Emerson Hough

Born in 1857 in Iowa, Emerson Hough studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1882, but he eventually found his real calling in writing. After moving west and spending time in New Mexico, he began publishing stories and articles that drew on frontier life, travel, hunting, and the changing American landscape.

Hough became one of the best-known writers of historical adventure and Western fiction in the early 20th century. His books often blended action with a strong interest in American expansion and folklore, and several of them reached a large national readership. Among his best-known works are The Mississippi Bubble, 54-40 or Fight, and North of 36.

He died in 1923 in Chicago, leaving behind a body of work closely tied to the mythology of the American West. For listeners who enjoy classic frontier tales, his writing offers a vivid window into the way that era was imagined for generations of readers.