This image is the cover for the book Spirit of the Border, The Ohio River Trilogy

Spirit of the Border, The Ohio River Trilogy

A classic historical western of the eighteenth-century American frontier by the celebrated author of Riders of the Purple Sage.

First published in 1906, The Spirit of the Border is a vivid and brutal tale based on true events as chronicled in the journals of Zane Grey’s ancestor Col. Ebenezer Zane. It tells the story of Moravian Church missionaries and their efforts to bring peace to the Ohio Valley—efforts that met a tragic end in the destruction of a Christian Indian settlement known as Gnaddenhutten, or Village of Peace. Set in the midst of the American Revolution, the novel also recounts the brutal exploits of Lewis Wetzel, the infamous hunter known as Deathwind who viewed all Native Americans as his mortal enemies.

The Spirit of the Border is the second book in a trilogy based on Zane Grey’s family history, preceded by Betty Zane and followed by The Last Trail.

Zane Grey

Zane Grey (1872–1939) was born in Zanesville, Ohio, a city named for a Revolutionary War hero who was his ancestor. After attending the University of Pennsylvania on a baseball scholarship, he started a dentistry practice in New York City and wrote in the evenings. An avid outdoorsman, Grey found his inspiration in the American West, and his bestselling novels, including the iconic Riders of the Purple Sage, established the conventions and the enduring popularity of the Western genre.

Open Road Media