The Roaring U.P. Trail

The Roaring U.P. Trail was the title used when Blue Book Magazine published this novel in serial form. It was shortened to just The U. P. Trail when Harper published it as a book later. This is the British edition, abridged. What can one say about the greatest undertaking ever devised by man--the construction of the transcontinental railroad in the 1860's--and its exposition in story form by the greatest writer of the American West, Zane Grey. Historically accurate from beginning to end, descriptively unmatched by any other writer, and filled with characters enough to fill a mini-series. Of course, there is love found and love lost and then found again; it wouldn't be Zane Grey without that! But beyond the romance, the reader will find the heroism, the strength, the men and women with the kind of fortitude and vision that it took to make this country what it is today. And yes, there is a tragic side to the book. But sadly, the majority of which was excised out about the passing of a life-style; the passing of a people--the Indian; for the progress of the railroad with its technology and its ability to bring huge numbers of people into the country meant the destruction of the Indian. This receives little attention in this abridgement. I would still recommend this book for anyone--historian, or pleasure reader. Also available in hardback is the unexpurgated version, Union Pacific, by Five Star Western which came out in 2009 telling the story the way Zane Grey "really" wrote it before Ripley Hitchcock, Zane Grey's editor at Harper's did his usual deletions and additions. Thankfully, this was the last book he edited of Zane Grey's.