Download or read book The Portable Western Reader written by Various and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1997-07-01 with total page 625 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The American West is as varied in its inhabitants as in its landforms. Yet what has come to stand for "Western" writing is the myth of the wagon train and the lone gunman. In the Portable Wester Reader, William Kittredge has assembled stories, poems, essays, and excerpts that transcend the Western myth and explore the vast range of Western experience. With selections from more than seventy authors, and an introduction and headnotes by William Kittredge. The Portable Western Reader redefines the Western literary landscape.