The 1968 novel is a classic but one that I hadn't read until decades after the classic John Wayne film of the same name in 1969 -- and a full year after the Coen brothers reshot the movie in the 2010 version. Mattie Ross, a 14-year-old from Dardanelle in Yell County, Arkansas, tells the story in her own didactic way. Once she makes a decision, she sticks with it regardless of the consequences.

For example, the reader learns that Mattie is a member of the Southern Presbyterian Church, which had split with the Cumberland Presbyterians. "They broke with the Presbyterian Church because they did not believe a preacher needed a lot of formal education. That is all right but they are not sound on Election. I confess it is a hard doctrice, running contrary to our earthly ideas of fair play, but I can see no way around it ... It was good enough for Paul and Silas and it is good enough for me. It is good enough for you too."

The background of the story is wonderful, indicating what was happening as the western U.S. was settled after the Civil War. Most characters in the book, including the principals Rooster Cogburn and LaBoeuf, have served in the war and still carry opinions about what happened -- and weapons from the war. The book has several twists to the story that are skipped in the 1969 version of the film, including what happens to Mattie after the adventure chasing outlaws in the Indian territory that is now Oklahoma.

Along with McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove" and Owen Wister's "The Virginian", a highly recommended piece of writing on the American West.