The Light of Western Stars

About the Author

Author of the most popular western novel of all time—Riders of the Purple Sage, Zane Grey, was an American author born in the late 1800s. He is widely known for his popular adventure novels and tales associated with western literature and has a degree in dentistry. His books and short stories have been adapted into 112 films, a television series named Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theater as well as two television episodes.

Grey also belonged to the list of the first few millionaire authors. It was said that Grey’s novels managed to crystallize a set of symbolic beliefs for the American West in the minds of his millions of readers. Most of his books were created by spending months each year gathering experiences from his adventures and travels, be it fishing off Tahiti or a safari in Colorado. He then took these experiences as a way to share tales for annual novels, magazine articles, columns, and serialization.

Grey’s best-known book, Riders of the Purple Sage was published in 1912 and was his all-time best seller. Zane’s story was rejected by Hitchcock; however, Harper immediately took interest in it when Zane connected with the vice president. All his manuscripts were published under Harper, after Zane noticed that he had turned into a writing magnate and a household name, during the time. Riders of the Purple Sage has been credited by scores of critics as the book to set the formula for the Western Genre. He associated with Hollywood when William Fox paid Grey 2,500$ to buy the rights to Riders of the Purple Sage in 1916. Grey’s career graph worked synonymous to that of the Motion Pictures Industry.

The Rainbow Trail, published in 1915 was a sequel to Riders of the Purple Sage. Riders of the Purple Sage took over the cinematic screens in 1918, 1925, 1931 and 1941. The novel was also adapted as a TV film in 1996.

His books have continued to grow and influence the entertainment media, in addition to the commercial success he has gained from his paperbacks. He is considered to have one of the most prolific author biographies in the publishing industry with scores of published titles and adaptations under his hood.

Keywords: western, classic western, western classics, zane grey, riders of the purple sage, the light of western stars