In the Black Hills, Dakota Territory in 1873, budding romance ends in tragedy resulting in Jim Early's obsessive pursuit of a giant grizzly to the ultimate, bloody finale. Some real characters and the frontier locale, frequent encounters with other deadly wild animals and hornet's nest Cheyennes create a cinematic period set through which this action drama moves from caught breath to heart stop. The fabric of relationships is torn by racial conflict and persisting Civil War passions. Underlying governmental intrigue, the lure of gold, and the panorama of Custer's 7th Cavalry in garrison and in battle contribute texture. Revenge smolders like a smoky hot coal throughout.

"The fulfilled renown of Moby-Dick and of As I Lay Dying is augmented by Blood Meridian, since Cormac McCarthy is the worthy disciple both of Melville and Faulkner," writes esteemed literary scholar Harold Bloom in his Introduction to the Modern Library edition. "I venture that no other living American novelist, not even Pynchon, has given us a book as strong and memorable."

Cormac McCarthy's masterwork, Blood Meridian, chronicles the brutal world of the Texas-Mexico borderlands in the mid-nineteenth century. Its wounded hero, the teenage Kid, must confront the extraordinary violence of the Glanton gang, a murderous cadre on an official mission to scalp Indians and sell those scalps. Loosely based on fact, the novel represents a genius vision of the historical West, one so fiercely realized that since its initial publication in 1985 the canon of American literature has welcomed Blood Meridian to its shelf.

"A classic American novel of regeneration through violence," declares Michael Herr. "McCarthy can only be compared to our greatest writers."

They say, "I do," and only death shall part them. Back from their honeymoon, Dr. Dane and Tharyn Logan eagerly assume the reins of the medical practice in a small Colorado mining community. Dane's selfless heroism quickly earns him a fine reputation among the townsfolk. But the hardship and danger of the West strike home when a band of renegade Utes captures Thayrn's dear friend Melinda. Will hope survive after Melinda's friends and fiance have given her up for dead?
Story Behind the Book
When the challenge of the Western frontier began luring men and women westward from the eastern, northern, southern, and midwestern states in the mid-nineteenth century, they found a land that was beyond what they had imagined. Wherever they settled, from the wide Missouri River to the white-foamed shores of the Pacific Ocean, they clung to the hope of a bright new beginning for their lives. Often their hopes were dashed by fierce opposition from the Indians who had inhabited the land long before them. At times there was also struggle for survival against the hard winters and the loneliness of the vast frontier.