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The Virginian
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The Virginian

novel by Wister
Also known as: “The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains”
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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

The Virginian, Western novel by Owen Wister, published in 1902. Its great popularity contributed to the enshrinement of the American cowboy as an icon of American popular culture and a folk ideal. A chivalrous and courageous but mysterious cowboy known only as “the Virginian” works as foreman of a cattle ranch in the Wyoming territory during the late 1870s and ’80s. The gunplay and violence that are inherent in his frontier code of behaviour threaten...

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