'Firebrand' Trevison

About the book

Brand Trevison watches a railroad and the town of Manti transform country he once regarded as open range. New fences and investment threaten the cattle business, but the changed value of his own property gives him reasons to stand his ground. His forceful temperament soon clashes with Corrigan, whose influence reaches beyond a personal quarrel into the institutions surrounding the expanding town. Rosalind Benham's connection to the business interests complicates the developing attraction between her and Trevison. Seltzer frames the Western conflict around the difference between legal power and justice, asking what independence means when capital can reshape both land and authority. Riding, confrontation, and romance give immediate form to the larger struggle over who controls the region's future.

• Land and corporate power
• Justice and legal authority
• Independence under pressure

Why read it

The railroad is visible from the first scene as a physical transformation and a warning that the rules of local life are changing.

English Grosset and Dunlap edition with A. C. McClurg's 1918 copyright