The Last of the Plainsmen and Last of the Great Scouts: Two Complete Novels

First Off: These are not novels, but biographies. Secondly, had The Last of the Plainsmen been left by itself, I would have given a Five Star Rating. Here’s why-- When Zane Grey met Buffalo Jones in New York City in 1908 Zane Grey instinctively knew he had met someone special. And the two men remained friends until Jones' death many years later. This book recounts only a small portion of the plainsman's life, but what is provided relates to us the life of an adventurer, an empire builder, and a conservationist. Included are stories of the man's trying to rope mountain lions in the Grand Canyon and to his attempt to preserve the last of the buffalo from extinction, after once having slaughtered them to provide meat for the railroad workers. When this book was first published it did not receive very good reviews, but has since been praised for Zane Grey's prose and narrative skills. Furthermore, the people Zane Grey met on this trip with Jones led directly to his creation of such great novels as Heritage of the Desert and Riders of the Purple Sage and set the stage for his entire career. Without this trip and the writing of this book there might not have been a Zane Grey as we know him today. It all began here. Third: As to the other story, The Last of the Great Scouts-- Don't let Zane Grey's name fool you into anything, as he only wrote an introduction and an afterward to the book. He had nothing to do with the story of Buffalo Bill; the contents were written by his sister and published as a book several times before Zane Grey's name was added to the cover. I suspect it was done so to help make the book sell even more copies, as were illustrations by Fredrick Remington placed in an edition of this book at one time. The historical accuracy of this book is also suspect in some things, and Helen Cody Wetmore's older sister even published a book many years later in an attempt to correct some of those inaccuracies. But having said that, this book will give you a loving account of man by his adoring sister, and will give you much of what really did happen to him. Buffalo Bill Cody was indeed an important man of the nineteenth century and helped make the West what it still is today. These two, left alone would have been better off.