Synopsis
Charles G. “Chuck” Pfeiffer, [1919-2012], was a charter member of Zane Grey’s West Society, and was arguably the most widely traveled Grey researcher anyone in the Society has ever known. He was famous for traveling more than 400,000 miles throughout the contiguous United States in his maroon and cream Volkswagen van, which he had personally converted into a mobile research base. Outfitted with stove, ice-box, bunk-bed, writing desk, porta-potty, and other necessities, he crisscrossed the mountains, deserts, and plains of these United States, both east and west, searching for Zane Grey’s story sites. Luckily for us, he found them, and was as thrilled with them as was Grey.Those travels over smooth interstates and bumpy backroads, broken black-tops, dirt trails, sand pits, slippery sand hills, and rocky creek fords- in dust storms, blizzards and downpours, in heat and cold- produced 622 pages of trip notes, countless articles in Zane Grey’s West Society publications, a dozen or more slide programs at Society conventions, scores of illustrated “talks” to scores of organizations in and around Columbia, South Carolina, where he lived for most of his post-Navy life, his tome, Zane Grey: A Study in Values Above and Beyond the West, and these seven Little Books. Chuck had a sharp and discerning eye, a knack for detail, was inquisitive, gentle, soft-spoken, personable and gentlemanly. He shared his knowledge of Zane Grey with anyone and everyone who took the time to ask, and took pleasure in doing so. Listening to him talk about the author, his conversations always sprinkled with tales of his own wild adventures on the trail, was riveting and habit-forming. Anyone who heard any of his presentations, either formally or in a pick-up conversation group in some hotel lobby, dim corridor or brightly lit room, wanted more. He had a prodigious memory and could instantly recall facts and information he had collected years before. And I cannot recall a time when he was unable to answer a question asked of him. This volume, containing So You Want to Read Zane Grey and Don’t Know Where to Start and Conestogas to Kanab is Volume 1 of 4. Each volume includes So You Want to Read Zane Grey and Don’t Know Where to Start, Chuck’s most often requested little book, and one or two more of his seven little books. Along with So You Want to Read Zane Grey and Don’t Know Where to Start, Volume 2 includes The Surprise Valleys of Zane Grey and Searching for Locales of Grey’s Southwestern Romances, Volume 3 contains Footnotes to Grey’s Maverick Queen and The Unpardonable Stephen Latch, and Volume 4 completes the series with Zane Grey’s Texas Novels.Surprised by the popularity of these little books, Chuck republished them in 2d, 3d, and in some cases, even more printings, even while continuing his field research. And he updated and corrected the texts of the books as he gained new information. The result is that his later editions may contain slightly different information than his early ones. For this project, we have used what we believe to be his last personally published editions. Although the seven books are here re-published using the latest technology, each mirrors as closely as possible the content of the books as Chuck published them. In a few instances, we have included in Editor’s Notes additional material that Chuck either did not have access to at the time, or had not yet connected to what he was writing about, but will add materially to a reader’s understanding and enjoyment of the book.
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