30,000 ON THE HOOF

I must admit when I first read this book many years ago there were many questions left unanswered, and several ambiguities one had to try to figure out or rationalize for yourself--like the parentage of one of the sons. And the fact of having the "adopted" daughter learn she is adopted and having feelings for one of her brothers is not so far-fetched in a land of few women in comparison to men, although for many this smacks of incest. The over-all story is the story of a woman telling the struggles of a pioneer family, but the title is not justified, and rather misleading, although that is the husband's goal in life to run a herd of 30,000 head on his ranch. Originally Zane Grey had titled his manuscript, The Frontier Wife. Zane Grey wrote many of his books from the woman's viewpoint; undoubtedly the reason so many of them were published in the "women's magazines" of the day. His readership was MORE than half women. Perhaps, this is not the best Zane Grey book, but it does display all of his qualities as a writer--great descriptions of landscape, fascinating characters, demanding situations consistent with life, and the celebration of family as a cohesive unit. Traditional values to be sure. One could only wish more writers would try to emulate Zane Grey. There is a re-stored version of this book published as ZG wrote it following his hand written manuscript titled Woman of the Frontier and theses re-stored books only add to his mystique and legendary status as the greatest 'western' novelist of all time. Buy this one or it and enjoy it for what it is, not analyze it. Besides these Walter J. Black editions will last a life time.