranges freely to sustain the inspiration for his calling and the wife tends to the family, edits the manuscripts and makes deals with the publishers. It is fair to say that Dolly’s belief in Zane’s literaZane Greyry works was the single factor most responsible for the success of his lengthy career. Zane and Dolly had three children, Romer, Betty and Loren. Zane’s breakthrough success of Heritage of the Desert in 1910 enabled him to establish a home in Altadena, California and a hunting lodge on the Mogollon Rim near Payson, Arizona. A lifelong passion for angling and the rich rewards of his writing also allowed him to roam the world’s premier game-fishing grounds in his own schooners where he set thirteen deep-sea angling records, most of which stood for decades. Zane would develop and invent tackle still being used today and his exploits in fishing would gain him recognition as the “Father of Modern Big Game Fishing”.
NARRATOR(S):
Ed Sala. From Tantor-dot-com, “Ed Sala, an actor and a writer, has appeared at Carnegie Hall and both on and off Broadway. His plays have been performed in regional theaters across the country. He has won numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards for his audiobook narrations, including one for Finn by Jon Clinch, and Best Books for Young Adults Awards from the American Library Association. His performance of White Doves at Morning by James Lee Burke was selected by AudioFile as one of the fifteen best audiobooks of the year.”
GENRE:
Western
LOCATIONS:
Texas
TIME FRAME:
Early 1900’s
SUBJECTS:
Texas, Outlaws, Rangers, Cattle Rustling, outlaw gangs, posse
SAMPLE QUOTATION:
From Chapter 1:
“So it was in him, then—an inherited fighting instinct, a driving intensity to kill. He was the last of the Duanes, that old fighting stock of Texas. But not the memory of his dead father, nor the pleading of his soft-voiced mother, nor the warning of this uncle who stood before him now, had brought Buck Duane so much realization of the dark passionate strain in his blood. It was the recurrence, a hundred-fold increased in power, of a strange emotion that for the last three years had arisen in him.
‘Yes, Cal Bain’s in town, full of bad whiskey an’ huntin’ for you,’ repeated the elder man, gravely.
‘It’s the second time,’ muttered Duane, as if to himself.
‘Son, you can’t avoid a meetin’. Leave town till Cal sobers up. He ain’t got it in for you when he’s not drinkin’’
‘But what’s he want me for?’ demanded Duane. ‘To insult me again? I won’t stand that twice.’
‘He’s got a fever that’s rampant in Texas these days, my boy. He wants gun-play. If he meets you he’ll try to kill you.’
Here it stirred in Duane again, that bursting gush of blood, like a wind of flame shaking all his inner being and subsiding to leave him strangely chilled.
‘Kill me! What for?’ he asked.
‘Lord knows there ain’t any reason. But what’s that to do with most of the shootin’ these days? Didn’t five cowboys over to Everall’s kill one another dead all because they got to jerkin’ at a quirt among themselves? An’ Cal has no reason to love you. His girl was sweet on you.’
‘I quit when I found out she was his girl.’
‘I reckon she ain’t quit. But never mind her or reasons. Cal’s here, just drunk enough to be ugly. He’s achin’ to kill somebody. He’s one of them four-flush gun-fighters. He’d like to be thought bad. There’s a lot of wild cowboys who’re ambitious for a reputation. They talk about how quick they are on the draw. They ape Bland an’ King Fisher an’ Hardin an’ all the big outlaws. They make threats about joinin’ gangs along the Rio Grande. They laugh at the sheriffs an’ brag about how they’d fix the rangers. Cal’s sure not much for you to bother with, if you only keep out of his way.’”
RATING: 2.5 stars. (It finally occurred to me that while I am limited to a non-fractional number of stars by Goodreads, I don’t have to be in my reviews. )
I think this was a great story for its genre and its day, just not for me.
STARTED-FINISHED 5/10/21-5/21/21
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