Knights of the Range

by Zane Grey

Book Overview

From the bestselling author of Riders of the Purple Sage, comes another classic Western tale. "The sun set across the purple sky over the Don Carlos Rancho while the warm Santa Fe breeze rustled... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B000R9M688
• Release Date: January 1936
• Publisher: P. F. Collier & Son
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 1.19 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Knights of the Round Table Go West

The Knights of the Round Table go West is how this book has always been depicted in reviews over the years, but I am here to tell you: That is a gross misconception of this book. Actually, this is the story of a young woman, Holly Ripple, who loses her father and inherits a large cattle empire overrun with rustlers and desperadoes. And yes, a group of young devil-may-care cowboys, led by Renn Frayne, come to the rescue. The story is really all about her; her strength, her determination to build a ranch the likes of which had never been seen. Also, introduced in this book is Brazos Keene who shoots his way through this novel and stars in "Twin Sombreros". Knights of the Range is classic Zane Grey--not a spectacular book like the early novels, but a pleasurable, good read.

The Cowboy Manifesto

For decades the cowboy was the quintessential American hero. My generation saw the demise of that. I had not read a Zane Grey western in at least forty years, so reading THE KNIGHTS OF THE RANGE left me feeling nostalgic. It contained one of the favorite clichés of the era: "Frayne, I'll give you till sundown to leave this range" (p. 239). Though Grey's westerns are more romance than realism, his depiction of the cowboys was hardly whitewashed, being more akin to Clint Eastwood than Roy Rogers. Though capable of great nobility, they were hard-drinking, foul-mouthed (all blanked out, of course), callous, and brutal. They were also multiracial, including blacks, Indians, and Mexicans. The hero of the story is the gunslinger, Renn Frayne, who would be an outlaw except "there ain't any law yet." He is reformed by his love for the heroine, Holly Ripple, a woman educated in the East who inherited a vast cattle ranch from here father. At her birthday party she delivers an inspiring speech lauding the vital role of the cowboy in spreading American civilization across the western frontier. For what this book is, an old-fashioned western that captures the feel of the cowboy hero in his heyday, it is excellent.