Butcher's Crossing

In 1873, Will Andrews leaves Harvard and heads west. Emerson’s ideas draw him toward nature and a truer self. They link Eastern wisdom with our need for nature. He meets Miller in the Kansas hunting town of Butcher’s Crossing. This skilled hunter claims to know a hidden valley. He says vast herds of bison live there. Elsewhere, hunters have killed so many that few remain. Andrews pays for the trip to hunt the bison. Miller, Charley Hoge and Fred Schneider join him.

John Williams’s novel follows the hunt and its brutal human cost. Cut off from others, the men begin to lose their reason. This western takes a fresh, critical view of the West. It suits readers drawn to tales of survival. It also explores the search for a sense of self. The book tests dreams against harsh facts. It questions myths of the West.

Williams was born in Texas in 1922 and died in 1994. During World War II, he served in the US air force. He served in both Burma and India. He later studied at Denver. He earned a doctorate in English literature at Missouri. He went back to Denver to teach and later became a professor. This was his second novel. It first came out in 1960.

Ariadna Ponta translated this edition from English into Romanian. It forms part of the Esențial series. Gabe Polsky made the novel into a film in 2022. Nicolas Cage and Fred Hechinger played the lead roles.