Larry McMurtry’s Creations
“The West,” Larry McMurtry wrote in his 1968 essay “Southwestern Literature,” “has produced many good books but perhaps, as yet, no great books.” That was 17 years before the publication of Lonesome Dove, which was to win the Pulitzer Prize and, in the minds of many,...
An Outlaw’s Poet
When he was 13 years old, poet Red Shuttleworth came to a realization about the Old West. While on a school field trip in 1958 to the Jewish Cemetery in Colma, California, it hit Red that the legendary West didn’t happen a long time before. The West reached into the...
Island of Rotting Horses, 1868
You probably remember the story of Lt. John Dunbar. During the Civil War, he goes crazy—and somehow rallies Union troops to a victory. Army commanders reward him by sending him to the post of his choice—one on the Western frontier that turns out to be abandoned. He...
Passin’ Through Louis L’Amour Land
He sat motionless, starin’ ahead, aware of everythin’ around him. In this country, patience meant survival. Too often, the first to move became the first to die. Crossin’ U.S. 550 can be a bitch. Seein’ a quick openin’, he gunned across the intersection and found his...
True West March/April 2025
In This Issue:
Features
Western Books & Movies
