Most Popular Books by Jack Schaefer

Shane rides into the valley where Bob Starrett''s family lives, and Bob, 15, tells about Shane''s winning ways.

Frontier and pioneer life--West (U.S.)--Fiction/SHANE, THE MOVIE WAS ADAPTED FROM ONE OF THESE SHORT STORIES IN THIS BOOK.

Based on a Cheyenne legend, this novel holds universal appeal as it explores the theme of a man''s conflict with his culture. It is the story of how Little Bear, a Cheyenne warrior who opposes war, reconciles the conflict between his personal values and the demands of his tribe. The dilemma faced by Little Bear gives rise to a story that is at once a compelling adventure tale, an authentic description of Indian life and ritual, and a parable of self-realization. First published in 1953, The Canyon remained one of Schaefer''s personal favorites. This new release will be welcomed by Schaefer''s enduring admirers and by new Western literature enthusiasts. It is a classic not to be missed.

Awarded a 1961 Newbery Honor, Old Ramon tells the timeless coming-of-age story of a young boy who spends a summer with an old shepherd in the Mojave Desert. He leaves his textbooks behind for real life lessons with Ramon as his mentor. He learns not only how to care for the sheep but how to overcome fear, how to face death and responsibility, and the difference between being alone and being lonely. Written in Schaefer’s charming and engaging style, the novel details a boy’s discovery of both the value of friendship and the hardship of life.

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.

Monte Walsh has never met a horse he couldn’t ride, and Chet Rollins has never met one he couldn’t rope. For a decade they are unbeatable and inseparable, working as trail hands throughout the West until finally settling with Cal Brennan’s Slash Y. Their rough cowboy ethics see them through every imaginable challenge: blizzards, rustlers, outlaws, and card games gone wrong. Partial to pretty women, gambling, and practical jokes, Monte is often on the receiving end of trouble, while Chet is always there to break him out of jail or serve as a decoy until Monte can get out of town in a hurry. As the West begins to change, however—the automobile replacing the horse, the herds breaking up—the two friends part ways. Chet marries and goes on to become a successful merchant, banker, and politician; but Monte, unable to imagine anything but the cowboy’s way of life, refuses to the end to leave the range.

“Old Jake Hanlon sits on the edge of the mesa and looks out over miles of southwestern plain,” starts Jack Schaefer’s all-ages novel Mavericks. Old Jake Hanlon is “ancient and craglike, weathered and withered . . . something like a worn rocky butte himself.” Living in his memories, Hanlon prefers to reflect on his youth, when he lived every cowboy’s dream, rather than think about the old man he has become, now labeled “a decrepit old nuisance” by the folks in town. Ultimately, it is Old Jake’s recollection of the tales of his past—stories of endurance, strength, compassion, and cunning—that helps prepare him for death.

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?

In these classic stories acclaimed author Jack Schaefer yet again captures the spirit and adventure of the Old West. 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. Jess admires Race Crimm, the Company’s top messenger, for his stature and wild abandon and would have “shucked ten years of [his] life to be driving beside him.” Jess, eager to ride the big trails, has the chance to prove himself by driving an important shipment when trouble arises. Facing hard choices of honor and justice, he must pick a side because his life might just depend on it. “Jacob,” “Salt of the Earth,” and “One Man’s Honor” complete this engaging collection of stories by award-winning American treasure Jack Schaefer.

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.

Schaefer profiles pioneers of the West--the doctors, explorers, and cowboys who settled the challenging landscape and built communities in the Old West.

This classic novel of courage and redemption introduces Jared Heath. Heath, a captain in the Union army, is stripped of rank and court-martialed for cowardice after refusing to march his men into a suicide mission. Yet he has a chance to regain his honor when he is charged with leading Company Q, a unit of misfit officers also disgraced and charged with cowardice. If Heath can make them an effective fighting force, there is a possibility that all of them will be redeemed and pardoned. Will this unit of outcasts prevail and succeed when given the opportunity to show their courage, or will they find defeat deep in Comanche country?

The spirit of Christmas is contagious and overwhelming in this charming and unpredictable holiday tale. Orphaned at thirteen, the poorly paid, patched-clothed cowhand Stubby Pringle is now nearing twenty as he looks forward to whooping it up at the schoolhouse in the valley for the Christmas dance. His box of chocolates is tucked into his saddlebag for the gal who “appeals to him most and seems most susceptible.” But this Christmas Eve Stubby finds that the magic of the season may have something different in store for him. In true Schaefer fashion, Stubby Pringle delights readers and fills our hearts with the magic and spirit of Christmas.

"Notes of an amateur naturalist"--Jacket subtitle.