The classic Western short stories in this Jack Schaefer collection explore the changing and often challenging truths found throughout the American West. The featured novella, "The Kean Land," tells the story of young Ben Hammon as he arrives in western Colorado after the death of his parents to live with his small-town lawman uncle. The drama unfolds as Ben learns the ways of the land and the people who live there--including the Kean family. As "progress" pursues there is a dramatic price the Keans and others must pay to keep their land in this once hostile territory. How much blood must those who love the land pay in order to stay?

First Blood, Schaefer's follow-up to Shane, tells the tale of Jess Harker, a young stagecoach driver finding his way in this coming-of-age story.

John Jakes, #1 New York Times bestselling author of such acclaimed historical novels as North and South and The Kent Family Chronicles compiled in one volume a century's worth of his favorite American Western fiction. To illustrate the evolution of the genre, Jakes has included such legendary authors as Owen Wister, Louis L'Amour, and Zane Grey along side their more contemporary peers such as Loren Estleman and Elmer Kelton. While the stories have changed over the years, certain timeless themes of Western fiction remain constant. At the heart of the stories are ideas that have become synonymous with the American dream--the frontier spirit, individual freedoms, and man's relationship with the land. A Century of Great Western Stories is essentially a retrospective of western writing over the past century, but Jakes also sets out to give readers a glimpse of what the future might hold for western fiction. While trends in publishing might not always be promising, the current crop of contemporary Western authors show that the old west will always have a place in the world of fiction. Like the American dream which it celebrates, Western fiction will persevere. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Waiting out his last days, an aged cowman relives his life as a carefree ranch hand.

As the frontier is giving way to modern times, an aging cowboy takes to the trail to avenge the murder of his friend.

Stubby Pringle, nearly twenty, is on his way to a Christmas dance when he meets a family in need and finds a different way to celebrate Christmas Eve.

Schaefer shares the individual stories of seven people--rancher, sheepherder, homesteader, town settler, soldier, miner, and cowboy--in this collection. He tells the tales as they can only be told: in the open spaces of the Old West. In these memorable narratives Schaefer depicts the unique conflicts of settler life and captures the spirit of the resolute, willful, determined, and broken characters found on the Western frontier.

Readers searching for courage and adventure will find just that and more in the engaging prose of Jack Schaefer in this vintage collection of Western vignettes. Exploring varied tales of life in the West, Schaefer shares the stories of exceptional characters conflicted with humanity as they navigate the challenges and opportunities that can only be found on the frontier. From the humor in "Cat Nipped" to the common concerns found in "Prudence by Name," Jack Schaefer again places himself as the authentic voice of the West. Other stories in the collection include "Something Lost," "Leander Frailey," "That Mark Horse," "My Town," "Harvey Kendall," "Out of the Past," "Old Anse," "Takes a Real Man," and "Hugo Kertchak, Builder." Published throughout the early 1950s, these stories have captured our hearts and imaginations as true classics in Western fiction and will continue to do so time and time again.