I haven't read much about the unglamorous transitions of history. That's one reason, in retrospect, that I found Macaulay incredible. For all of the words written about 1775-1800, 1840-60 in Europe aren't routinely in my thinking.

The corollary is true for frontier history in the postwar era. While the boomers, broadly, are planting subdivisions, there were still cowboys out west and in the southwest. At least Cormac McCarthy has me convinced of it. This book is to real, dare I say "gritty," to be completely made up.

Again, thematically, this 50 in 2014 project has brought me west and back in time. And I like it.

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Of course it is great: this book won awards and the author's past and future work best-sells every time. But when you encounter for the first time an author whose films you've already seen, as I did, you will be slightly disappointed, as I was.

This is a superbly written book. And I enjoyed every minute, almost, of reading it. That is was predictable bothered me a little, but not too much.