Prolific American writer and pioneer of the Western as a new literary genre. Grey produced over sixty books, and almost as many have been brought out posthumously. In his works Grey presented the West as a moral battleground, in which his characters are destroyed or redeemed. His original semi outlaw heroes were his most influential creation: the outcast as a lonely man with a dark past, like Lassiter in RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE (1912), or Buck Duane, the agonized killer of LONE STAR RANGER (1915).

"Slingerland hated the railroad, and he could not see as Neale did, or any of the engineers or builders. This old trapper had the vision of the Indian - that far-seeing eye cleared by distance and silence, and the force of the great, lonely hills. Progress was great, but nature undespoiled was greater. If a race could not breed all stronger men, through its great movements, it might better not breed any, for the bad over-multiplied the good, and so their needs magnified into greed. Slingerland saw many shining bands of steel across the plains and mountains, many stations and hamlets and cities, a growing and marvellous prosperity from timber, mines, farms, and in the distant end - a gutted West."
(from The Roaring U.P. Trail, 1918)

Grey was born in Zanesville, Ohio. His father was a farmer and preacher and mother Quaker, of Danish background. Grey graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in dentistry in 1896, and practiced in New York City until 1904. During these years he started to write. Grey's first book, BETTY ZANE, was turned down by several published, and in 1904 Grey published it privately. The colourful frontier story was based on his ancestor's journal. After the book gained critical success, Grey continued the family story in THE SPIRIT OF THE BORDER (1905). He had married Lina Elise Roth of Lackawaxen who encouraged him to become a professional writer.

In 1908 Grey made a journey to the West with Colonel C.J. ('Buffalo') Jones, who told him tales of adventure on the plains. The trip was a turning point in Grey's career. He began writing Western novels in the tradition of Owen Wister and produced the first, THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN, in 1908. In 1912 the publishing company Harpers brought out Riders of the Purple Sage. It sold two million copies, was filmed three times, and became Grey's best-known western. It told the story of a virtuous woman, Jane Witherspoon, a rich Mormon, who finds protection for her ranch and herself from an extraordinary hero. This formula, where a mysterious outlaw fights to protect the innocent and the good, Grey used in many novels, setting the events against the beautiful but violent land.

In 1918 Grey moved to California, and lived there for the rest of his life. He built a large, Spanish-style house in Altadena, and continued to produce the usual 100 000 words each month. When not writing, Grey fished in the South Seas, or hunter along the Rogue River in Oregon, or spent time on Catalina Island. He died on October 23, 1939, in Altadena.

Much of Grey's knowledge of the West was based on historical research or trips in the regions he wrote about. Among others THE ROARING U.P. TRAIL (1918) has earned its fame by virtue of its sound historical detail about the building of the transcontinental railroad. THE VANISHING AMERICAN (1925) was a social commentary on the treatment of American Indians on the reservation. In such short stories as 'The Great Slave,' 'Yaqui, and 'Tigre' Grey showed his familiarity with Indian tribes and their history and the peon system of Mexican plantations. In 'Tappan's Burro,' a story of a wandering gold prospector and his faithful burro, Grey masterfully described the beauty of desert plains, barren mountain country, and forestland.

"Madge's sombre eyes gazed out over the great void. But, full of thought and passion as they were, they did not see the beauty of that scene. But Tappan saw it. And in some strange sense the colour and wilderness and sublimity seemed the expression of a new state in his heart. Under him sheered down the ragged and cracked cliffs of the Rim, yellow and gold and grey, full of caves and crevices, ledges for eagles and niches for lions, a thousand feet down to the upward edge of the long green slopes and canyons, and so on down and down into the abyss of forested ravine and ridge, rolling league on league away to the encompassing barrier of purple mountain ranges."
(from 'Tappan's Burro')

Greys sold 17 million copies during his lifetime. His non-fiction includes several tales of fishing. Grey left a number of manuscripts for novels, of which several have been published, among others THE REEF GIRL in 1977. Hollywood has used his books eagerly; according to one estimation over one hundred Western films have been based on Grey's stories. In the 1930s low budget Zane Grey films were highly popular and profitable for Paramount. Grey also wrote two screenplays, THE VANISHING PIONEER and RANGLE RIVER.

In the early phase of his career director Henry Hathaway leant on Gray's stories in such films as Heritage of the Desert (1932), where a hero outwits a claim jumper, Wild Horse Mesa (1932), a tale of a wild horse tamer who clashes with a villain who has discredited his brother, Under the Tonto Rim (1933), depicting a slow-witted cowboy who wins his manhood and wins the boss's daughter, Man of the Forest (1933), romantic Western, To the Last Man (1933), a story of a family feud healed by young love, The Thundering Herd (1933), a fast-paced Western about buffalo hunters and marauding Indians, The Last Round-Up (1934), based on Zane Gray's novel THE BORDER LEGION and telling a story about chivalry in a gang of rustlers which leads to the boss sacrificing his life for two young lovers.

For further reading: Zane Grey: A Biography by Frank Gruber (1969); Zane Grey by C. Jackson (1973); Zane Grey by A. Ronald (1975); Zane Grey by Carol Gay (1979); Zane Grey's Arizona by Candace C. Kant (1984); Zane Grey: A Photographic Odyssey by L. Grey (1985); Zane Grey, A Documented Portrait by G.M. Farley (1985); Selling the Wild West by Christine Bold (1987); West of Everything by Jane Tompkins (1992) - Other classic western writers: Louis L´Amour, Owen Wister, Frederick Marryat .

• BETTY ZANE, 1904.
• THE SPIRIT OF BORDER, 1905
• LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN, 1908
• THE LAST TRAIL, 1909
• NASSAU, CUBA, YUCATAN, MEXICO, 1909
• THE SHORT STOP. 1909
• THE YOUNG FORESTER, 1910
• HERITAGE OF THE DESERT, 1910 - film 1932, dir. by Henry Hathaway
• THE YOUNG PITCHER, 1911
• THE YOUNG LION HUNTER, 1911
• KEN WARD IN THE JUNGLE, 1912
• RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE, 1912 - film 1918 with William Farnum; film 1925 with Tom Mix; film 1931, dir. by Hamilton McFadden, starring George O'Brien
• DESERT GOLD, 1913 - film 1936, dir. by James Hogan
• THE LIGHT OF THE WESTERN STARS, 1914
• THE RUSTLERS OF THE PECOS COUNTRY, 1914
• THE LONE STAR RANGER, 1915 - film 1929, dir. by George O'Brien; film 1942, dir. by James Tinling, starring John Kimbrought
• THE RAINBOW TRAIL, 1915
• THE BORDER LEGION, 1916 - film 1930, dir. by Otto Brower; film The Last Roundup, 1934; film 1940, dir. by Joseph Kane
• WILDFIRE, 1917
• THE DESERT WHEAT, 1918
• THE U.P. TRAIL, 1918
• TALES OF FISHES, 1919
• THE MAN IN THE FOREST, 1920
• THE RED-HEADED OUTFILED, 1920
• THE MYSTERIOUS RIDER, 1921 - film 1932, dir. by Fred Allen
• THE CALL OF THE CANYON, 1921 - film 1942, dir. by Joseph Santley, starring Gene Autry
• TALES OF LONELY TRAILS, 1922
• TO THE LAST MAN, 1922
• THE DAY OF THE BEAST, 1922
• WANDERER OF THE WASTELAND. 1923
• TAPPAN'S BURRO, 1923
• THE CALL OF THE CANYON, 1924
• ROPING LIONS IN THE GRAND CANYON, 1924
• TALES OF SOUTHERN RIVERS, 1924
• THE THUNDERING HERD, 1925 - film 1933, dir. by Henry Hathaway, starring Randolph Scott
• TALES OF FISHING, 1925
• THE VANISHING AMERICAN, 1925
• TALES OF THE ANGLER'S ELDORADO - NEW ZEALAND, 1926
• UNDER THE TONTO RIM, 1926
• TALES OF SWORDFISH AND TUNA, 1927
• FORLORN RIVER, 1927
• NEVADA, 1928
• WILD HORSE MESA, 1928 - film 1932, dir. by Henry Hathaway, starring Randolph Scott
• TALES OF FRESH-WATER FISHING, 1928
• DON: THE STORY OF A LION DOG, 1928
• FIGHTING CARAVANS, 1929
• THE SHEPHERD OF GUADELOUPE, 1930
• THE WOLF TRACKER, 1930
• SUNSET PASS, 1931
• TALES OF TAHITIAN WATERS, 1931
• ZANE GREY'S BOOK OF CAMPS AND TRAILS, 1931
• ARIZONA AMES, 1932
• ROBBER'S ROOST, 1932
• THE DRIFT FENCE, 1933
• THE HASH KNIFE OUTFIT, 1933
• CODE OF THE WEST, 1934
• THUNDER MOUNTAIN, 1935
• THE TRAIL DRIVER, 1936
• THE LOST WAGON TRAIN, 1936
• KING OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED, 1936-46 (7 vols.)
• WEST OF PECOS, 1937
• AN AMERICAN ANGLER IN AUSTRALIA, 1937
• RIDERS OF SPANISH PEAKS, 1938
• MAJESTY'S RANCHO, 1938
• WESTERN UNION, 1939
• KNIGHTS OF THE RANGE, 1939
• 30,000 ON THEW HOOF, 1940
• TWIN SOMBREROS, 1941
• ZANE GREY OMNIBUS, 1943
• STAIRS OF SAND, 1943
• WILDERNESS TREK, 1944
• SHADOW ON THE TRAIL, 1946
• VALLEY OF THE WILD HORSES. 1947
• ROGUE RIVER FEUD, 1948
• THE DEER STALKER, 1949
• THE MAVERICK QUEEN, 1950
• THE DUDE RANGER, 1951
• CAPTIVE OF THE DESERT, 1952
• ZANE GREY'S ADVENTURES IN FISHING, 1952
• WYOMING, 1953
• LOST PUEBLO, 1954
• BLACK MESA, 1955
• STRANGER FROM TONTO, 1956
• THE FUGITIVE TRAIL, 1957
• THE ARIZONA CLAN, 1958
• HORSE HEAVEN HILL, 1959
• THE RANGER, 1960
• THE RANGER AND OTHER STORIES, 1960
• BLUE FEATHER AND OTHR STORIES, 1961
• BOULDER DAM, 1963
• ZANE GREY OUTDOORSMAN, 1972
• THE ADVENTURE OF FINSPOT, 1974
• ZANE GREY'S GREATEST WESTERN STORIES, 1975
• ZANE GREY'S GREATEST INDIAN STORIES, 1975
• ZANE GREY'S GREATEST ANIMAL STORIES, 1975
• YAQUI AND OTHER INDIAN STORIES, 1976
• SHARK! 1976
• THE BUFFALO HUNTER, 1977
• LOST IN THE NEVER NEVER AND SILVERMANE, 1977
• THE REEF GIRL, 1977
• THE WESTENER, 1977
• SAVAGE KINGDOM, 1979
• ZANE GREY'S TALES FROM THE FISHERMAN'S LOG, 1979
• RIDERS OF VENGEANCE, 1981
• THE LAST OF THE DUANES, 1983
• THE UNDISCOVERED ZANE GREY FISHING STORIES, 1983
• THE WOLF TRACKER AND OTHER ANIMAL TALES, 1984
• ZANE GREY: A PHOTOGRAPHIC ODYSSEY, 1985 (text by Loren Grey)
• SHARK: KILLER OF THE DEEP, 1987
• TIGRE AND OTHER STORIES, 1988
• AVALANCHWE AND OTHER STORIES, 1988
• THE CAMP ROBBER AND OTHER STORIES, 1990
• SILVERMANE AND OTHER STORIES, 1991

  Other films based of Zane Grey's stories: Arizona Mahoney, 1936 (Stairs of Sand); Arizona Raiders, 1936 (Raiders of Spanish Peaks); The Dude Ranger, 1936; Heritage of the Desert, 1932; The Light of the Western Stars, 1930 & 1940; Man of the Forest, 1933; Thunder Mountain, 1947 (To the Last Man); Thunder Trail, 1937 (Arizona Ames); The Thundering Herd, 1933; Under the Tonto Rim, 1933 & 1947, The Vanishing American, 1955; Wanderer of the Wasteland, 1935 & 1945; Western Union, 1941; The Yukon Patrol, 1942 (King of the Royal Mounted)