Customer Reviews

Open Range (Five Star First Edition Western)

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Zane Grey's Open Range is a colorful, action/adventure western novel of a youth on his journey to manhood. Set in the rugged open range of the old American Southwest, our strong-hearted hero finds himself pitted against an unscrupulous family, and only a valley filled with prized wild horses can tip the balance against them and for him. Open Range is enthusiastically recommended reading for the legions of Zane Grey fans.

Open Range is far superior to the book which had additions written by a ghost writer and was published in the late 1940's--The Valley of Wild Horses--just because the editors at Harpers didn't feel the book was long enough--pure balderdash. This story if so much better it is almost impossible to express how much better. I know Zane Grey is not historically, or typically known as a short story writer but some of his greatest work are short stories, or novellas, and this one certainly needs to added to the list. The lead character, Panhandle Smith, life is told from birth, and his nomadic lifestyle readies him for whatever is thrown in his way; and this is in essence the plot of this book. And he finds his "eldorado" in a rim-rock lined canyon filled with thousands of wild horses, worth a fortune if he can capture and sell them. Of course, one man stands in his way of capturing the horses and between him and the girl. It wouldn't be Zane Grey without the course of romance which never ran smoothly. I encourage anyone to buy this book, not just the Zane Grey fan; and it will make you a Zane Grey fan if you aren't.