Where can I read stories of the American frontier? Preferably by authors with lived or second hand experience or lived during the time itself.
By cosmos_peastone
Not totally sure if this is the right place to ask, so I might end up posting it around a bit too — sorry if it doesn’t really fit here! I’m looking for frontier/exploration/survival stories. James Fenimore Cooper is already on my list, since that seems pretty close to what I want. Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey are a bit later than the period I’m thinking of (colonial era up to 1914), but I’d still be interested in checking them out. I’ve also been curious about dime novel stuff with people like Buffalo Bill, Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, and other frontier or mountain men, but I’m not really sure how to find/read those. A fast search makes it look like I’d need to buy the actual dime novels, and I’m not really in a position to handle old fragile 19th century paper. Are there any reprints I could get, even old ones, or any way to read some of them online? The reason I’m leaning toward authors who lived around then, or even had firsthand experience, is that I really want that vivid, immediate sense of the frontier world, and it seems like people with memory of that landscape and milieu would be best. I’ve looked at later westerns too, like Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, and that’s definitely worth reading, but I’m mostly sticking to this for the reasons above. Not against later suggestions though. I’m also open to nonfiction biographies from later on, as long as they’re well researched, use primary sources, and quote them. And yeah, I know these stories are going to be pretty problematic in places, especially with Native Americans or women. I get that, and I’m hoping I can still read them critically while enjoying the parts that aren’t as bad, like the scenery. So that’s basically what I’m asking — hope someone can help. Thanks!