Frontier and pioneer life book series in reading order

by Laura Ingalls Wilder

by Patricia MacLachlan

by Terry C. Johnston

by James Fenimore Cooper

by Janette Oke

Laura Ingalls Wilder

67 books• 7 series

Laura Ingalls Wilder (7 February 1867 to 10 February 1957) was an American writer, teacher and journalist. The Little House on the Prairie children's books, published from 1932 to 1943, drew on Wilder's childhood in a pioneer settler family. Catalogued Wilder titles from those years include Little House in the Big Woods (1932), Farmer Boy (1933), Little House on the Prairie (1935), On the Banks of Plum Creek (1937), By the Shores of Silver Lake (1939), The Long Winter (1940), Little Town on the Prairie (1941) and These Happy Golden Years (1943). Catalogue subjects include frontier and pioneer life, farm life and families.

William Wallace Johnstone, October 28, 1938 to February 8, 2004, was an American author of westerns, horror and survivalist fiction. The Devil's Kiss opened the run in 1981, followed by The Last of the Dog Team (1981), Out of the Ashes (1983) and Anarchy in the Ashes (1984). Series filed under the name include Ashes, First Mountain Man, Smoke Jensen, Last Gunfighter, Blood Bond and Duff MacCallister, and subjects include outlaws, frontier and pioneer life, revenge and Texas. The catalogue carries 544 titles under the Johnstone name dated 1981 to 2026, well past the 2004 death date, and 400 of them carry a William W. Johnstone credit.

Zane Grey

144 books• 13 series

Zane Grey, born Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939), was an American author of adventure novels and stories in the Western genre who presented an idealised American frontier. Riders of the Purple Sage (1912) was Grey's best-selling book. Adaptations of Grey's novels and stories number 112 films, two television episodes and the television series Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre. The catalogue opens with Betty Zane (1903), followed by The Spirit of the Border (1906), The Last of the Plainsmen (1908), The Last Trail (1909) and The Heritage of the Desert (1910). Outlaws, cattle stealing, Mormons and fishing appear among the subjects, and series include the Ohio River Trilogy, Ken Ward and Jim Traft.

Louis L’Amour

183 books• 11 series

Westerns are what Louis L'Amour is catalogued for - 183 titles built on frontier and pioneer life. The Sackett family novels form the largest sequence, with Kilkenny, Chantry, Bowdrie and Talon beside them. L'Amour also wrote Hopalong Cassidy novels, among them The Riders of High Rock and The Rustlers of West Fork (1951). Smoke from This Altar (1939) is the earliest entry, and the Lost Treasures line carries later releases through 2019.

Max Brand

345 books• 13 series

Max Brand was the main pen name of Frederick Schiller Faust, an American writer who died in 1944 and whose westerns fill most of a 345-title catalogue. Faust also created Dr. James Kildare, a young medical intern, for pulp fiction; the character later carried into Paramount and MGM films, radio, two television series and comics. Other Faust pseudonyms include George Owen Baxter, John Frederick, Evan Evans, David Manning, Peter Dawson, George Challis and Frederick Frost. Series strands include Silvertip, Dan Barry, Thunder Moon, Ronicky Doone and Bull Hunter. Harrigan (1918) is the earliest catalogued title, with reissues dated as late as 2022.

Tracie Peterson, born 1959, writes Christian fiction, mostly historical novels carrying romance and faith themes. Peterson used the pen name Janelle Jamison early on and has written joint novels with other Christian authors; Bethany House publishes many of the titles. Several Peterson series feature Harvey Girls, the waitstaff of the Fred Harvey Company. The catalogue lists 153 books from A Kingdom Divided (1991) to Devoted to Love (2026), across series such as Heirs of Montana, Westward Chronicles, Ribbons West, Yukon Quest, Shannon Saga and Desert Roses. Peterson lives in Montana and runs Peterson Ink with husband Jim.

Janette Oke, born Janette Steeves on 18 February 1935, is a Canadian author of inspirational fiction, often set in pioneer times with women as the lead characters. Bethany House published Love Comes Softly, the first Oke novel, in 1979. When Calls the Heart (1983) opened the Canadian West series and became the basis for a television series with the same title. The catalogue holds 79 Oke books, with The Pharisee's Wife (2025) the newest. Series include Love Comes Softly, Prairie Legacy, Women of the West, Song of Acadia and Janette Oke's Animal Friends. Subjects include women pioneers, Canada and Christian fiction.

Gilbert Morris produced Christian historical fiction at length: 248 catalogued books between 1977 and 2014. The House of Winslow follows one family across American history; the Appomattox Saga and Bonnets & Bugles take up the Civil War; Cheney Duvall, M.D. follows a woman physician; the Seven Sleepers, Dixie Morris and Too Smart Jones series sit alongside, with children's fiction among the subjects. The catalogue opens with Race Against Time (1977), reaches Raina's Choice, and is listed as likely complete.

Patricia MacLachlan (March 3, 1938 to March 31, 2022), born Patricia Marie Pritzkau, was an American children's writer. MacLachlan's novel Sarah, Plain and Tall won the Newbery Medal in 1986 and gave its name to a series. The catalogue holds 63 books for young readers, including the Barkus series, Arthur, for the Very First Time and My Poet (2022). Family life, dogs, grandparents, friendship and frontier life are frequent subjects.

Lauraine Snelling is an American author of Christian fiction who has published since 1982. Snelling's historical series draw on Norwegian immigration and the author's own heritage. The Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame inducted Snelling in 2012 at Norsk Høstfest, and sales exceed 5 million copies. The catalogue counts 102 books, from Tragedy on the Toutle (1982) to Fair Are the Meadows (2026). Series include Golden Filly, High Hurdles, Red River of the North, Dakota Plains, Daughters of Blessing and Leah's Garden, with horses, pioneer life and North Dakota among the subjects.

Historical western romance is Rosanne Bittner's field, set on the American frontier among pioneers, outlaws and the Indians of North America, the Dakota among them. Savage Destiny, Blue Hawk Saga, Westward America, Outlaw Trail and the Arizona Saga carry the longer stories. Sixty-eight books run from Sweet Prairie Passion (1983) to Shadow Trail (2023), several of the early ones published as F. Rosanne Bittner.

Terry C. Johnston wrote westerns about the American frontier: pioneer life, the wars of the West, and the Plains nations including the Dakota and Crow. His 31 novels appeared between 1982 and 2001, at a median of 469 pages, with the 1990s the densest decade. Titus Bass is his best known recurring character and gives one series its name; The Plainsmen, Son Of The Plains and Jonas Hook are the others. Carry the Wind (1982) opens the catalogue and Turn the Stars Upside Down (2001) closes it. Johnston lived from 1947 to 2001, and more than ten million of his books are in print.

Roger Lea MacBride, born in 1929 and died in 1995, was an American lawyer, political figure and writer who inherited Laura Ingalls Wilder's estate. MacBride edited and published further Wilder material, then wrote the Rose Years, a spin-off series set in the Little House on the Prairie world and following Rose Wilder Lane through Missouri farm life and frontier schools. He also pushed the development of the television adaptation, and served a single term as a Republican in the Vermont House of Representatives in the 1960s. Fifteen catalogued titles date from 1976 to 2001.

Charles G. West writes westerns and historical frontier fiction. The catalogue holds 54 books published between 1996 and 2023, opening with The Tenant (1996) and closing with The First Day of Eternity (2023). Outlaws, revenge, ranchers, criminals and frontier and pioneer life run through the recorded subjects, along with Indians of North America. Series in the listing include Matt Slaughter, Trace McCall, Jason Coles, Little Wolf, Jordan Gray, Culver and John Hawk. Nothing has been catalogued since 2023.

Ralph Cotton (1945-2024) was an American writer of westerns. The debut novel, While Angels Dance: The Life and Times of Jeston Nash, appeared from St. Martin's Press in 1994, and more than 80 novels followed, three of them carrying Ralph Compton's byline after Compton died. 75 titles are catalogued here, through to Gunman's Pass (2022). Ranger Sam Burrack is the recurring lead, with the Jeston Nash, Will Summers, Sherman Dahl, Gun Culture, Long Riders and Dead Or Alive sequences alongside. Arizona Rangers, outlaws, gunfights and frontier life carry the subject tags.

Elmore Leonard

65 books• 12 series

Elmore Leonard (October 11, 1925 to August 20, 2013) was an American novelist, short story writer and screenwriter. Leonard began with Westerns in the 1950s and moved on to crime fiction and suspense, and many of those books were filmed. The story "Three-Ten to Yuma" became the film 3:10 to Yuma (1957), which was remade in 2007. Anthony Lane, a British journalist, called Leonard one of the best crime writers in the land. Get Shorty, Rum Punch, Out of Sight, Glitz and LaBrava rank among Leonard's best-known works. The catalogue lists 65 titles starting with The Bounty Hunters (1953), plus series featuring Raylan Givens, Chili Palmer, Jack Foley and Carl Webster.

Women pioneers on the American frontier are Jane Kirkpatrick's subject, written as Christian historical fiction and often set in Oregon. Kinship and Courage, Tender Ties, Change and Cherish, Portraits of the Heart and Women of Cannon Beach are among her series, with non-fiction alongside. Sixty-five catalogued books run from Homestead (1991) to With the Enduring Tides in 2026.

Cassie Edwards wrote historical romance set on the American frontier. Her 117 catalogued titles open with four books in 1982, Rapture's Rendezvous among them, and are organised into long runs: Savage, Savage Secrets, Wild Tribes, Wild Arizona, Chippewa and the Dreamcatcher Indian novels. Native American subjects, Ojibwa settings and women pioneers recur throughout. Edwards published with Dorchester, Signet, Kensington and Harlequin, and her output stopped after it emerged that she had extensively plagiarised other writers. The catalogue records titles through 2015.

James Reasoner writes westerns and frontier fiction, and the 193 catalogued books run from Texas Wind (1980) to Blood on the Border (2026). Civil War history, Texas and military fiction also appear among the subjects. Reasoner's series include Stagecoach Station, Abilene, Cody's Law, Wind River, Outlaw Ranger, Tales From Deadwood and the Walker, Texas Ranger tie-ins. Lee Goldberg, William Rabkin and Livia Reasoner are each co-credited on 1 book.

Cowboys, ranchers and ranch life run through Linda Lael Miller's 134 catalogued books, in historical, contemporary and western romance alike. Miller's families and places include the McKettricks, the Montana Creeds, Stone Creek, Springwater Seasons, Painted Pony Creek and the Brides of Bliss County, with a Tremayne vampire sequence off to one side. Desire and Destiny (1983) is the earliest title and The Silver Hills Boarding House the newest.

Gary Paulsen

181 books• 17 series

Survival and outdoor adventure run through Gary Paulsen's writing for young readers. The catalogue holds 181 books, from Some Birds Don't Fly (1968) to Northwind (2022), at a median length of 105 pages. Brian Robeson, Francis Tucket, Duncan Culpepper, Murphy and the World of Adventure books head the series lines, with non-fiction and picture books alongside. No new Paulsen title has appeared since 2022.

Elmer Kelton

74 books• 9 series

Elmer Kelton (April 29, 1926 - August 22, 2009) was an American writer of Westerns, born in Andrews County, Texas. Kelton graduated from the University of Texas in 1948, edited farm and ranch news at the San Angelo Standard-Times until 1963, and was associate editor of Livestock Weekly from 1968 to 1990. Kelton's novels won seven Spur Awards and three Western Heritage Awards, and Kelton received the Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement. The catalogue holds 74 books from Hot Iron (1956) to Law of the Land (2021), including the Texas Rangers, Texas Tradition and Hewey Calloway series.

Willa Cather

59 books• 1 series

Willa Cather wrote about the Nebraska plains, frontier and farm life, and the immigrants who settled them. Her earliest catalogued titles are short stories from 1896, and the Great Plains Trilogy is the sequence her fiction is grouped around. Sixty-nine catalogued titles, poetry and collected editions included, run through reissues dated to 2022.

Dorothy Garlock (1919-2018) wrote historical romance, much of it set on the American frontier. The catalogue runs to 63 books published between 1980 and 2017, from Love and Cherish (1980) to The Nearness of You (2017), with the 1980s her heaviest decade. Series include Wyoming Frontier, Dolan Brothers, Wabash River, Route 66, Colorado Wind and the Tucker Family books. Garlock also published as Johanna Phillips, Dorothy Phillips and Dorothy Glenn.