Monte Walsh - by Jack Schaefer (Paperback)

About the Book

Originally published in 1963, Monte Walsh continues to delight readers as a Western classic and popular favorite.

Book Synopsis

Originally published in 1963, Monte Walsh continues to delight readers as a Western classic and popular favorite. The novel explores the cowboy lives of Monte Walsh and Chet Rollins as they carouse, ride, and work at the Slash Y with Cal Brennan. As the West changes and their cowboy antics are challenged, the two must part ways to pursue new ways of life. Chet marries and goes on to become a successful merchant and then a politician, while Monte can only find solace in continuing the cowboy's way of life until the very end.

Review Quotes

"A definitive novel of male friendship, particularly the friendship of Monte and Chet Rollins, and their relationship to the other men of the Slash Y. Beautifully written, carefully researched and described, this is a character study that resonates. I think it's an unheralded American classic."--George Pelecanos, author of The Martini Shot: A Novella and Stories

"A true American classic in literature. . . . The book is capable of giving great pleasure."-- "Rawlins Times"

"Many consider [Monte Walsh] one of the best Westerns ever written."-- "True West"

"With humor and pathos . . . Schaefer chronicles the passing of the Old West. In loosely connected episodes he vividly portrays the life and times of working cowboy Walsh, sidekick Chet Rollins, and other memorable characters of the Slash Y. Here are shootings, cattle drives, winter storms, and spring floods; cattle rustling, romancin', and horse breaking. Man and beast, pushed to the limits of their endurance, survive or perish."-- "Kliatt"

About the Author

Jack Schaefer was a journalist and writer known for his authentic and memorable characters set in the American West. Schaefer received the Western Literature Association's Distinguished Achievement Award in 1975 and the Saddleman Award in 1986 from the Western Writers of America. His popular Western novels include Shane (1949) and Monte Walsh (1963).

Marc Simmons is a historian and the author of over forty books, among them New Mexico: An Interpretive History and Coronado's Land (both by UNM Press).