The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains

Owen Wister was born in Philadelphia to Owen Jones Wister, a physician, and Sarah (Butler) Wister, daughter of the actress Fanny Kemble. After graduating from Harvard in 1882, Wister spent some time in the West and documented his experiences in a series of diaries. In 1891, after a conversation in which Wister and his former Harvard classmate Theodore Roosevelt discussed the literary potential of Wister's impressions of Western life, Wister began writing stories of America's last frontier, which paved the way for The Virginian. Wister's stories helped establish the cowboy as an archetypal, individualist hero, and The Virginian is widely recognized as the first true Cowboy novelWister, Owen is the author of 'The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains' with ISBN 9780895773050 and ISBN 0895773058.