author
Earl Wayland Bowman
1875–1952
A novelist, journalist, and political maverick, he wrote lively Western stories shaped by years of roaming the American West. He is best remembered for The Ramblin' Kid and for an unusual turn in public life as Idaho's first Socialist state senator.
1 Audiobook
The Ramblin' Kid
by Earl Wayland Bowman
About the author
Born in Missouri on March 13, 1875, Earl Wayland Bowman built a life that sounds a little like one of his own novels. Archival summaries describe him as a wanderer in his youth who spent time across Texas, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Old Mexico, and Indian Territory before becoming known as a writer of Western fiction and journalism.
Bowman later became closely tied to Idaho, where he worked as a promoter, editor, and writer. He was associated with publications including The Golden Trail, and libraries and archives consistently describe him as the author of popular stories and novels of the American West. His best-known book is The Ramblin' Kid (1920), which was adapted for the screen more than once.
His career also took a surprising political turn: historical and archival sources identify him as Idaho's first Socialist state senator, serving in 1915. He died on September 5, 1952, but his mix of frontier storytelling, journalism, and public life still gives him a distinct place in Idaho and Western literary history.