Was the West really hell on horses and women? Not always. This collection of short stories refutes the traditional stereotypes of women in western fiction—the pure schoolmarm, the soiled dove with a heart of gold, the worn and weary settler's wife—to show that both male and female authors have created strong and interesting women in western fiction, both past and present.
Four major women authors—Mary Hallock Foote, Willa Cather, Mari Sandoz, and Dorothy Johnson—are represented by several selections each. Individual stories follow by Gertrude Atherton, Mary Austin, Jeanne Williams, Carla Kelly, Marcia Muller, Judy Alter, Bret Harte, O. Henry, Owen Wister, Charles Eastman, Jack London, Jack Schaefer, Elmer Kelton, Robert Flynn, and Elmore Leonard.