I am interested in the history of the Lee's Ferry and House Rock Valley areas of Arizona. I knew that Zane Grey had spent time there and that this story was loosely based on the people he knew there, primarily Jim Emet. So this was part of my enjoyment of the book, but I was surprised how much I lik

Thanks to my GR friends, Scott Rhee, and Ron Scheer, I gave Zane Grey another chance by reading The Heritage of the Desert. Scott has written a great review of Riders of the Purple Sage, a novel I had abandoned because of its anti-Mormonism. Ron commented that Heritage of the Desert provides a more

Zane Grey came from a distinguished family, however that was way back during the Revolutionary War, his ancestors fought well and bravely , brought glory... His birthplace Zanesville, Ohio named after them, yet they were unremarkable financially speaking, his father a dentist and he too ...for a sho

Apparently, this was meant to be Grey's version of the story. It was re-done based on his notes. I should read others of his books to get a better feel for his style of course, but the descriptions were strong and full of imagery. I can't say I was surprised at the ending, but getting there was ardu

Without a doubt Silver Mane, a wild mustang desert stallion, is the hero of The Heritage of the Desert by Zane Grey. This seriocomic narrative takes place on the desolate plains of southern Utah in the mid-1870’s. Sheep and beef dominate the high western plains and water is the only drawback. As in

John “Jack” Hare may be dying, but he can’t stop noticing how beautiful the sky is here in the Utah Territory desert. Jack’s a “lunger,” sent out West for his health. It helped a bit, but his money ran out and he needed a job. He was in Salt Lake City when a cattle outfit in Lund offered him work. H

Great classic western by the guy who practically invented the genre. The Log of the Cowboy, by Andy Adams, and The Virginian, by Owen Wister, maybe came out first, but it's Zane Grey whose books have everything we think of as belonging to a western, and there's not many westerns written today who do

Good read

Ageless story makes one want to sleep under the stars. Zane Grey causes one to relive history. Read and enjoy

I appreciate that the local Navajo Indians in this Western were all portrayed as friendly to a gentle Mormon rancher. The romance that was woven into this water rights and cattle rustling story was between the main character and the adopted daughter (half American Indian / half Spanish) of the ranch