The Sagebrush School was the

literary movement Literary movements are a way to divide literature into categories of similar philosophical, topical, or aesthetic features, as opposed to divisions by genre or period. Like other categorizations, literary movements provide language for comparing ...

written primarily by men of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

. The

sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus '' Artemisia''. The best known sagebrush is the shrub '' Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west. Following is an al ...

shrub is prevalent in the state. It was a broad-based movement as it included various

literary genre A literary genre is a category of literature. Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or length (especially for fiction). They generally move from more abstract, encompassing classes, which are then further sub-divided in ...

s such as drama, essays, fiction, history, humor, journalism, memoirs, and poetry. The name ''Sagebrush School'' was coined by

Ella Sterling Mighels Ella Sterling Mighels (May 5, 1853 – December 10, 1934) (née: Ella Sterling Clark; during first marriage: Ella Sterling Cummins; pen name: Aurora Esmeralda) was a California pioneer, author and literary historian. She was born in Mormon Isla ...

, who stated:

Sagebrush school? Why not? Nothing in all our Western literature so distinctly savors of the soil as the characteristic books written by the men of Nevada and that interior part of the State where the sagebrush grows.

The roots of the movement were in the American Old West. The Sagebrush School was the main contributor to American literature from Nevada's

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

frontier during the period of 1859 to 1914. There were several characteristics of this movement that distinguished it from others, such as literary talent; these authors were known to be intelligent and accomplished writers. The style included hoaxes, wit, audacity, or an irreverent attitude. The inspiration for the movement began with Joseph T. Goodman of the

Virginia City Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno– Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. Virginia City developed as a boom ...

Nevada Territory The Territory of Nevada (N.T.) was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until October 31, 1864, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Nevada. Prior to the creation of the Nevada ...

's ''

Territorial Enterprise The ''Territorial Enterprise'', founded by William Jernegan and Alfred James on December 18, 1858, was a newspaper published in Virginia City, Nevada. Published for its first two years in Genoa in what was then Utah Territory, new owners Jo ...

''. The most notable of the Sagebrush School writers, and a ''Territorial Enterprise'' journalist, was Mark Twain. In 2009, the Sagebrush School was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame.

Writers

* Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) * Rollin M. Daggett * Samuel Post Davis * Alfred R. Doten * Thomas Fitch * James W. Gally * Joseph T. Goodman *

Charles Carroll Goodwin Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

* Fred H. Hart * Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins * Denis E. McCarthy * Arthur McEwen * Henry Rust Mighels *

John Franklin Swift John Franklin Swift (February 28, 1829 – March 10, 1891) was an American politician and author. Swift was a Republican member of the California State Assembly. He represented the 8th district (County of San Francisco) in 1863 and 1873-75. I ...

* James William Emery Townsend *

Joseph Wasson Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

* William Wright (Dan DeQuille)

Anthologies

* Basso, Dave, ''Sagebrush Chronicles'' (1971) * Witschi, Nicolas S. (ed.), ''The Sagebrush Anthology: Literature from the Silver Age of the Old West'' (2006)

References

{{Authority control American literary movements Nevada in fiction American frontier History of literature in the United States Nevada culture