swap_horiz Monte Walsh Alternatives

1

This House of Sky

Ivan Doig’s *This House of Sky* offers a deeply personal account of life on a Montana sheep ranch during the late 19th a...

Montana Ranching 1978 Ivan Doig

9.2 Excellent

2

Death Comes for the Archbishop

Death Comes for the Archbishop is a historical western novel by Willa Cather. It portrays the experiences of Father Seba...

Historical Catholic Church New Mexico 1927

9.1 Excellent

3

My Antonia

My Antonia is a Western novel by Willa Cather chronicling the life of Antonia Shimerda, a Czech immigrant woman in Nebra...

Immigrant Nebraska 1918 Prairie

9.0 Excellent

4

Dancing at the Rascal Fair

Ivan Doig’s *Dancing at the Rascal Fair* portrays life among Scottish homesteaders establishing a new existence in Monta...

Montana 1987 Homestead Ivan Doig

8.9 Great

5

The Time It Never Rained

Elmer Kelton's 1974 novel The Time It Never Rained is an acclaimed Western that realistically details the devastating 19...

Texas Ranching 1973 Elmer Kelton

8.8 Great

6

O Pioneers!

Willa Cather's 1913 novel about Swedish immigrant Alexandra Bergson, who builds a thriving Nebraska farm while navigatin...

Immigrant Homesteading Nebraska 1913

8.6 Great

7

English Creek

English Creek is a 1984 Western novel by Ivan Doig that serves as the foundational entry in his beloved Montana trilogy...

Montana Coming Of Age 1984 Ivan Doig

8.6 Great

8

The Day the Cowboys Quit

Elmer Kelton's The Day the Cowboys Quit is a 1971 historical Western novel inspired by the real-life 1883 Canadian River...

Texas 1971 Labor Elmer Kelton

8.3 Great

9

Valdez Is Coming

Elmore Leonard's 1970 western novel examines themes of justice and racism, following a Mexican-American sheriff pushed t...

Arizona Justice 1970 Elmore Leonard

8.2 Great

10

Cities of the Plain

Cormac McCarthy's 1998 novel and concluding volume of the Border Trilogy, following cowboys John Grady Cole and Billy Pa...

Cormac Mccarthy 1998 New Mexico Cowboy

8.1 Great

11

The Trees

Conrad Richter's 1940 novel and first volume of the Awakening Land trilogy, following an Ohio pioneer family's struggle...

Pioneer Settlement 1940 Conrad Richter

8.1 Great

12

Ride with Me, Mariah Montana

Ride with Me, Mariah Montana is a 1990 Western novel by Ivan Doig that concludes the author's acclaimed Montana trilogy...

Family Montana 1990 Modern Western

8.1 Great

13

The Good Old Boys

The Good Old Boys is a 1978 Western novel by Elmer Kelton following a traditional, wandering cowboy struggling to adapt...

Character Study Texas 1978 Elmer Kelton

8.0 Great

14

Bendigo Shafter

This 1979 western novel by Louis L'Amour won the Spur Award for Best Western Novel, exploring the establishment of a fro...

Standalone Wyoming Settlement 1979

7.9 Good

15

Bless the Beasts and Children

Glendon Swarthout's 1970 novel about misfit boys at an Arizona summer camp who attempt to free a herd of buffalo condemn...

Arizona Conservation Buffalo 1970

7.8 Good

16

The Light in the Forest

Conrad Richter's 1953 novel about a white boy raised by Delaware Indians who is forcibly returned to his biological fami...

Delaware Frontier Captive 1953

7.8 Good

17

Fire on the Mountain

Edward Abbey's 1962 novel about an elderly New Mexico rancher who refuses to surrender his land to a government missile...

Resistance Ranching 1962 New Mexico

7.8 Good

18

Leaving Cheyenne

Larry McMurtry's 1963 novel tracing a decades-long love triangle among two cowboys and a rancher's daughter in Texas, la...

Texas 1963 Ranch Larry Mcmurtry

7.3 Good

19

Dark Canyon

Louis L'Amour's 1963 western in which a man concealing a secret past attempts to build a ranch in a remote Arizona canyo...

Standalone Outlaw 1963 Louis Lamour

6.6 Fair

20

Fallon

Louis L'Amour's 1963 western set in Nevada Territory, in which a resourceful drifter discovers a silver deposit and must...

Standalone Nevada 1963 Louis Lamour

6.5 Fair