The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains

Owen Wister

May 2014 · Open Road Media

About this ebook

The novel that introduced the first great American hero: the cowboy

The Virginian cuts an impressive figure when the unnamed narrator of Owen Wister’s groundbreaking novel first encounters him in Medicine Bow, Wyoming. Dark-haired and physically imposing, the charismatic Virginian quickly befriends the narrator, whom he nicknames “the tenderfoot,” and the two embark on a three-hundred-mile journey to the ranch where the Virginian works. Life on the frontier is unforgiving—filled with hardship and violence—and as they travel together, the tenderfoot recognizes all the ways in which the stoic and principled Virginian exemplifies the heroism and romance of life in the Wild West.

Published in 1902 and considered to be the first true Western, The Virginian broke the trail for every great poet of the frontier, from Zane Grey to Louis L’Amour to John Ford.

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Ratings and reviews

A well told story of two people educated differently. It is told in the vernacular of that time and place. Scenes and characters are wonderfully described. Not your typical shoot-em-up western. This is a very good book.

What a treat for this lover of Westerns! I am in love with this manly man...gentle yet not to be fooled with. Great writing about the wild West & all its majestic beauty! I will read again.

What struck me most was the subtlety of interactions between the characters - how much could be read into a word, a glance, or a thing left unsaid. Nor is the author archly cryptic; rather, he promptly follows up with subtleties with welcome explanations for the reader. A first-rate read.

About the author

Owen Wister (1860–1938) was a classmate of Theodore Roosevelt’s at Harvard University and an editor of the Harvard Lampoon. He frequently traveled in the American West, and the region inspired much of his fiction, including the groundbreaking novel The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains, considered by many to be the first true Western.