Trailin'!

By Max Brand

Book Overview

All through the exhibition the two sat unmoved; yet on the whole it was the best Wild West show that ever stirred sawdust in Madison Square Garden and it brought thunders of applause from the crowded house. Even if the performance could not stir these two, at least the throng of spectators should have drawn them, for all New York was there, from the richest to the poorest; neither the combined audiences of a seven-day race, a prize-fight, or a community singing festival would make such a cosmopolitan assembly.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1514209608
• ISBN13: 9781514209608
• Release Date: June 2015
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 136 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Trailin' - Good Introduction to Max Brand's Mythical West

Richard Etulain, a history professor at University of New Mexico and editor of this 1994 University of Nebraska Press edition of Trailin' (1920), rightly cautions that not all readers will find Brand's pulp westerns entirely satisfactory. He does argue, however, that Trailin' - one of Brand's early westerns - warrants reading (and I agree) as it vividly illustrates Brand's almost magical, archetypal western that was so popular in the years before World War II. The setting in Trailin' is vague and uncertain, and apparently this is typical of Max Brand's stories. We only know that it occurs somewhere in Brand's mythical west. (Contrastingly, Louis L'Amour's geography and landmarks were carefully researched.) Brand's characters are nearly as mythical as his geography. The hero in Trailin', Anthony Bard, overcomes all obstacles to track the killer of his father across the open plains and mountains of the wild west. Bard's success is especially remarkable as he had no prior wilderness experience, having been raised in a wealthy setting in New York. His cold, calculating adversary, Steve Nash, is a classic villain, one who even resorts to killing Bard's horse. The action-packed plot had some unexpected twists, but ultimately the ending seem contrived, revealing a secret that could have been disclosed much earlier. Max Brand was one of the many pseudonyms of Frederick Schiller Faust, creator of more than 350 westerns in the 1920s and 1930s. Today, classics like Shane, The Big Sky, The Virginian, Lonesome Dove, The Ox-Bow Incident, and Monte Walsh as well as L'Amour's popular fiction largely overshadow Brand's novels. Nonetheless, despite a notable lack of verisimilitude, Max Brand's action tales offer enjoyable, light reading for fans of westerns.