Zane Grey

Riders of the Purple Sage Illustrated Zane Grey

Riders of the Purple Sage is a Western novel by Zane Grey, first published by Harper & Brothers in 1912. Considered by scholars to have played a significant role in shaping the formula of the popular Western genre, the novel has been called "the most popular western novel of all time. Riders of the Purple Sage is a story about three main characters, Bern Venters, Jane Withersteen, and Jim Lassiter, who in various ways struggle with persecution from the local Mormon community ("Mormon" is the informal term for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), led by Bishop Dyer and Elder Tull, in the fictional town of Cottonwoods, Utah. Jane Withersteen, a born-and-raised Mormon, provokes Elder Tull because she is attractive, wealthy, and befriends "Gentiles" (non-Mormons), namely, a little girl named Fay Larkin, a man she has hired named Bern Venters, and another hired man named Lassiter. Elder Tull, a polygamist with two wives already, wishes to have Jane for a third wife, along with her estate.