The Sea of Grass

novel by Richter

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The Sea of Grass, novel by Conrad Richter, published in 1936, presenting in epic scope the conflicts in the settling of the American Southwest.

The novel is set in New Mexico in the late 19th century and concerns the often violent clashes between the pioneering ranchers, whose cattle range freely through the vast sea of grass, and the farmers, or “nesters,” who build fences and turn the sod. The ranchers view the farmers as opportunists who are fated to fail in the arid climate. Against this background is set the triangle of rancher Colonel Jim Brewton, his unstable Eastern wife, Lutie, and the ambitious Brice Chamberlain. Richter casts the story in Homeric terms, with the children caught up in the conflicts of their parents.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.

Conrad Michael Richter

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Conrad Michael Richter

American author

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Born:: Oct. 13, 1890, Pine Grove, Pa., U.S.

Died:: Oct. 30, 1968, Pottsville, Pa. (aged 78)

Awards And Honors:: National Book Award; Pulitzer Prize

Notable Works:: “The Fields”; “The Sea of Grass”; “The Town”; “The Trees”

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Conrad Michael Richter (born Oct. 13, 1890, Pine Grove, Pa., U.S.—died Oct. 30, 1968, Pottsville, Pa.) was an American short-story writer and novelist known for his lyrical fiction about early America.

As a young man, Richter did odd jobs and at age 19 became the editor of the Patton (Pennsylvania) Courier. He then worked as a reporter and founded a juvenile magazine that he liquidated before moving to New Mexico in 1928. In an era when many American writers steeped themselves in European culture, Richter was fascinated with American history, and he spent years researching frontier life. He is best known for The Sea of Grass (1936) and his trilogy of pioneer life, The Trees (1940), The Fields (1946), and The Town (1950), the final volume of which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1951. Richter’s stories are usually told in the voice of a contemporary narrator, allowing the reader to see the present and past as a continuum. Among other themes, he explored the dilemma of the identity of the American Indian, infusing some of his novels with a social consciousness. An autobiographical novel, The Waters of Kronos (1960), won the National Book Award in 1961.

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