| During the millennia before the arrival of the Europeans in North America, a rich oral tradition flourished on this continent. Myths, legends, and songs were passed from generation to generation. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1510: |
Las Sergas de Esplandián, by Garcí Rodríguez Ordóñez de Montalvo, describes California | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1539: | The image of a golden West is sketched in Report of Fray Marcos de Niza | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1542: | Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, La Relacion, first captivity narrative | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1610: | Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá History of New Mexico, verse narrative | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1630: | Fray Alonso de Benavides, Memorial | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1682: | Mary Rowlandson, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God (better known as The Narrative of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson), first captivity narrative in English | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1778: | Jonathan Carver, Three Years Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1782: | Hector St. Jean de Crévecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer, first notable philosophical consideration of frontier life | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1783: | John Ledyard, A Journal of Captain Cook's Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1785: | Captain James Cook, A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1790: | John Meares, Voyages Made in the Years 1788 and 1789 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1799: | Russian explorer A. A. Baranov, "Song," first poem by a white composed in the West Charles Brockden Brown, Edgar Huntly, early portrait of Indians in fiction | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1801: | George Vancouver, A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World François René de Chateaubriand, Atala, early example of romantic primitivism | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1810: | Zebulon M. Pike, An Account of Expeditions to the Sources of the Mississippi and Through the Western Parts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1814: | Nicholas Biddle and Paul Allen edit History of the [Lewis and Clark] Expedition, first publication of expedition journals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1822: | Edwin James, Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, chronicle of the Stephen H. Long expedition | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1823: | James Fenimore Cooper, The Pioneers, first of the five Leatherstocking Tales; introduced western hero to England and Europe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1826: | Timothy Flint, Francis Berrian, first novel in English set in the Southwest | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1827: | Timothy Flint begins publication of Western Monthly Review (1827 30), first magazine published west of the Allegheny Mountains | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1829: | Tokeah; or, The White Rose by Charles Sealsfield (Karl Postl) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1831: | James Ohio Pattie, The Personal Narrative of James O. Pattie, early travel narrative of California and the Southwest | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1832: | Albert Pike, "The Fall of Poland," in his Prose Sketches and Poems Written in the Western Country; first poem in English by a white and composed in the West | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1835: | Washington Irving, A Tour on the Prairies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1836: | Washington Irving, Astoria | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1837: | Washington Irving, The Adventures of Captain Bonneville | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1839: | John K. Townsend, Narrative of a Journey Across the Rocky Mountains and the Colorado River to the Sandwich Islands | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1840: | Richard Henry Dana, Two Years Before the Mast, travel account dealing in part with Spanish California | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1841: | Das Kajütenbuch (The Cabin Book) by Charles Sealsfield (Karl Postl) George Catlin, North American Indians | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1843: | Frederick Marryat, The Travels and Adventures of Monsieur R. Violet in California, Sonora, and Western Texas Father Pierre De Smet, Letters and Sketches Thomas J. Farnham, Travels in the Great Western Prairies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1844: | George Wilkins Kendall, Narrative of the Texan-Santa Fé Expedition Josiah Gregg, Commerce of the Prairies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1846: | John C. Frémont, Narrative of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the Year 1842 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1847: | David H. Coyner, The Lost Trappers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1848: | Die Flusspiraten des Mississippi (River Pirates of the Mississippi) by Friedrich Gerstäcker | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1849: | George Horatio Derby (John Phoenix), first western humorist, arrives in California Francis Parkman, The California and Oregon Trail George Frederick Ruxton, Life in the Far West, Englishman's views of mountain men, Indians, and traders | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1850: | Lewis H. Garrard, Wah-To-Yah and the Taos Trail, classic account of trapper life by American teenager Bayard Taylor, El Dorado | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1851: | The Scalp Hunters by Mayne Reid | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1853: | Alonzo Delano, Pen Knife Sketches; or, Chips of the Old Block | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1854: | John Rollin Ridge, The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta, the Celebrated California Bandit, first novel by a Native American Margaret Jewett Bailey, The Grains, or Passages in the Life of Ruth Rover, first novel of the Northwest Alonzo Delano, Across the Plains and Among the Diggings 1855: |
Mrs. Maria Ward, Female Life Among the Mormons | 1856: |
George Horatio Derby, Phoenixiana | The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, as dictated to T. D. Bonner 1857: |
James G. Swan, The Northwest Coast | Alonzo Delano, A Live Woman in the Mines 1858: |
Juan Seguín, Personal Memoirs | Les Trppeurs de l'Arkansas (The Trappers of Arkansas) by Gustave Aimard 1860: |
Horace Greeley, Overland Journey | Moncure Daniel Conway edits first midwestem little magazine, The Dial 1861: |
Der Halbindianer (The Half-Breed) by Balduin Möllhausen | 1864: |
J. Ross Browne, Crusoe's Island | Theodore Winthrop, The Canoe and the Saddle 1865: |
Mark Twain, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" | Charles Farrar Browne, Artemus Ward, His Travels Outcroppings: Being Selections of California Verse, edited by Bret Harte, first Far West poetry anthology 1866: |
Bret Harte and Mark Twain establish themselves in San Francisco | Thomas J. Dimsdale, The Vigilantes of Montana, or Popular Justice in the Rocky Mountains, early apology for extralegal justice in the West Mark Twain, The Celebrated Jumping Frog, and Other Sketches 1868: |
The Overland Monthly is founded in San Francisco and publishes Bret | Harte's "The Luck of Roaring Camp" 1869: |
Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad | John Muir's first summer in the Sierra The Luck of Routing Camp and Other Sketches, Bret Harte's first collection 1870: |
Bret Harte, "Plain Language from Truthful James" | 1871: |
Cincinnatus Hiner [Joaquin] Miller, Songs of the Sierras, published in | England 1872: |
Mark Twain, Roughing It | Clarence King, Mountaneering in the Sierra Nevada 1874: |
George A. Custer, My Life on the Plains | Nicolai Severin Hassel, Alf Brage eller skolelaereren i Minnesota En original norsk-amerkansk fortelling (Alf Brage, or the Schoolteacher in Minnesota: An original Norwegian-American Story), first Norwegian- American novel 1875: |
John Wesley Powell, The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its | Tributaries 1876: |
Dan de Quille (William Wright), The Big Bonanza | 1878: |
Joaquin Miller, The Danites (First Families in the Sierras, 1875) | 1879: |
Arthur Morecamp (Thomas Pilgrim), Live Boys; or Charley and Nasho | in Texas 1881: |
Bill Nye (Edgar Wilson Nye) founds Laramie Boomerang, a newspaper | outlet for Nye's comic sketches Isabella L. Bird, A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains 1883: |
Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins, Life Among the Piutes, first autobiography | and tribal history by an Indian woman Mary Hallock Foote, The Led-Horse Claim E. W. Howe, The Story of a Country Town Robert Louis Stevenson, The Silverado Squatters 1884: |
Helen Hunt Jackson, Ramona | 1885: |
Charles A. Siringo, A Texas Cow Boy, or Fifteen Years on the Hurricane | Deck of a Spanish Pony Elizabeth B. Custer, Boots and Saddles, or Life in Dakota with General Custer Kristofer Janson, Praeriens saga (Saga of the Prairies) 1887: |
Josiah Royce, The Feud of Oakfield Creek | Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet 1888: |
Frances Courtenay Baylor, Juan and Juanita | James Bryce, The American Commonwealth, Englishman's view of America 1890: |
Adolph Bandelier, The Delight Makers | 1891: |
Hamlin Garland, Main-Travelled Roads | John Gregory Bourke, On the Border with Crook 1892: |
Eusabio Chacon, El hijo de la tempestad (Son of the Tempest) and Tras la | tormenta la calma (Calm After the Storm) 1893: |
Charles F. Lummis, The Land of Poco Tiempo | Karl May, Winnetou 1894: |
John Muir, The Mountains of California | A. S. Mercer, The Banditti of the Plains Hamlin Garland, Crumbling Idols 1895: |
Founding of The Lark, little magazine in San Francisco | The Land of Sunshine, edited by Charles F. Lummis (1895 1909) The Wave, literary magazine edited by James O'Hara Cosgrave Carl Hansen, Praeriens børn (Children of the Prairie) 1897: |
Alfred Henry Lewis, Wolfville | 1898: |
Ernest Thompson Seton, Wild Animals I Have Known | Frank Norris, Moran of the Lady Letty, his first novel Nephi Anderson, Added Upon Gertrude Atherton, The Californians 1899: |
Frank Norris, McTeague: A Story of San Francisco | Edwin Markham, "The Man with the Hoe" 1900: |
Jack London, The Son of the Wolf, his first book | Francis LaFlesche, The Middle Five, book-length autobiography by Indian 1901: |
Frank Norris, The Octopus: A Story of California | John G. Neihardt, "The Divine Enchantment," his first major poem 1902: |
Owen Wister, The Virginian | Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa; Sioux), Indian Boyhood Gertrude Atherton, The Splendid Idle Forties Frederic Remington, John Ermine of the Yellowstone 1903: |
Mary Austin, The Land of Little Rain | Jack London, Call of the Wild and The People of the Abyss Andy Adams, The Log of a Cowboy Billy the Kid, play by Walter Woods 1904: |
John C. Van Dyke, The Desert | Mary Austin, The Basket Woman 1905: |
Emerson Hough, Heart's Desire | 1906: |
William Vaughn Moody, The Great Divide | George Wharton James, The Wonders of the Colorado Desert B. M. Bower (Bertha Sinclair Muzzy), Chip of the Flying U Thomas Hornsby Ferril, "A Mountain Thought," first published poem Early Western Travels, edited by Reuben Thwaites, multivolume collection of major western travel and exploration narratives 1907: |
O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), Heart of the West | Oliver O. Howard, My Life and Experiences Among Our Hostile Indians 1908: |
Martha Summerhayes, Vanished Arizona: Recollections of the Army Life | of a New England Woman 1909: |
Founding of Texas Folklore Society | Jack London, Martin Eden Frances M. A. Roe, Army Letters from an Officer's Wife Enos Mills, Wild Life on the Rockies 1910: |
Eugene Manlove Rhodes, Good Men and True | 1911: |
Sharlot Hall, Cactus and Pine, collection of western poems | 1912: |
Robinson Jeffers, Flagons and Apples, first volume of poems | Zane Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage John Muir, The Yosemite Ole Rølvaag, Amerika-Breve (Letters from America), first novel 1913: |
Willa Cather, O Pioneers!, her first farm novel | Oscar Micheaux, The Conquest: The Story of a Negro Pioneer, first novel by a black in the West 1914: |
Robinson Jeffers moves to Carmel, California, with his new wife Una | Osborne Russell, Journal of a Trapper, notable mountain man document 1915: |
Founding of Midland, regional literary magazine, by John T. Frederick | Harry Leon Wilson, Rugggles of Red Gap Southwest Review begins publication (Texas Review, 1915 24) John G. Neihardt publishes first Song of Epic Cycle of the West (other four Songs in 1919, 1925, 1935, 1941) Willa Cather, The Song of the Lark 1916: |
Charles A. Eastman (Sioux), From the Deep Woods to Civilization | 1917: |
Hamlin Garland, A Son of the Middle Border | Mary Hallock Foote, Edith Bonham 1918: |
Willa Cather, My Ántonia | 1919; |
Will Rogers (Cherokee), Rogers-isms: The Cowboy Philosopher on the | Peace Conference and Rogers-isms: The Cowboy Philosopher on Prohibition H. L. Davis wins Levinson Prize for poems in Poetry: A Magazine of Verse 1920: |
Alice Corbin (Henderson), Red Earth, an early volume drawing on | Indian and Hispanic traditions of the Southwest Sinclair Lewis, Main Street 1921: |
Eugene Manlove Rhodes, Stepsons of Light | Hamlin Garland, A Daughter of the Middle Border, wins Pulitzer Prize Harvey Fergusson, Blood of the Conquerors 1922: |
Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt | Dame Shirley (Louise A. K. S. Clappe), The Shirley Letters, edited by Thomas Russell; important source on Gold Rush camps Harry Leon Wilson, Merton of the Movies 1923: |
Emerson Hough, North of 36 | Willa Cather wins Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours (1922) Mary Austin, The American Rhythm Land of Sunshine merges with Overland Monthly Willa Cather, A Lost Lady 1924: |
Sidney Howard, They Knew What They Wanted | Mary Austin, The Land of Journeys' Ending Robinson Jeffers, Tamar and Other Poems; reprinted as Roan Stallion and Other Poems (1925) 1925: |
Willa Cather, The Professor's House | Frederic Logan Paxson, History of the American Frontier, wins Pulitzer Prize for history Dorothy Scarborough, The Wind Martha Ostenso, Wild Geese, her first novel of prairie farm life Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith, wins Pulitzer Prize for fiction 1926: |
Eugene Manlove Rhodes, Pasó por Aquí | Thomas Hornsby Ferril, High Passage, wins Yale Younger Poets Award Susan Shelby Magoffin, Down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico Will James, Smoky, the Cow Horse Walter Noble Burns, The Saga of Billy the Kid 1927: |
Ole Rølvaag, Giants in the Earth, first published in English | Mourning Dove, Co-ge-we-a, first novel by an Indian woman Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop Vernon Louis Parrington, Main Currents in American Thought, classic interpretation from western populistic perspective Upton Sinclair, Oil, first major novel on oil industry Frontier begins as regional magazine, H. G. Merriam as editor Prairie Schooner begins publication at the University of Nebraska Charles Erskine Scott Wood, Heavenly Discourses Harvey Fergusson, Wolf Song 1928: |
Vardis Fisher, Toilers of the Hills,first novel and first in Antelope Hills | series Lynn Riggs, A Lantern to See By 1929: |
J. Frank Dobie, A Vaquero of the Brush Country | Oliver La Farge, Laughing Boy, wins Pulitzer Prize Folk-Say: A Regional Miscellany, notable regional collection, B. A. Botkin, editor Wallace Thurman, The Blacker the Berry 1930: |
Frances Gillmor, Windsinger | Edna Ferber, Cimarron Sinclair Lewis becomes first American writer to be awarded a Nobel Prize Max Brand (Frederick Faust), Destry Rides Again J. Frank Dobie, Coronado's Children, folk tales of the Southwest Writers' Editions cooperative of Santa Fe begins publishing south- western works Katherine Anne Porter, Flowering Judas, first collection of short stories Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, first Sam Spade novel 1931: |
New Mexico Review begins, T. M. Pearce and Dudley Winn, editors | Ole Rølvaag, Their Fathers' God, his final prairie novel Lynn Riggs (Cherokee), Green Grow the Lilacs, play from which the musical Oklahoma was made Robert Cantwell, Laugh and Lie Down 1932: |
Bernard DeVoto, Mark Twain's America, sets off argument with Van | Wyck Brooks on Mark Twain, the West, and American culture John Joseph Mathews (Osage), Wah' Kon-Tah Mary Austin, Earth Horizon Maxwell Anderson, Night over Taos John G. Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks 1933: |
Frederick Jackson Turner, The Significance of Sections in American | History, wins Pulitzer Prize for history Robinson Jeffers, Give Your Heart to the Hawks T. M. Pearce and Telfair Hendon, eds., America in the Southwest: A Regional Anthology The Lone Ranger, WXYZ Radio, Detroit 1934: |
Robert Cantwell, The Land of Plenty | Ruth Suckow, The Folks William Saroyan, The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze and Other Stories, his first collection Thomas Hornsby Ferril, Westering 1935: |
Paul Horgan, No Quarter Given, his first novel about the Southwest | Bernard DeVoto begins his twenty-one-year stint as writer of the Easy Chair column in Harper's Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie Robert E. Sherwood, The Petrified Forest Mari Sandoz, Old Jules, wins Atlantic Non-Fiction Prize H. L. Davis, Honey in the Horn, wins Harper Prize 1935; Pulitzer Prize 1936 John Steinbeck, Tortilla Flat Overland Monthly ceases publication George Stewart, Bret Harte: Argonaut and Exile 1936: |
John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle | Sophus Winther, Take All to Nebraska, first of three novels about Americans on the frontier Bernard DeVoto begins brief stint as editor of Saturday Review of Literature (1936-38) Lynn Riggs, Cherokee Night, first play by Indian writer on an Indian subject D'Arcy McNickle, The Surrounded George Milburn, Catalogue: A Novel 1937: |
Conrad Richter, The Sea of Grass | E. P. Conkle, Two Hundred Were Chosen John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men Wallace Stegner, Remembering Laughter, his first novel wins the Little, Brown novelette prize Oliver La Farge, The Enemy Gods Intermountain Review (later Rocky Mountain Review and Western Review) begins publication, edited by Ray B. West 1938: |
Mabel Major, Rebecca Smith, and T. M. Pearce, eds., Southwest | Heritage Robinson Jeffers, Selected Poetry John Steinbeck, The Long Valley 1939: |
William Attaway, Let Me Breathe Thunder | William Saroyan, The Time of Your Life, wins Pulitzer Prize (1940) but he declines the award Paul Corey, Three Miles Square, first of Mantz trilogy Vardis Fisher, Children of God, wins Harper Prize Franklin Walker, San Francisco's Literary Frontier John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, wins Pulitzer Prize Katherine Anne Porter, Pale Horse, Pale Rider J. Frank Dobie's Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver wins first Texas Institute of Letters award for best book by a Texan Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep Nathanael West, The Day of the Locust Carey McWilliams, Factories in the Fields, revisionist study of farm workers William Everson, San Joaquin Aldous Huxley, After Many a Summer Dies the Swan Joseph Henry Jackson, Bad Company 1940: |
Yvor Winters, Poems | Walter Van Tilburg Clark, The Ox-Bow Incident William Saroyan, My Name is Aram Judy Van Der Veer, November Grass Alan Swallow publishes first book: Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren, eds., Signets: An Anthology of Beginnings Edward and Charles Weston, California and the West Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely Paul Bailey, For This My Glory John Steinbeck and Edward Ricketts, Sea of Cortez 1941: |
J. Frank Dobie, The Longhorns | Kenneth Rexroth, In What Hour, first poetic collection Frank Waters, People of the Valley George R. Stewart, Storm Maurine Whipple, The Giant Joshua 1942: |
Frank Waters, The Man Who Killed the Deer | Wright Morris, My Uncle Dudley, his first novel J. Frank Dobie, Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest Idwal Jones, The Vineyard William Saroyan, The Human Comedy Robert Easton, The Happy Man Virginia Sorensen, A Little Lower Than the Angels 1943: |
Wallace Stegner, The Big Rock Candy Mountain | Raymond Chandler, The Lady in the Lake 1944: |
Bernard DeVoto, The Literary Fallacy, precipitates controversy with | Sinclair Lewis J. Frank Dobie, A Texan in England Feike Feikema (Frederick Manfred), The Golden Bowl Ernest Haycox, Bugles in the Afternoon 1945: |
John Joseph Mathews (Osage), Talking to the Moon | George R. Stewart, Names on the Land Josephina Niggli, Mexican Village Oliver La Farge, Raw Material, an autobiographical account Walter Van Tilburg Clark, The City of Trembling Leaves Khatchik Minasian wins Edwin Markham Gold Medal for Poetry Arizona Quarterly begins, Albert R. Gregenheimer founding editor Promised Land, edited by Stewart Holbrook, Northwest regional anthology James Stevens, Big Jim Turner Great Tales of the American West, edited by Harry E. Maule John Steinbeck, Cannery Row Luke Short (Frederick Glidden), And the Wind Blows Free 1946: |
Frank Waters, The Colorado | Southwesterners Write, eds. T. M. Pearce and A. P. Thomason Mine Okubo, Citizen 13660, first major work on Japanese-American relocation camp experiences. Carlos Bulosan, America Is in the Heart, first major book by a Filipino- American 1947: |
Herbert Krause, The Thresher | Feike Feikema (Frederick Manfred), This Is the Year Frank Waters, The Yogi of Cockroach Court Mario Suárez's first story appears in Arizona Quarterly Western Humanities Review, Jack Garlington founding editor A. B. Guthrie, The Big Sky 1948: |
Bernard DeVoto, Across the Wide Missouri, wins Pulitzer Prize for | history Wright Morris, The Home Place Forrester Blake, Johnny Christmas Theodore Roethke, The Lost Son and Other Poems Robinson Jeffers, The Double Ax Samuel W. Taylor, Heaven Knows Why George R. Stewart, Fire 1949: |
Tom Lea, The Brave Bulls | Jack Schaefer, Shane Walter Van Tilburg Clark, The Track of the Cat A. B. Guthrie, The Way West, wins Pulitzer Prize 1950: |
Frank Waters, Masked Gods | Franklin Walker, A Literary History of Southern California Henry Nash Smith, Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth Walter Van Tilburg Clark, The Watchful Gods and Other Stories Khatchik Minasian, The Simple Songs of Khatchik Minasian, first poetry collection Harvey Fergusson, Grant of Kingdom Wallace Stegner, Women on the Wall, first short story collection 1951: |
A. Grove Day, The Sky Clears: Poetry of the American lndian | 1952: |
Bernard DeVoto, The Course of Empire | Tom Lea, The Wonderful Country John Houghton Allen, Southwest Thomas Hornsby Ferril, New and Selected Poems Joseph Wood Krutch, The Desert Year John Steinbeck, East of Eden Edna Ferber, Giant Ernest Haycox, The Earthbreakers, the last written of his many novels J. Frank Dobie, The Mustangs Walter Prescott Webb, The Great Frontier 1953: |
William Inge, Picnic, wins Pulitzer Prize for drama | Jack Schaefer, The Canyon J. Mason Brewer, The Word on the Brazos Louis L'Amour, Hondo, his first well-known Western H. L. Davis, Team Bells Woke Me and Other Stories Dorothy M. Johnson, Indian Country, a collection of stories 1954: |
Thomas McGrath, Figures from a Double World, wins Alan Swallow | Award Paul Horgan, Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History, wins Pulitzer and Bancroft prizes for history Frederick Manfred, Lord Grizzly Theodore Roethke, The Waking, wins Pulitzer Prize for poetry Wallace Stegner, Beyond the Hundredth Meridian Alan Le May, The Searchers Harvey Fergusson, The Conquest of Don Pedro 1955: |
William Inge, Bus Stop | Six Poets at the Six Gallery: Kenneth Rexroth, Philip Lamantia, Michael McClure, Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, and Allen Ginsberg 1956: |
Wright Morris, The Field of Vision, wins National Book Award (1957) | W. H. Hutchinson, A Bar Cross Man William Eastlake, Go in Beauty Allen Ginsberg, Howl and Other Poems A. B. Guthrie, These Thousand Hills Fred Gipson, Old Yeller Edward Abbey, The Brave Cowboy 1957: |
William Inge, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs | Jack Kerouac, On the Road Jack Schaefer, Company of Cowards Northwest Review begins publication John Okada, No-No Boy, major work on Japanese-American relocation camp Robert Laxalt, Sweet Promised Land, first major work on American Basques Blue Cloud Quarterly, literary magazine, begins publication, Brother Benet Tuedten editor Frederick Manfred, Riders of Judgment Dorothy M. Johnson, The Hanging Tree, a collection of stories Shig Murao and Lawrence Ferlinghetti arrested for selling "obscene" Howl 1958: |
San Francisco columnist Herb Caen coins term "Beatnik" | Theodore Roethke, Words for the Wind: The Collected Verse of Theodore Roethke, wins Bollingen Prize José Antonio Villarreal, Pocho, first important Chicano novel The Book of Negro Folklore, edited by Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps William Eastlake, The Bronc People Wright Morris, The Territory Ahead 1959: |
The Wormwood Review, Marvin Malone, publisher | Frederick Manfred, Conquering Horse Gary Snyder, Riprap, first collection of poems 1960: |
Jack Schaefer, Old Ramon | Don Berry, Trask Wright Morris, Ceremony in Lone Tree Poetry Northwest begins publication Paul Horgan, A Distant Trumpet E. L. Doctorow, Welcome to Hard Times Will Henry (Henry Wilson Allen), From Where the Sun Now Stands John Graves, Goodbye to a River 1961: |
Larry McMurtry, Horseman Pass By, his first novel | The Outsider magazine founded by Jon and Louise Webb John Howard Griffin, Black Like Me William Brammer, The Gay Place, first novel 1962: |
John Steinbeck is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature | Don Berry, Moontrap William Stafford, Traveling Through the Dark, wins the National Book Award for Poetry (1963) Katherine Anne Porter, Ship of Fools A Country in the Mind, edited by Ray B. West Upton Sinclair, Autobiography Theodora Kroeber, Ishi in Two Worlds Ken Kesey, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest Edward Abbey, Fire on the Mountain 1963: |
Frank Waters, Book of the Hopi | Jack Schaefer, Monte Walsh William Eastlake, Portrait of an Artist with Twenty-Six Horses South Dakota Review begins publication, John R. Milton, editor Virginia Lee, The House That Tai Ming Built 1964: |
Benjamin Capps, The Trail to Ogallala | J. Frank Dobie, Cow People Theodore Roethke, The Far Field, posthumous The Western Review begins publication Thomas Berger, Little Big Man Thomas McGrath, New and Selected Poems Frederick Manfred, Scarlet Plume Ken Kesey, Sometimes a Great Notion Sam Shepard, Cowboys, first play begins off Broadway 1965: |
Katherine Anne Porter, The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter, | wins Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award ( 1966) Luis Valdez founds El Teatro Campesino Joan Didion, Run River, her first novel Oliver La Farge, The Door in the Wall, a collection of short stories lnternational Directory of Little Magazines and Small Presses, published by Len Fulton and Ellen Ferber Organization of the Western Literature Association Vardis Fisher, Mountain Men 1966: |
Frank Waters, The Woman at Otowi Crossing | Western American Literature begins publication, J. Golden Taylor and Delbert E. Wylder, founding editors James K. Folsom, The American Western Novel Thomas Hornsby Ferril, Words for Denver Theodore Roethke, The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke Larry McMurtry, The Last Picture Show 1967: |
Publication of Southwest Writers Series, edited by James W. Lee | (1967 74)William Goetzmann, Exploration and Empire, wins Pulitzer Prize for history Jack Schaefer, Mavericks COSMEP (Committee of Small Magazine Editors and Publishers) founded in Berkeley by Len Fulton and Jerry Bums Ishmael Reed, The Free-lance Pallbearers, first novel Small Press Review begins publication, edited by Len Fulton Southwest Writers Anthology, edited by Martin Shockley Gerald Locklin, Sunset Beach, first poetry collection Gary Snyder, The Back Country Robert Bly, The Light Around the Body, wins National Book Award for poetry ( 1969) Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America Wright Morris, In Orbit 1968: |
Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire | Leslie Fiedler, The Return of the Vanishing American American Negro Folklore, edited by J. Mason Brewer Richard Bradford, Red Sky at Morning N. Scott Momaday, House Made of Dawn, first novel, wins Pulitzer Prize (1969) 1969: |
Frank Waters, Pumpkin Seed Point | Vine Deloria, Custer Died for Your Sins Leonard Gardner, Fat City, first novel James D. Houston, Gig, first novel The American Indian Speaks in Poetry, Fiction, Art, Music, Commentary, landmark anthology edited by John R. Milton Wallace Stegner, The Sound of Mountain Water Gary Snyder, Earth House Hold 1970: |
Thomas McGrath, Letter to an Imaginary Friend, Part I and II | Joan Didion, Play It as It Lays A. B. Guthrie, Arfive Paul Horgan, Whitewater 1971: |
Founding of Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature, David D. | Anderson and others Frank Waters, Pike's Peak Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose, wins Pulitzer Prize (1972) John Cawelti, The Six-Gun Mystique Wright Morris, Fire Sermon First issue of Southwestern American Literature published The Literature of the American West, edited by J. Golden Taylor Lawrence Clark Powell, California Classics Lawson Inada, Before the War, first collection of poems Down at the Santa Fe Depot, edited by David Kherdian and James Baloian Tomás Rivera, ". . . y no se lo tragó la tierra," first novel Paul Foreman founds Thorp Springs Press Elmer Kelton, The Day the Cowboys Quit 1972: |
Rudolfo Anaya, Bless Me, Ultima | Hanay Geiogamah, Body Indian, opens John Seelye, The Kid Frank Chin, The Chickencoop Chinaman, is staged Thomas McGrath, The Movie at the End of the World: Collected Poems Boise State College Western Writers Series begins, edited by Wayne Chatterton and James H. Maguire Ann H. Zwinger (with Beatrice Willard), Land Above the Trees: A Guide to American Alpine Tundra George Keithly, The Donner Party, first poetry book Larry Levis, The Wrecking Crew, first collection of poems, wins U.S. Award from International Poetry Forum 1973: |
Elmer Kelton, The Time It Never Rained | Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan Wright Morris, A Life Gerald Haslam, Okies, first collection of stories Frank Bidart, Golden State, first poetry collection Kevin Starr, Americans and the California Dream 1850 1915 Arna Bontemps, The Old South Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel, The Carousel Would Haunt Me, first poetry collection Rolando Hinojosa-S[mith], Estampas del valle y otras obras, first collection of stories William T. Pilkington, My Blood's Country Paul Foreman, Redwing Blackbird, first poetry collection Richard Hugo, The Lady in Kicking Horse Reservoir 1974: |
Copper Canyon Press founded by Sam Hamill and Tree Swenson | Art Cuelho, The Last Inch of Shade, first poetry collection Miguel Méndez, Peregrinas de Aztlán Western Writing, edited by Gerald Haslam Arnold R. Rojas, These Were the Vaqueros Len Fulton, The Grassman, first novel Lawrence Clark Powell, Southwest Classics The Man to Send Rain Clouds, edited by Kenneth Rosen; short story collection of contemporary American Indian writers Hector Lee, Tales of California Gary Snyder, Turtle Island, wins Pulitzer Prize (1975) John Nichols, The Milagro Beanfield War James Welch, Winter in the Blood Tillie Olsen, Yonnondio: From the Thirties 1975: |
Laurence Yep, Dragonwings | Jack Schaefer, An American Bestiary Ron Arias, The Road to Tamazunchale Edward Abbey, The Monkey Wrench Gang Paul Horgan, Lamy of Santa Fe, wins Pulitzer Prize (1976) for history Literature of the American Indian: Views and Interpretations, first anthology of critical essays dealing with American Indian literature Aiiieeeee!: An Anthology of Asian-American Writers, edited by Frank Chin, et al. The Western Story: Fact, Fiction and Myth, edited by Philip Durham and Everett L. Jones Larry McMurtry, Terms of Endearment 1976: |
Wallace Stegner, The Spectator Bird, wins National Book Award | David Wagoner, Collected Poems Preston Jones, A Texas Trilogy, opens on Broadway William Everson, Archetype West Luis Valdez, La Carpa de los Rasquachis El Teatro Campesino performs in Europe Gerald Locklin, The Chase, first novel Phantasm founded by Larry Jackson 1977: |
Southwest: A Contemporary Anthology, edited by Karl and Jane Kopp | William Stafford, Stories That Could Be True: New and Collected Poems Paul Horgan, The Thin Mountain Air Gary Soto, The Elements of San Joaquin, first collection of poetry Leslie Silko, Ceremony Gary Witherspoon, Language and Art in the Navajo Universe Richard Hugo, 31 Letters and 13 Dreams Dick Harrison, Unnamed Country: The Struggle for a Canadian Prairie Fiction Robert Day, The Last Cattle Drive 1978: |
William Stafford, Writing the Australian Crawl | Sam Shepard, Buried Child, wins the Pulitzer Prize for drama Luis Valdez, Zoot Suit California Heartland, regional anthology edited by Gerald Haslam and James D. Houston Women Poets of the West: An Anthology 1850 1950, edited byA. Thomas Trusky Barry Holstun Lopez, Of Wolves and Men Elmer Kelton, The Good Old Boys C. L. Sonnichsen, From Hopalong to Hud: Thoughts on Western Fiction Ivan Doig, This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind 1979: |
Chester Seltzer, The Stories of Amado Muro | Lanford Wilson, Tulley's Folly, wins Pulitzer Prize for drama Jessamyn West, The Life I Really Lived Marilyn Brown, The Earthkeepers Wallace Stegner, Recapitulation Dick Harrison, Crossing Frontiers: Papers in American and Canadian Western Literature 1980: |
Wright Morris, Plains Song, wins American Book Award | Sam Shepard, True West, opens off Broadway Southwestern American Literature: A Bibliography, edited by John Q. Anderson, et al. Maxine Hong Kingston, China Men John R. Milton, The Novel of the American West 1981: |
Don D. Walker, Clio's Cowboys: Studies in the Historiography of the | Cattle Trade Frank Waters, Mountain Dialogues Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping Southwest: Toward the Twenty-First Century, edited by Karl and Jane Kopp A Bibliographical Guide to Midwestern Literature, edited by Gerald C. Nemanic Wayne Ude, Becoming Coyote, first novel 1982: |
Wright Morris wins Commonwealth Award for Distinguished Service | in Literature William Stafford, A Glass House in the Rain Thomas McGrath, Passages Toward the Dark Richard Dokey, August Light Ivan Doig, The Sea Runners Texas Books in Review, edited by William T. Pilkington, begins Levi S. Peterson, The Canyons of Grace, first short story collection Fifty Western Writers, edited by Fred Erisman and Richard W. Etulain A. B. Guthrie, Fair Land, Fair Land A Bibliographical Guide to the Study of Western American Literature, compiled by Richard W. Etulain Larry McMurtry, Cadillac Jack Thomas McGuane, Nobody's Angel Lanford Wilson, Angels Fall Wallace Stegner, One Way to Spell Man Lou Halsell Rodenberger, ed., Her Work: Stories by Texas Women 1983: |
David James Duncan, The River Why | Louis L'Amour first novelist to be given a special National Gold Medal by Congress Historians and the American West, edited by Michael P. Malone The Woman Who Owned the Shadows, first feminist American Indian novel published by feminist press, Spinsters Ink Jon Tuska and Vicki Piekarski, Encyclopedia of Frontier and Western Fiction 1984: |
Joan Didion, Democracy | Douglas Unger, Leaving the Land Westward the Women: An Anthology of Western Stories by Women, edited by Vicki Piekarski RICHARD W. ETULAIN, University of New Mexico | ||
