The Untamed

“It was impossible to tell why one respected this man, but after a time there grew a suspicion of unknown strength in this lone rider, strength like that of a machine which is stopped but only needs a spark of fire to plunge it into irresistible action.” 


The Untamed is the pioneering novel set in the Wild West by American author Max Brand, as he joined the ranks of the legendary Zane Grey, Owen Wister, and Louis L'Amour. 


First published in 1919, The Untamed helped create the familiar archetypes of character, setting, and action that dominate western fiction and film today.


The hero, Whistlin' Dan Barry, rides a black stallion named Satan, followed by a wolf dog he calls Black Bart. 


Dan Barry is tall, taciturn, and unflappable, confident in his skills, mysterious in his background; the heroine, Kate Cumberland, dedicated to civilizing the untamed town; and the villain, Jim Silent, a liar, a thief, a killer, and a coward beneath his bravado. 


Early on, Whistlin’ Dan makes an enemy of Jim Silent, leader of a pack of train robbers. 


When Jim Silent takes Kate hostage, Dan teams up with Texas Calder, a United States marshal who has been tracking the outlaw.


MAX BRAND (1892-1944) real name: Frederick Faust was an American author known primarily for his classic Westerns under the pen name Max Brand, and the Dr. Kildare series from television and movies. Brand burst on the scene with this striking novel less than two decades after Owen Wister’s The Virginian and just as Zane Grey was topping the bestseller lists. In those three writers one can trace the evolution of western storytelling from history into myth.