Wallace Stegner Reading Order

8 books (1941–2007)

The American Folkways series is a collection of eight literary non-fiction books published between 1941 and 2007, exploring distinct regions of the United States through the perspectives of various authors. While Wallace Stegner served as editor for the series, individual volumes were written by different writers including Edwin Corle, Stanley Vestal, Stetson Kennedy, and others, each offering their own insights into American regional culture and geography. The series is complete and should be read in publication order, beginning with Desert Country and concluding with Blue Ridge Country. This collection provides a comprehensive portrait of American folkways across diverse landscapes from the desert Southwest to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Start with Desert Country(By: Edwin Corle), the first of 8 books in the American Folkways series.

#	Title
1	Desert Country(By: Edwin Corle) 1941Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Short Grass Country(By: Stanley Vestal) 1941Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Mormon Country 1942Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Palmetto Country(By: Stetson Kennedy) 1942Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Deep Delta Country(By: Harnett T. Kane) 1944Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Golden Gate Country(By: Gertrude Atherton) 1945Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Big Country Texas(By: Donald Day) 1947Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Blue Ridge Country(By: Jean Thomas) 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

8 books (1963–2005)

Wallace Stegner edited eight anthologies between 1963 and 2005, collecting short stories and literary works across various themes and regions. The series encompasses collections focused on American literature, Western writing, Canadian fiction, California authors, and specialized subjects like maternal grief and Mexican travel narratives. Read these anthologies in publication order beginning with 50 Great American Short Stories. The series is complete and each volume functions as a standalone collection while contributing to a comprehensive survey of literary fiction and creative nonfiction.

Start with 50 Great American Short Stories, the first of 8 books in the Anthologies series.

#	Title
1	50 Great American Short Stories 1963Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Unknown California 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Faber Book of Contemporary Canadian Short Stories 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Late Harvest 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Prose and Poetry of the American West 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Our Mothers' Spirits: Great Writers on the Death of Mothers and the Grief of Men 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Escape to Mexico: An Anthology of Great Writers 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	The Little Big Book of California 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

2 books (1943–1979)

This complete two-book literary fiction series by Wallace Stegner follows the life of Bruce Mason across four decades. The Big Rock Candy Mountain, published in 1943, introduces the protagonist, while Recapitulation, released in 1979, revisits his story later in life. Read in publication order to experience the full arc of Mason's journey, as the second novel builds upon and reflects back on events established in the first.

Start with The Big Rock Candy Mountain and read in order.

#	Title
1	The Big Rock Candy Mountain 1943Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Recapitulation 1979Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

4 books (1950–1990)

Wallace Stegner's Collections series comprises four books of literary fiction and non-fiction published between 1950 and 1990. The series is complete and should be read in publication order, beginning with The Women on the Wall and progressing through The City of the Living & Other Stories, The Writer's Art, and concluding with The Collected Stories of Wallace Stegner. These volumes span four decades of Stegner's work as a writer and storyteller.

Start with The Women on the Wall, the first of 4 books in the Collections series.

#	Title
1	The Women on the Wall 1950Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The City of the Living & Other Stories 1956Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Writer's Art 1972Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	The Collected Stories of Wallace Stegner 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

23 books (1954–2008)

Wallace Stegner's non-fiction works span from 1954 to 2008, comprising 23 complete books that should be read in publication order. These volumes cover diverse subjects including Western history, environmental conservation, literary criticism, and creative writing instruction, reflecting Stegner's wide-ranging intellectual interests. The series opens with Beyond the Hundredth Meridian and includes landmark works on landscape, geology, and American regional identity alongside essays, letters, and teaching guides.

Start with Beyond the Hundredth Meridian, the first of 23 books in the Non-Fiction series.

#	Title
1	Beyond the Hundredth Meridian 1954Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	This Is Dinosaur 1955Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Wolf Willow 1962Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	The Gathering of Zion 1964Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Teaching the Short Story 1966Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	The Sound of Mountain Water 1969Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Discovery! The Search for Arabian Oil 1971Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	The Uneasy Chair 1974Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	The letters of Bernard DeVoto(With: Bernard DeVoto) 1975Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	The Writer in America 1976Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	One Way To Spell Man 1982Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Conversations with Wallace Stegner on Western History & Literature 1983Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	American Places 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	The American West as Living Space 1987Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	On the Teaching of Creative Writing 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	Wilderness at the Edge 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs 1992Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	Marking the Sparrow's Fall 1998Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	On Teaching and Writing Fiction 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
20	The Selected Letters 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
21	The Selected Letters of Wallace Stegner 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
22	The Twilight of Self Reliance 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
23	Wallace Stegner's West 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

11 books (1937–1987)

Wallace Stegner's eleven standalone novels span from 1937 to 1987, each offering independent stories that can be read in any order, though publication order is recommended to follow the author's literary development. Beginning with Remembering Laughter and concluding with Crossing to Safety, this complete collection showcases Stegner's mastery of literary fiction across five decades. The novels, including notable works like Angle of Repose and The Spectator Bird, reflect Stegner's deep engagement with American life, history, and character. These works represent a finished body of fiction from one of the twentieth century's most respected American writers.

Start with Remembering Laughter, the first of 11 books in the Standalone Novels series.

#	Title
1	Remembering Laughter 1937Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Potter's House 1938Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	On a Darkling Plain 1940Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Fire and Ice 1941Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Second Growth 1947Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Joe Hill: A Biographical Novel 1950Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	A Shooting Star 1961Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	All the Little Live Things 1967Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Angle of Repose 1971Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	The Spectator Bird 1976Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Crossing to Safety 1987Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible