The rugged American cowboy archetype was shaped less by a hardened frontiersman than by a baseball-playing dentist from Ohio who hated teeth, battled crippling depression, and was bankrolled by his wife. This deep dive explores the messy, surprising life of Pearl Zane Grey, a man essentially trying to outrun his own demons who ended up constructing a globally recognized American mythos.

From an abusive childhood and a derailed college pitching career to a failing dental practice, Grey's early writing was terrible until a grueling Grand Canyon expedition gave him the sensory reality he lacked. "Riders of the Purple Sage" crystallized the modern Western, and his relentless motion, from record marlin to indigenous-rights advocacy, kept the darkness at bay.

• How a rule change to the pitcher's mound ended his baseball dreams
• Th ...