It's 1871 in the contented Mormon town of Cottonwoods, Utah, and Elder Tull wants to marry wealthy rancher Jane Withersteen so desperately that he's willing to use the water supply - the precious lifeblood of the land - to force her hand. But that was before a mysterious, lone gunman called Lassiter showed up...

Four tales of love and adventure in the Old West introduce a cast of characters that includes a brave Texas ranger who risks his life against avenging outlaws to rescue the woman he secretly loves; a beautiful seductress who comes between two brothers; a desperate fugitive who seeks sanctuary with a peace-loving people; and a daring young schoolteacher who journeys West to meet the man who has captured her heart. Included are "The Ranger", "Canyon Walls", "Avalanche", and "From Missouri".

Alone again! Just like his orphaned boyhood. Those are Nevada's thoughts as he turns from the only home and happiness he has ever known. But it had all been a lie, at least on his part. He had been hiding his true identity from his best friend, Ben, and the woman he loved, Hettie. They knew him as Nevada, a man they care for and respected, when in truth he was a wandering fugitive gunman, notorious from Nevada clear to Tombstone, Arizona.

The story of a Civil War soldier finding his humanity in the face of horrible savagery. Emerging from the Civil War a shamed and broken man, Stephen Latch turns to a life of thievery and murder. Still hoping to uphold the values of the Confederacy, Latch sets his sights on the wealth of resources pouring westward from the northern United States, putting together a band of ruthless misfits to help him stake his claim of the riches of the caravans.

He left the West at the age of seventeen, leaving behind a rootless past and a bloody trail of violence. In the East he became one of the wealthiest financiers in America—and one of the most feared and hated. Now, suffering from incurable cancer, he has come back to New Mexico to die alone. But when an all-out range war erupts, Flint chooses to help Nancy Kerrigan, a local rancher. A cold-eyed speculator is setting up the land swindle of a lifetime, and Buckdun, a notorious assassin, is there to back his play.

They are just about as bad and evil as outlaw gangs come. But in the end, they finally go straight.

Although he doesn't know cattle or cowboys, Missourian Jim Traft finds himself as the foreman of a tough Arizona outfit tasked with fencing a hundred miles of open cattle range. Brought on by his wealthy uncle, he faces this difficult trial with youthful aplomb. But Traft faces a community that stands to suffer because of this new drift fence, and he must walk a fine line in order to honor his uncle's business while not incurring the wrath of longtime residents....

After surviving the brutality of the First World War, Clifton Forrest returns home to find that his childhood home was stolen from his family. With his parents robbed of their property and the area under the firm control of his old acquaintance, Lundeen, Cliff must fight both his enemy and his ailing body to regain the right to a peaceful life on the land he once called home. The Shepherd of Guadaloupe tells of Cliff's heroic journey as he battles Lundeen while juggling his love for his parents and the love of Lundeen's daughter, Virginia.

No one knows why the mysterious rider showed up at the ranch, or where he came from. He seems gentle and kindly, but fire smolders behind those eyes, which can ignite in a sudden blaze of gunfire.

The Lindsay family has come west hoping to help the father, John, recover from an illness. When they arrive, they are induced to purchase Spanish Peaks Ranch, an abandoned United States military post surrounded by mountains. It seems like a perfect place to settle into their new life as ranchers. As they soon find out, though, this deserted fort is equally suited for both protection and imprisonment.

In the days of the frontier West, it was not unusual for desperadoes and fugitives from justice to seemingly disappear from the face of the earth. Shadow on the Trail by Zane Grey, one of the best-selling authors of all time, is the story of one such man who returned to reestablish himself in a law-abiding society. In Texas, young bank robber Wade Holden, once the toughest, fastest trigger man in the notorious Simm Bell gang, makes a promise to his dying mentor that he will go straight. But with the Rangers on his tail, he struggles to find sanctuary.

Hot-blooded Georgiana Stockwell will break a man's heart while he's eating out of her hand. Moving from the East to join her schoolteacher sister in the rugged wilds of Tonto Basin, Arizona, Georgiana makes quite an impression. Despite her sister's best efforts, Georgiana creates a culture clash as her modern, free-spirited personality comes up against the code of the West, the unwritten law of the range that everyone is expected to follow.

When Brazos Keene, a haunted cowboy with an honorable streak, comes across Twin Sombreros Ranch, he finds himself dragged into a vicious family feud. A convenient fall guy, Brazos is accused of the murder of Allen Neece, son of Abe Neece. The Neeces are the former owners of Twin Sombreros but lost it to the Surface family when their $50,000 herd of cattle mysteriously disappeared. Brazos barely manages to avoid a hanging, but when he falls for one of the Neece girls, he can't leave without finding out who really killed Allen and what's at the bottom of this war over the ranch.

To the Last Man is Zane Grey's archetypal tale of a bitter feud between two unforgiving factions: the ranchers led by Jean Isbel and, on the other side, Lee Jorth and his band of cattle rustlers. In the grip of a relentless code of loyalty to their own people, they fight the war of the Tonto Basin, desperately, doggedly, to the last man, neither side seeing the futility of it until it is too late.

Clint Belmet's parents were killed in a Comanche raid when he was young, but that hasn't stopped him from taking a job leading freight caravans on the old Santa Fe Trail, from Saint Louis, Missouri, to Santa Fe, New Mexico - a route that goes right through Comanche territory. Here is the raw, primitive West of the early pioneers, great caravans of freighters rumbling across the deadly prairies, risking attack by Comanche.

Alone again! Just like his orphaned boyhood. Those are Nevada's thoughts as he turns from the only home and happiness he has ever known. But it had all been a lie, at least on his part. He had been hiding his true identity from his best friend, Ben, and the woman he loved, Hettie. They knew him as Nevada, a man they care for and respected, when in truth he was a wandering fugitive gunman, notorious from Nevada clear to Tombstone, Arizona.

The story of a Civil War soldier finding his humanity in the face of horrible savagery. Emerging from the Civil War a shamed and broken man, Stephen Latch turns to a life of thievery and murder. Still hoping to uphold the values of the Confederacy, Latch sets his sights on the wealth of resources pouring westward from the northern United States, putting together a band of ruthless misfits to help him stake his claim of the riches of the caravans.

Owen Wister’s The Virginian pre-dates the classic novels of Zane Grey and Max Brand and is considered by many to be the original Western. Dedicated to Wister’s friend and fellow outdoorsman Theodore Roosevelt, this timeless tale almost single-handedly established the cowboy archetype in literature. A quiet, noble foreman of a Wyoming cattle ranch in the 1870s, the Virginian falls for pretty schoolteacher Molly Wood. But when a rival suitor challenges his honor, the Virginian struggles to make his beloved Molly understand the harsh justice of the West.

The lifeless bodies of Texas Rangers lay scattered on the floor of Bryant’s Gap. One man, wounded and left for the buzzards, comes back to consciousness and vows to bring the killers to justice. Now known only as the Lone Ranger, this man, his steadfast horse, Silver, and trusted friend, Tonto, set out to bring justice to the men who ambushed him and his fellow rangers.

Clarence Mulford's classic Western introduces the legendary Hopalong Cassidy and other colorful cohorts from the Bar-20 ranch. While the Hopalong Cassidy of film and TV (portrayed by the silver-haired, avuncular William Boyd) was clean-cut and polished, Mulford's original Cassidy is rough-and-tumble and foul-mouthed, thriving on brawls and gun-fights. Bar-20 depicts Cassidy as he was originally conceived, fierce and free-wheeling, and matches the cowboy hero up against Slim Travennes.

In this romantic and raw adventure set in the untamed wilderness of Wyoming of 1886, an anonymous college graduate ventures out west where he encounters gun fights, lynching, cattle rustlers, high-stake poker games, Indian attacks, and a brave, honest and imposing cowboy known simply as the Virginian. Presented as the archetypal, ideal hero of the "western" genre (which was novelized for the very first time in this same book), the Virginian, a foreman at Shiloh Ranch, carries a strong sense of justice.

Harry Destry was a rough-and-tumble fighter who never lost a battle. But after six years in jail for a robbery he didn't commit, he comes back a changed man. The townsfolk believe he's beaten. They think all the fight's gone right out of him. And that's exactly what Destry wants them to think....

Deadwood, South Dakota. Miners flock there seeking fortunes, while cardsharps, bandits, and businessmen seek to deprive those who strike gold by means fair and foul. Legendary former lawman Seth Bullock plans to keep the peace by any means necessary—especially when his good friend, President Theodore Roosevelt, is expected in town to celebrate the anniversary of Deadwood's founding.

When Wes Montana's Arapaho mother is murdered‚ the hired gun discovers his white father, Ray Eastman‚ who had abandoned them before Wes was born‚ is still alive‚ wealthy with family‚ and may have ordered her death. Swearing vengeance on his own father‚ Wes yet finds himself on his father's side in the middle of a range war fueled by Eastman's unfaithful wife.

Even at the age of 14, folks were calling him the youngest bounty hunter in Texas. His pa said he was more man than most men. But now his pa lay dead in a dusty Lubbock, Texas street, back-shot by a wealthy and powerful New Mexico rancher. Over his father's grave he swore to make things right. Neither his age, impossible odds, nor a thousand miles of unforgiving desert would keep Tad Littlejohn from righting a terrible wrong.

As the son of an infamous gunfighter, Buck Duane has the natural instincts and lightening-quick reflexes of his father. After killing a man in self-defense, he becomes an outlaw living amongst gunfighters and bandits on the Texas-Mexico border.

Zane Grey, an author synonymous with the daring tales of the Wild West, delivers an exciting tale in this phenomenal best-seller, The U.P. Trail. As the country changes around them, a group of Wyoming residents ban together to fight the coming of the Union Pacific Railroad. But railroad engineer Warren Neale, struggling against the terrain, the climate, the populace and even his girlfriend’s abduction, is determined to see his project to completion.

More than any writer before or since, Louis L'Amour brought the American West to life. His action-packed stories deal with eternal themes: honor, deceit, passion, betrayal, loyalty, courage, love. His settings are historically accurate, his prose riveting, and his characters colorful: good guys, bad guys, toughs, roughs, sidekicks, and saints.

In "A Man Called Trent," nester Dick Moffitt lies dead, killed by King Bill Hale's riders. His son Jack and adopted daughter Sally, who witnessed the murder, go for safety to a cabin owned by a man called "Trent" - an alias for Kilkenny, who is seeking to escape his reputation as a gunfighter. In "The Rider of Lost Creek," Lance Kilkenny is the fastest gun in the West, but once the gunfight is over, he disappears. Some time back, Mort Davis saved Kilkenny's life.

More than any other writer before or since, Louis L'Amour brought the American West to life. His action-packed stories deal with eternal themes: honor, deceit, passion, betrayal, loyalty, courage, love. His settings are historically accurate, his prose riveting, and his characters colorful: good guys, bad buys, toughs, roughs, sidekicks and saints.

Betty Zane strays from the usual Western tale, which usually has a man as the hero. Betty is brave and heroic, but never fear - there is a sweetheart to be reunited with in the end. Life along the Ohio River in frontier days is authentically depicted in this saga. The pioneer settlement of Fort Henry is the setting for the action involving traitors, Indian attacks, and a catastrophic fire.

Zane Grey, known and loved primarily for his Western novels, was an avid fisherman. When his writing started paying off, he managed to spend as many as three hundred days a year enjoying the sport. And while he is remembered for his record-breaking catches, such as the 464-pound marlin caught off the coast of Tahiti, Zane Grey also enjoyed freshwater fishing for bass, trout, steelhead, and salmon. In Tales of Freshwater Fishing, Grey recounts his expeditions on the Delaware River, off the West Coast of the United States, and in British Columbia.

He left the West at the age of seventeen, leaving behind a rootless past and a bloody trail of violence. In the East he became one of the wealthiest financiers in America—and one of the most feared and hated. Now, suffering from incurable cancer, he has come back to New Mexico to die alone. But when an all-out range war erupts, Flint chooses to help Nancy Kerrigan, a local rancher. A cold-eyed speculator is setting up the land swindle of a lifetime, and Buckdun, a notorious assassin, is there to back his play.

There will never be another Western writer like Louis L’Amour. A legendary author and indisputably the greatest storyteller in his genre of all time, L’Amour captivated millions of readers and has sold well over three hundred million copies of his works, which includes nearly ninety novels and countless short stories. Mistakes Can Kill You highlights an essential selection featuring nine of L’Amour’s earlier short stories, sometimes written under the pen name Jim Mayo, that exemplify the rugged morality of the best Western writing.

Deputy Marshal Russ Sittell is on special assignment from the Texas Rangers to work with Vaughan Steel in putting a stop to the rampant rustling in Pecos County. But everyone knows that local rancher - and mayor - Granger Longstreth doesn't want any Ranger interference in his town. When Russ takes a job on Longstreth's ranch, he's able to learn exactly how the rancher operates - and he witnesses the growing tension between Longstreth and Steele. A tension that can only lead to trouble.