Butcher's Crossing

For the film adaptation, see Butcher's Crossing (film).
Butcher's Crossing
First edition cover
AuthorJohn Williams
LanguageEnglish
GenreWestern fiction
PublisherMacmillan
Publication date
1960
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint
Preceded byNothing But the Night 
Followed byStoner 

Butcher's Crossing is a western novel by John Williams, originally published in 1960. The story follows William Andrews, a young Harvard student who leaves his life behind to explore the American West. The book begins and ends in the fictional frontier town of Butcher's Crossing, Kansas, in the early 1870s, where Andrews joins a buffalo-hunting expedition.[1] He and the people he meets along the way must confront and survive the brutal realities of nature in their attempts to get buffalo hides to sell.[2] Along the way, Andrews contemplates his purpose in life with respect to nature, specifically through the influence of Ralph Waldo Emerson.[1]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).