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Westerns Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
Westerns Quizzes, Trivia

Westerns Trivia

Westerns Trivia Quizzes

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Both the Old West and the New West are represented in this genre.
4 Westerns quizzes and 40 Westerns trivia questions.
1.
  Authors of the "Old West" Genre   great trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Many authors achieved fame writing western themed fiction books. So, cinch up that saddle tight, head off down that dusty trail, and ride into the sunset like all western heroes do!
Average, 10 Qns, ghosttowner, Feb 17 24
Average
ghosttowner gold member
Feb 17 24
1689 plays
2.
  What Western Author Wrote These Classics   popular trivia quiz  
Match Quiz
 10 Qns
Get ready to test your matching skills. Here are ten prominent western classics. You probably recognize the titles, but can you match them with their author? If you do, you can ride off into the sunset with a great score!
Average, 10 Qns, ghosttowner, Apr 11 18
Average
ghosttowner gold member
Apr 11 18
328 plays
3.
  Literary Cowboys   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Saddle Up, Ride Out, Read A Book?
Average, 10 Qns, 480154st, Sep 14 18
Average
480154st gold member
Sep 14 18
386 plays
4.
  Do You Read Westerns?   great trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
It started with Zane Grey and progressed through Max Brand, Jack Schaefer, Louis L'Amour and others. Yes I admit it, I read western novels. Now that my dirty little secret is out, I wonder how many others are closet Western readers.
Tough, 10 Qns, safemann, Mar 07 10
Tough
safemann
673 plays
trivia question Quick Question
What is the title of the 1973 novel by Elmer Kelton about drought in West Texas and the way in which it affects the whole community?

From Quiz "Literary Cowboys"




Related Topics
  L'Amour, Louis [Literature] (6 quizzes)

  Lund, Gerald N [Literature] (4 quizzes)

  McMurtry, Larry [Literature] (8 quizzes)

  Westerns [Television] (36 quizzes)

  Westerns and Gangster Films [Movies] (47 quizzes)


Westerns Trivia Questions
1. Which prolific writer of frontier stories gave us books such as "The Quick And The Dead" (1973), "The Shadow Riders" (1982) and the wonderfully named "Bendigo Shafter" (1979)?

From Quiz Literary Cowboys

Answer: Louis L'Amour

L'Amour always referred to his novels, not as westerns but as frontier stories, and even had plans to build a typical frontier town named Shalako at one point. In 1980 "Bendigo Shafter" won a U.S. National Book Award.

2. This prolific western author was born in 1872 with the given name of Pearl. What is the name of this author who wrote "Riders of the Purple Sage?"

From Quiz Authors of the "Old West" Genre

Answer: Zane Grey

Grey was born in Zanesville, Ohio. He wrote more than ninety books which sold more than forty million copies. Hollywood has utilized his works in many movies. In fact, there are five versions of "Riders of the Purple Sage" from 1918, 1925, 1931, 1941, and 1996. The 1996 version, starring Ed Harris, is considered to be the most true to the book.

3. Originally titled "Rider From Nowhere", which classic western was written by Jack Schaefer?

From Quiz Literary Cowboys

Answer: Shane

Schaefer was an Ohio native who had never been to Wyoming, where "Shane" is se,t or any of the western United States when he wrote the novel. "Shane" contains words of wisdom such as, "A gun is just a tool. No better and no worse than any other tool, a shovel - or an axe or a saddle or a stove or anything. Think of it always that way. A gun is as good - and as bad - as the man who carries it." and "What a man knows isn't important. It's what he is that counts".

4. Founded in 1953, the Western Writers of America organization is dedicated to promoting western literature. What is the name of the award given by the group that is considered the pinnacle for a western writer?

From Quiz Authors of the "Old West" Genre

Answer: Spur Award

The Spur Award started out in 1953 with five categories. By 2009, there were seventeen award categories. Past winners include Nelson Nye ("Long Run"), Louis L'Amour ("Down the Long Hills"), Larry McMurtry ("Lonesome Dove") and Michael Blake ("Dances With Wolves").

5. Who is the heroic frontiersman who appears in all of the Zane Grey "Ohio River Trilogy" books?

From Quiz Do You Read Westerns?

Answer: Lew Wetzel

Lew Wetzel was a real person. He, his brother and their father were attacked by Indians along the Ohio River near Fish Creek, Va. Lew was the only survivor.

6. In which book by Fred Gipson does Travis Coates take in a stray dog while his father is away on a cattle drive?

From Quiz Literary Cowboys

Answer: Old Yeller

"Old Yeller" was published in 1956 and has been a children's favourite for many years. Old Yeller is a faithful hound who protects the family on several occasions, including saving the younger brother of Travis from a bear and protecting Travis himself from a group of wild hogs. It spawned two sequels, "Savage Sam" (1962) and "Little Arliss" (1978).

7. Born in 1908 in South Dakota, this western author published 105 books before his death in 1988. What is the name of the writer who wrote about the Sackett family and "Shalako"?

From Quiz Authors of the "Old West" Genre

Answer: Louis L'Amour

Louis L'Amour is one of the biggest icons of western fiction writing. He utilized historical accuracy as a background for his books. It was usual to be able to read a book, pull out a map, and follow the progress of the story. More than forty of his books have been made into movies and in 1984, he was honored as a recipient of the Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan.

8. Which author, best known for a series of books about a wartime pilot, wrote the wonderful "The Rustlers Of Rattlesnake Valley" (1948)?

From Quiz Literary Cowboys

Answer: W.E. Johns

Full of characters such as "Daddy" Moore, "Two Gun" Grundle and "Wall Eye" Gates in places such as the O-bar-O ranch, the D-bar-10 ranch and Rattlesnake Valley, where "the rattlers are as thick here as fleas on a mangy coyote", this book was a fantastic read for an English kid in his early teens like I was. Johns was himself a WWI pilot and took part in several bombing raids on Germany before being shot down in September 1918 and spending the last months of the war as a prisoner of war.

9. Author Fran Striker is well-known for developing the Green Hornet character but he also created another character that is one of the best known western heroes. What is the name of this character who had "a fiery horse with the speed of light"?

From Quiz Authors of the "Old West" Genre

Answer: The Lone Ranger

Fran Striker developed both characters. In actuality, he even had them related. Britt Reid, the name of the Green Hornet, was the son of the Lone Ranger's nephew, Dan Reid. Striker wrote Lone Ranger books and also all the scripts for the radio show which ran for twenty-one years. He did the same for the Green Hornet show from 1936 to 1952. Striker was killed in an automobile accident in 1962. In 1988, he was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame.

10. Jack Shaffer wrote a wonderful western novel, seen through the eyes of young Joey Starrett, that was made into a movie staring Alan Ladd in the title role. Who was this title character?

From Quiz Do You Read Westerns?

Answer: Shane

Jack Shaffer also wrote "Monte Walsh" about an aging cowboy who sees that the world no longer has room for him or his ways.

11. Which novel by "King Of The Cowboy Books", Zane Grey, features the characters Jane Withersteen, Bishop Dyer and Jim Lassiter?

From Quiz Literary Cowboys

Answer: Riders Of The Purple Sage

"Riders Of The Purple Sage"(1912) is about Mormon landowner Jane Withersteen and the church's disapproval of her friendship with a non Mormon man, as well as her romantic feelings towards Lassiter when he helps her after the church elders, led by Bishop Dyer, attempt to break her spirit. Still a great read even though it is over a century old.

12. The book "Shane" was first published in 1949 and became a memorable film in 1953, starring Alan Ladd. Who wrote this popular book, despite not having ever been anywhere near the west?

From Quiz Authors of the "Old West" Genre

Answer: Jack Schaefer

Schaefer struck gold with his very first book, "Shane". While he later wrote another twenty-five books, none were as memorable as the first. Schaefer finally moved west, to New Mexico, in 1955. In 1975, he was honored with the Western Literature Association's Distinguished Achievement award. He died in 1991. E.B. Mann wrote "The Valley of Wanted Men" in 1945, Arthur authored "Trigger Man from Nevada" in 1949, and Swarthout "The Shootist" in 1975.

13. Who was Hopalong Cassidy's (remember we are talking about the books) regular side kick?

From Quiz Do You Read Westerns?

Answer: Nobody, he was a loner.

Hopalong Cassidy, Hoppy to his friends, rode for the Bar 20 ranch.

14. Considered by many literary critics to be one of the great American novels, who wrote "True Grit (1968)?

From Quiz Literary Cowboys

Answer: Charles Portis

Portis' famous novel about Mattie Ross and Rooster Cogburn was first published in serialised sections in "The Saturday Evening Post". Born and raised in Arkansas, Portis worked initially as a journalist; one of his jobs was editing the copy of various female freelance journalists. He has credited these journalists as giving him the realistic language used by "True Grit" heroine, 14 year old Mattie Ross.

15. While Walter Van Tilburg Clark only wrote very few books, his first, in 1940, was a classic and became a movie starring Henry Fonda in 1943. What is the title of his famous book which told the story of a posse lynching three innocent men?

From Quiz Authors of the "Old West" Genre

Answer: The Ox-Bow Incident

Clark was born in Maine during 1909 although the family moved to Reno, Nevada soon after. He attended the University of Nevada where his father was president. Clark's last book was published in 1951 and while he continued to write, didn't publish any more books. He died in 1971 and was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame in 1988. The other three choices are some of Clark's other published books.

16. Written out of disgust for the unrealistic cowboy fiction being written at the time, which 1903 Andy Adams novel chronicles the daily life of a cattle drive from Texas to Montana?

From Quiz Literary Cowboys

Answer: The Log Of A Cowboy

"The Log Of A Cowboy" is based on Adams' own experiences and covers all situations that a cowboy on a cattle run may encounter, from run-ins with hostile native tribes and perilous river crossings, to the not-so-exciting aspects like hours of boredom and the amount of tedious paperwork that had to be completed each day. Adams wrote several western novels, including "The Wells Brothers (1911) and its sequel, "The Ranch On The Beaver (1927).

17. "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges!" is from what novel that later became a movie?

From Quiz Do You Read Westerns?

Answer: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" was written by B. Traven. Interestingly nobody knows for sure who B. Traven really was.

18. After his family is massacred, the narrator in "Little Big Man" (1964) by Thomas Berger is adopted by a Cheyenne Indian band. What is the name of this narrator, who was played in the 1970 movie by Dustin Hoffman?

From Quiz Literary Cowboys

Answer: Jack Crabb&Crabb

Although "Little Big Man" is probably his best known novel, Berger wasn't just a western writer and covered several different genres, including myth and legend in "Arthur Rex: A Legendary Novel" (1978), science fiction in "Adventures of the Artificial Woman" (2004) and mystery in "Killing Time" (1967). "Little Big Man" won Berger a Western Heritage Award in 1965.

19. What is the title of the 1973 novel by Elmer Kelton about drought in West Texas and the way in which it affects the whole community?

From Quiz Literary Cowboys

Answer: The Time It Never Rained

"The Time It Never Rained" is a great novel, told through the eyes of stubborn rancher Charlie Flagg, who, as everyone else leaves town or applies for federal aid, tries to stick to his self reliance through the drought. This book has been referred to as a "Grapes Of Wrath" for the western genre and is probably Kelton's best known work, although he did write several award winning westerns including "Way Of The Coyote" (2001) and "The Day The Cowboys Quit" (1971).

20. Louis L'Amour wrote seventeen novels and two short stories about this frontier family. Who are they?

From Quiz Do You Read Westerns?

Answer: The Sacketts

In the "Sackett" series Louis L'Amour traces this fictional family from their arrival in America in the 1700 through the end of the "Wild West" era.

21. "El Paso" (2016) by Winston Groom is a western set in Pancho Villa's Mexican Revolution. For writing which 1986 (non western) novel is he best known?

From Quiz Literary Cowboys

Answer: Forrest Gump

"El Paso" is a modern western that still retains all of the aspects required to rank it up there with classic works. When, during a cattle drive, Villa kidnaps the grandchildren of a railroad tycoon, the businessman tries to hire gunmen to hunt Villa down. Well worth a read if you are a fan of western literature.

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