Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage

His mother was against it, but he grew up to be a cowboy anyway. Zane Grey was a corn-fed mid-westerner who ended up an unhappy dentist in New York City. After a journey to Arizona and Utah in 1907, he decided he would rather wear chaps and a Stetson than return to a mundane life pulling teeth in Manhattan.

Thus began his career as a writer. Zane Grey faced mountains of rejection and disappointmen...