Customer Reviews

The Untamed

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Frederick Faust (a.k.a. Max Brand and eighteen other psuedonyms) wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote -- 30 million plus words in his career -- and just about everything he turned out is worth reading. And "The Untamed" is one of his best. Forget "The Virginian" and Zane Grey's pokey novels, "The Untamed" is the fictionalized west that we know and love, where men and women were larger than life and strode across a fantasy world of death, lawlessness, and strange beauty. After reading this novel, pick any other Faust/Brand title and give it a try: I guarantee you that you won't find a dud.

Whistlin' Dan Berry is undoubtedly one of the most enigmatic characters in Western fiction. With uncanny abilities he controls a wild stallion, appropriately named Satan, and a ferocious wolf dog, Black Bart. Naive and easy going, Berry proves absolutely unforgiving when physically assaulted by a feared, vicious outlaw, Jim Silent. Seemingly without any moderating emotions, Whistlin' Dan is relentless in his vengeful search for Silent and his outlaw gang.

The Untamed (1919), Max Brand's first western novel, was radically different from earlier, more realistic, classic works like James Fenimore Cooper's The Prairie, Owen Wister's The Virginian, and Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage. In The Untamed we readers learn little about the protagonist; his origin, his remarkable skills, and his animal-like instincts, remain shadowed in mystery.

We also have little idea where the story takes place. Brand's geography is vaguely familiar and yet is clearly fictional, even mythical. Harsh, unforgiving deserts and mountains markedly shape the character and code of his fictional ranchers, heroes, and outlaws. There is an accepted definition of honor, right, and wrong, but fundamentally, all must find ways to survive in this rugged environment.

Max Brand's westerns may not meet the criteria of great literature, but The Untamed is certainly good pulp fiction. Brand's enigmatic Whistlin' Dan Berry warrants your acquaintance.

My hard cover edition of The Untamed is a publication of the University of Nebraska Press. It includes a short, interesting introduction by William A. Bloodworth, Jr. He is the author of Max Brand (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1993), a biographical examination of Brand's fascinating career.

Max Brand, the best known pseudonym of Frederick Faust, created more than 300 western novels.

More than any other western novel, even more than the better known "Riders of the Purple Sage" and "The Virginian", "The Untamed" created the modern conception of the west as a violent world of fairy tale. Brand crafts an elegant melodrama of exaggerated life through his sociopathic hero, Whistlin' Dan Barry, and infuses his story with the violence and passion of Greek tragedy. This synthesis created the twentieth-century image of the old west. Brand, who would write over 300 novels in his career, writes with an ease and power that makes every page a joy.

I first read this book when I was a young boy and was much impressed. I never forgot it. I recently read it again (I'm now 75) and thought that the story was still entertaining but not like it had been when I was younger. I would recommend it to young readers

A good friend said that this was a great book. I do not ever read Westerns, so I said O>K>, can"t just eat vanilla pudding all your life, read it. Whats the worst thing could happen? What a great surprise. The book was great, reading about Dan Barry, Black Bart the wolf, Satin the horse, and cast of associates was wonderful. Max Brand knows how to capture you imagination,focus it,and makes you feel you have stepped into a time machine that catapults you back to the 1800"s. You will not be dissapointed. Enjoy.

A so-so tale with a too weird cowboy star written in that very old-fashion style and language. I love westerns but this one was way too corny for me.