| Western fiction is a genre of literature | | | | the 1920s, western fiction greatly benefited |
| typically set in the American Old West | | | | (as did the author Max Brand, who excelled at |
| between the years of approximately 1860 and | | | | the western short story). The simultaneous |
| 1900. | | | | popularity of Western movies in the 1920s |
| | | | also helped the genre. |
| The Western got its start in the "penny | | | | |
| dreadfuls" and later the "dime novels" that | | | | In the 1940s several seminal westerns were |
| first began to be published in the | | | | published including The Ox-Bow Incident |
| mid-nineteenth century. These cheaply made | | | | (1940) by Walter van Tilburg Clark, The Big |
| books were published to capitalize on the | | | | Sky (1947) and The Way West (1949) by A.B. |
| many fanciful yet supposedly true stories | | | | Guthrie, Jr., and Shane (1949) by Jack |
| that were being told about the mountain men, | | | | Schaefer. Many other western authors gained |
| outlaws, settlers and lawmen who were taming | | | | readership in the 1950s, such as Luke Short, |
| the western frontier. By 1900, the new medium | | | | Ray Hogan, and Louis L'Amour. |
| of pulp magazines also helped to relate these | | | | |
| adventures to easterners. Meanwhile, | | | | The genre peaked around the early 1960s, |
| non-American authors like the German Karl May | | | | largely due to the tremendous number of |
| picked up the genre, went to full novel | | | | westerns on television. The burnout of the |
| length, and made it hugely popular and | | | | American public on television westerns in the |
| successful in continental Europe from about | | | | late 1960s seemed to have an affect on the |
| 1880 on, though they were generally dismissed | | | | literature as well, and interest in western |
| as trivial by the literary critics of the | | | | literature began to wane. In the 1970s, the |
| day. | | | | work of Louis L'Amour began to catch hold of |
| | | | most western readers and he has tended to |
| The western in American literature began to | | | | dominate the western reader lists ever since. |
| emerge with the novels of James Fenimore | | | | George G. Gilman also maintained a cult |
| Cooper, particularly his Leatherstocking | | | | following for several years in the 1970s and |
| Tales. But The Virginian by Owen Wister, | | | | 1980s. Readership as a whole began to drop |
| published in 1902, is considered by many to | | | | off in the mid- to late '70s and has reached |
| be the pioneering "literary" western novel, | | | | a new low today, and most bookstores, outside |
| containing the core element of a rugged | | | | of a few western states, only carry a small |
| individual who stick to his guns in the face | | | | number of Western fiction books. |
| of trouble, neglecting chances to simply walk | | | | Nevertheless, several Western fiction series |
| away. This seeming bundle of cliches was | | | | are published monthly, such as The Trailsman, |
| fresh and hugely popular in 1902, and | | | | Slocum, and Longarm. |
| elements of this formula appear in most | | | | |
| Western stories ever since. | | | | Western authors have an organisation that |
| | | | represents them called the Western Writers of |
| Popularity grew with the publication of Zane | | | | America, who present the annual Golden Spur |
| Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage in 1912. | | | | Awards. |
| When pulp magazines exploded in popularity in | | | | |