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The Virginian
The Virginian
Author: Owen Wister
This is the classic novel of the American West, which served as a model for thousands of later novels and films. It is a story of ranch life and cowboy living at the turn of the century. The hero of the novel, the "Virginian", the only name by which he is known, has left his native state at an early age to try his fortunes in the western country...  more »
ISBN: 186051
Publication Date: 9/1960
Pages: 320
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Publisher: Popular Library
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette, Audio CD
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reviewed The Virginian on + 36 more book reviews
Owen Wister's powerful story of the silent stranger who rides into the uncivilized West and defeats the forces of evil embodies one of the most enduring themes in American mythology.

Set in the vast Wyoming territory, The Virginian (1902) captures both the grandeur and the loneliness of the frontier experience, brilliantly evoking the tension between the romantic freedom of the great, untamed landscape and mankind's deep-seated desire for community and social order. Wister brings to life the honesty and rough justice that ruled the range and the civilizing influence of determined women in frontier settlements that imposed a sense of society on an unruly population.

For Wister, the West tested a man's true worth. His hero-influenced by those of Sir Walter Scott and James Fenimore Cooper-is a man who lives by the classic code of chivalry, ruled by quiet courage and a deeply felt sense of honor.
reviewed The Virginian on + 132 more book reviews
Classic western, source of 'When you call me that, smile!', great story and characters set in frontier Wyoming.


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