The Up Trail and The Call Of the Canyon

Historically accurate from beginning to end, descriptively unmatched by any other writer, and filled with characters enough to fill a mini-series. Of course, there is love found and love lost and then found again; it wouldn't be Zane Grey without that! But beyond the romance, the reader will find the heroism, the strength, the men and women with the kind of fortitude and vision that it took to make this country what it is today. And yes, there is a tragic side to the book. The passing of a life-style; the passing of a people--the Indian; for the progress of the railroad with its technology and its ability to bring huge numbers of people into the country meant the destruction of the Indian. I would recommend this book whole-heartedly for anyone--historian, or pleasure reader. The Call of the Canyon is another of Zane Grey's "war novels" which is to say, it deals with the subject of the mistreatment of returning veterans from the first world war. But it is also the coming of age of a modern "sophisticated" woman who learns the real meaning of love, and what it means to love someone. The story has several scenes which take place in New York City as well as at Oak Creek Canyon in Arizona. For pure romance, this book can not be beat. Carly Birch is one of Zane Grey's finest female characters, and again I will say he often wrote from the woman's point of view which is why the vast majority of his work was published in the leading "women's" magazines of the day, and his readership was more than half women. So, ladies, please don't dismiss Zane Grey as a "western" writer; he was so much more than that.