Originally posted on ACADEME BLOG:
? Grey, Zane.  Riders of the Purple Sage.  New York: Harper, 1912. Trained as a dentist, Grey had a practice in New York City from 1896 to 1904.  But in 1907, he fulfilled a lifetime obsession and began a decade of travels throughout the American West.  He used these experiences…

Originally posted on ACADEME BLOG:
Doctorow, E. L.  Welcome to Hard Times.  New York: Simon and Schuster, 1960. After his discharge from the army, E. L. Doctorow found a job as a script reader at Columbia Pictures.  After reading a great many scripts for Westerns, he became convinced that he could write a more credible…

Originally posted on ACADEME BLOG:
? Clark, Walter van Tilburg.  The Track of the Cat.  New York: Random House, 1949. Walter van Tilburg Clark had one of the more puzzling careers in recent American letters.  His first novel, The Ox-Bow Incident, was widely praised, and its successful adaptation to film brought even more attention to…