Riders of the Purple Sage

About this book

In 1871, in the remote canyon country of southern Utah, Jane Withersteen, a wealthy young Mormon woman who owns a ranch, a precious spring and many fine horses, refuses to marry Elder Tull, and the church leaders begin to ruin her, driving off her riders and stealing her cattle. She is defended by a young Gentile rider, Bern Venters, and then by the feared gunman Lassiter, dressed in black, who has come to find the grave of his sister and the man who wronged her.

Context and significance

Zane Grey (1872–1939), a dentist from Ohio who became the most successful writer of westerns, published the novel in 1912, and it remains his best-known work and one of the most influential westerns ever written. Its hostile picture of the Mormon church leaders caused controversy. Compare the more realistic The Virginian.

About the author