Born Pearl Zane Gray in Zanesville, Ohio, Zane Grey is noted for his careful research and accurate portrayal of the American West. Though Grey trained as a dentist, he turned to writing as a career in 1904, when his first book was published. He went on to write more than 50 novels, most of them tales of adventure with a Western setting, including The Last of the Plainsmen (1908), Riders of the Purple Sage (1912), The Thundering Herd (1925), Code of the West (1934), and West of the Pecos (1937). His nonfiction works include Tales of Fishing (1925). Many of Grey's novels continue to be extremely popular, and several have been adapted into motion pictures.