The Spirit of the Border: A Romance of the Early Settlers in the Ohio Valley

By Zane Grey

The border needed Wetzel. The settlers would have needed many more years in which to make permanent homes had it not been for him. He was never a pioneer; but always a hunter after Indians. When not on the track of the savage foe, he was in the settlement, with his keen eye and ear ever alert for signs of the enemy. To the superstitious Indians he was a shadow; a spirit of the border, which breathed menace from the dark forests. To the settlers he was the right arm of defense, a fitting leader for those few implacable and unerring frontiersmen who made the settlement of the West a possibility.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wilder Publications
• Release date: Apr 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781633849235

Zane Grey

American author (Pearl Zane Grey) is best known as a pioneer of the Western literary genre, which idealized the Western frontier and the men and women who settled the region. Following in his father’s footsteps, Grey studied dentistry while on a baseball scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania. Grey’s athletic talent led to a short career in the American minor league before he established his dentistry practice. As an outlet to the tedium of dentistry, Grey turned to writing, and finally abandoned his dental practice to write full time. Over the course of his career Grey penned more than ninety books, including the best-selling Riders of the Purple Sage. Many of Grey’s novels were adapted for film and television. He died in 1939.

Reviews for The Spirit of the Border

[hmskip · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In keeping with his time, Zane Grey romantisizes the story, but he nevertheless presents a great tribute to the men and women who gave so much in the first wave of westward expansion. The man is a great descriptive writer.

[jpsnow · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Historical fiction about pioneer's in the Ohio valley during the late 1700's. This one is more grounded using actual characters of the Ohio frontier, including Lewis Wetzel and Sam Brady.