The Man of the Forest

A Loner Changes His Life

I hate to discourage anyone from buying any Zane Grey novel, but "Dorn of the Mountains" is the novel you should buy, not The Man of the Forest. Get the book Zane Grey wrote before the editors got a hold of it. Five Star/Gale/Cengage is doing a wonderful thing by bringing out these Zane Grey masterpieces as he wrote them, so we as Zane Grey fans can "see" the real Zane Grey. It's a battle every writer fights when he writes something and wants to get it published--compromise. Even the great ones faced this, even after they became great. In the Man of the Forest version the lead male character is Milt Dale; in the "new" book he is Milt Dorn. The reason for the change was this novel was first published in 1918 and angry German sentiment was running high because of the 1st World War. Also in this book Zane Grey begins to relate his ideas on ecology and the loss of the natural resources; as well as telling us a story about a "loner" who is uncertain about his own future. Yet, when Helen Rayner appears to be in "real" trouble he leaves his solitariness to defend and befriend her and her little sister who have come west to visit relatives, and to escape a past. There are some good characters and characterizations in this book that lend creedance to the research of location and personage as only Zane Grey could do it. I HIGHLY recommend the Dorn of the Mountain version; it is far superior to the "original", yet it is still worth buying. Get a Walter J. Black edition; they are great to own and will last a life time.