The American West is as varied in its inhabitants as it is in its landforms, yet what has come to stand for ‘Western’ writing is the myth of the wagon train and the lone gunman. This authoritative anthology assembled poems, essays, stories, and excepts–by Ken Kesey, Raymond Carver, Larry McMurtry, Ivan Doig, and many others–which transcend the myth and explore the vast range of Wetsern experience..