Owen Wister Popular Books
Owen Wister Biography & Facts
Owen Wister (July 14, 1860 – July 21, 1938) was an American writer and historian, considered the "father" of western fiction. He is best remembered for writing The Virginian and a biography of Ulysses S. Grant. Biography Early life Owen Wister was born on July 14, 1860, in Germantown, a neighborhood in the northwestern part of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, Owen Jones Wister, was a wealthy physician raised at Grumblethorpe in Germantown. He was a distant cousin of Sally Wister through his descent from John Wister (born Johannes Wüster) (1708–1789), brother of Caspar Wistar. His mother, Sarah Butler Wister, was the daughter of Fanny Kemble, a British actress, and Pierce Mease Butler. Pierce Mease Butler, heir to a fabulous fortune, was a notorious profligate, gambler, and slaveowner. In 1906 Wister wrote a novel, Lady Baltimore, glorifying plantation life. His friend and Harvard classmate, Theodore Roosevelt, wrote to him criticizing the Southern bias of the novel. Education Wister briefly attended schools in Switzerland and Britain, and later studied at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was a member of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, and a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon (Alpha chapter). Wister was also a member of the Porcellian Club, through which he became lifelong friends with future 26th President Theodore Roosevelt. As a senior Wister wrote the Hasty Pudding's then most successful show, Dido and Aeneas, whose proceeds aided in the construction of their theater. Wister graduated from Harvard in 1882. At first he aspired to a career in music and spent two years studying at a Paris conservatory. Thereafter, he worked briefly in a bank in New York before studying law; he graduated from Harvard Law School in 1888. Following this, he practiced with a Philadelphia firm but was never truly interested in that career. He was interested in politics, however, and was a staunch supporter of U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt. Harvard's Board of Overseers had Theodore Roosevelt as a member in 1916 and Owen Wister as a member in 1918. In the 1930s, Wister opposed President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal. Writing career Wister began his literary work in 1882, publishing The New Swiss Family Robinson, a parody of the 1812 novel The Swiss Family Robinson. It was so well received that Mark Twain wrote a letter to Wister praising it. Wister had spent several summers in the American West, making his first trip to the Territory of Wyoming in 1885, planning to shoot big game, fish trout, meet the Indians, and spend nights in the wild. Like his friend Teddy Roosevelt, Wister was fascinated with the culture, lore and terrain of the region. He was "...struck with wonder and delight, had the eye to see and the talent to portray the life unfolding in America. After six journeys [into the dying 'wild west'] for pleasure, he gave up the profession of law...", and became the writer he is better known as. On an 1893 visit to Yellowstone National Park, Wister met the western artist Frederic Remington, who remained a lifelong friend. When he started writing, Wister naturally inclined towards fiction set on the western frontier. His most famous work remains the 1902 novel The Virginian, a complex mixture of persons, places and events dramatized from experience, word of mouth, and his own imagination – ultimately creating the archetypal cowboy, who is a natural aristocrat, set against a highly mythologized version of the Johnson County War, and taking the side of the large landowners. This is widely regarded as being the first cowboy novel, though many modern scholars argue that this distinction belongs to Emma Ghent Curtis's The Administratrix, published over ten years earlier. The Virginian was reprinted fourteen times in eight months. It stands as one of the top 50 best-selling works of fiction and is considered by Hollywood experts to be the basis for the modern fictional cowboy portrayed in literature, film, and television. In 1904 Wister collaborated with Kirke La Shelle on a successful stage adaptation of The Virginian that featured Dustin Farnum in the title role. Farnum reprised the role ten years later in Cecil B. DeMille's film adaptation of the play. Wister was a member of several literary societies, a member of The Franklin Inn Club, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University. He was also an elected member of the American Philosophical Society. Personal life In 1898, Wister married Mary Channing, his second cousin. The couple had six children. Mary died during childbirth in 1913. Their daughter, Mary Channing Wister, married artist Andrew Dasburg in 1933. Death In 1938, Wister died at his home in Saunderstown, Rhode Island. He is buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. Legacy In 1976, Wister was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Since 1978, University of Wyoming Student Publications has published the literary and arts magazine Owen Wister Review. The magazine was published bi-annually until 1996 and became an annual publication in the spring of 1997. Just within the western boundary of the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, there is an 11,490-foot mountain named Mount Wister, named for Owen Wister. Near a house that Wister built near La Mesa, California, but never occupied due to his wife's death, is a street called Wister Drive. In the same neighborhood are Virginian Lane and Molly Woods Avenue (named for a character in The Virginian). All of those streets were named by Wister himself. The most popular legend of the Lady Baltimore cake is that Alicia Rhett Mayberry, a Southern belle, baked and served the cake to Wister in Charleston, South Carolina. Wister was said to have been so enamored with the cake that he used it as the namesake of his novel, Lady Baltimore. Bibliography Novels The New Swiss Family Robinson (1882) The Dragon of Wantley: His Tale (1892) Lin McLean (1897) (1918 filmed as A Woman's Fool by John Ford) The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains (1902) Philosophy 4: A Story of Harvard University (1903) A Journey in Search of Christmas (1904) Lady Baltimore. Hurst & Company. 1906. p. 17. Padre Ignacio: or, the Song of Temptation (1911) Romney: And Other New Works about Philadelphia (written 1912–1915; published incomplete 2001) Non-fiction In Memory of Thomas Wharton (introduction, pp.ix-xxii) to Bobbo and Other Fancies (1897) by Wharton, Thomas Isaac (1859-1896) Ulysses S. Grant (1901) Oliver Wendell Holmes, in the "American Men of Letters Series" (1902) The Bison, Musk-Ox, Sheep, and Goat Family, with G. B. Grinnell and Caspar Whitney in the "American Sportsman's Library" (1903) Benjamin Franklin, in the "English Men of Letters Series" (1904) The Seven Ages of Washington: A Biography (1907) The Pentecost of Calamity (.... Discover the Owen Wister popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Owen Wister books.
Best Seller Owen Wister Books of 2024
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Works of Owen Wister
Owen Wister12 works of Owen Wister American writer and "father" of western fiction (18601938) This ebook presents a collection of 12 works of Owen Wister. A dynamic table of contents allows y...
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Study Guide to The Virginian by Owen Wister
Intelligent EducationA comprehensive study guide offering indepth explanation, essay, and test prep for Owen Wister’s The Virginian, considered by many to be the first fictional western written. As a f...
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Big Timber
Bertrand William SinclairAfter the death of her father leaves the citybred Stella Benton goes to live with her brother Charlie in the harsh world of logging in British Columbia. The roughness of her surrou...
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Arizona Argonauts
H. Bedford-JonesArizona Argonauts is a western novel by H. BedfordJones. BedfordJoneswas a CanadianAmerican historical, adventure fantasy, science fiction, crime and Western writer who became a na...
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Essential Novelists - B. M. Bower
B. M. Bower & August NemoWelcome to the Essential Novelists book series, were we present to you the best works of remarkable authors. For this book, the literary critic August Nemo has chosen the two most ...
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Fighting Caravans
Zane GreyClint Belmet’s parents were killed in a Comanche raid when he was young, but that hasn't stopped him from taking a job leading freight caravans on the old Santa Fe Trail, from Sain...
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Code of the West
Zane GreyHotblooded Georgiana Stockwell will break a man’s heart while he’s eating out of her hand. Moving from the East to join her schoolteacher sister in the rugged wilds of Tonto Basin,...
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Essential Owen Wister Collection
Owen WisterThe Dragon of Wantley How Doth the Simple Spelling Bee The Jimmyjohn Boss and Other Stories Lady Baltimore Lin McLean Mother Padre Ignacio Philosophy 4 Red Men and White A Straight...
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The Best Western Classics of Zane Grey
Zane GreySpirit of the Border is a historical novel. It is based on events occurring in the Ohio River Valley in the late eighteenth century. It features the exploits of Lewis Wetzel, a his...
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The Eastern Establishment and the Western Experience
G. Edward WhiteFirst published in 1968, The Eastern Establishment and the Western Experience has become a classic in the field of American studies.G. Edward White traces the origins of “the West ...
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The Essential Works of Owen Wister
Owen WisterThis carefully edited collection has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Owen Wister (18601938) was an America...
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The Homesteader
Oscar MicheauxJean Baptiste is a hardworking man whose only dream is to make a life for himself in Dakota. However, even as a black pioneer, he is doomed to be separated from the love of his lov...
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7 best short stories by Owen Wister
Owen Wister & August NemoOwen Wister was an American novelist whose novel The Virginian (1902) helped establish the cowboy as a folk hero in the United States and the western as a legitimate genre of liter...
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North of Fifty-Three
Bertrand William SinclairMiss Hazel Weir is totally aghast when her erstwhile fiancé doubts her character and somewhere believes in the malicious gossip that was spread by one of her spurned lovers! Indign...
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The Sheriff of Pecos
H. Bedford-JonesThe Sheriff of Pecos is a western novel by H. BedfordJones. BedfordJoneswas a CanadianAmerican historical, adventure fantasy, science fiction, crime and Western writer who became a...
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Wind River Westerns
Arthur Murray ChisholmMusaicum Books presents to you this unique and meticulously formatted collection of the greatest western novels by Arthur Murray Chisholm for your reading pleasure. Contents: The B...
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Desert Conquest
Clarence RoweWhen the proposed railroad threatens to disturb the water rights of the ranchers, things really become heated. Soon dynamites and sabotages become a regular fare and tension runs h...
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The Lone Ranger Rides
Fran StrikerIn the rogue Wild West, laws don't apply equally to everyone. They are made by the corrupt people and for the corrupt people. But Lone Ranger is on a mission. A mission to deli...
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Ben Blair
Will LillibridgeBen Blair is a hardworking cowboy who is in love with his childhood friend Florence Baker. But there's a catch! Ben was born out of wedlock and Florence wants a rich man from a...
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A Straight Deal, Or an Ancient Grudge
Owen WisterClassic western. According to Wikipedia: "Owen Wister (July 14, 1860 – July 21, 1938) was an American writer and "Father" of western fiction."
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Complete Western Romance Humor of Owen Wister
Owen WisterAn American writer and "father" of western fiction. He is best remembered for writing The Virginian, although he never wrote about the West afterwards. Contents The Virginian, A Ho...
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Chisholm Westerns - Boxed Set
Arthur Murray Chisholmeartnow presents to you this unique and meticulously formatted collection of the greatest western novels by Arthur Murray Chisholm for your reading pleasure. Contents: The Boss of ...
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The Essential Owen Wister Collection
Owen WisterThe essential collection of books and poetry by Owen Wister: Table Of Contents The Dragon of Wantley How doth the Simple Spelling Bee The Jimmyjohn Boss and Other Stories Lady Balt...
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The Essential Works of Owen Wister
Owen WisterThis carefully edited collection has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Owen Wister (18601938) was an America...
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The Duke of Chimney Butte
George W. OgdenThe Duke of Chimney Butte is a western novel by George W. Ogden. Ogden was a prolific author of western novels. He often used to do original research for his books and settings. Ex...
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3 books to know Western
Andy Adams, Zane Grey, Owen Wister & August NemoWelcome to the3 Books To Knowseries, our idea is to help readers learn about fascinating topics through three essential and relevant books. These carefully selected works can be fi...
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Essential Novelists - Owen Wister
Owen WisterWelcome to the Essential Novelists book series, were we present to you the best works of remarkable authors. For this book, the literary critic August Nemo has chosen the two most...
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Claim Number One
George W. OgdenClaim Number One is a western novel by George W. Ogden. Ogden was a prolific author of western novels. He often used to do original research for his books and settings. Excerpt: ...
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Works of Owen Wister
Owen WisterIllustratedThis collection was designed for optimal navigation on the iPad and other electronic devices. It is indexed alphabetically, making it easier to access individual books. ...