Like many of Zane Greys Western novels, The Last of the Plainsmen draws on copious research to present a rollicking tale that celebrates the anything-goes ethos and frontier spirit of the Wild West in its heyday. This account follows the exploits of Charles "Buffalo" Jones, a renowned hunter and free spirit who later emerged as an important advocate for the conservation of buffalo and bison.
Excellent introduction by Lee Clark Mitchell, that confirms Zane Grey was never anecdotal: this novel is much more than just a Western. Georges-Claude Guilbert, Universite Francois Rabelais Tours The novel that set the pattern for the modern Western, Riders of the Purple Sage was first published in 1912, immediately selling over a million copies. In the remote border country of southern Utah, a man is about to be whipped by the Mormons in order to pressure Jane Withersteen into marrying against her will. The punishment is halted by the arrival of the hero, Lassiter, a gunman in black leather, who routs the persecutors and then gradually recounts his own history of an endless search for a woman abducted long ago by the Mormons. Secrecy, seduction, captivity, and escape: out of these elements Zane Grey fashioned his magnificent classic of the American West. Lee Clark Mitchell is Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English at Princeton University.
