author
Vardis Fisher
1895–1968
Best known for vivid historical novels of the American West, this Idaho writer also took on a far bigger challenge: retelling the story of human civilization across an ambitious multi-volume series. His work draws on frontier life, folklore, and a lifelong fascination with history and belief.
1 Audiobook
Odyssey of a hero
by Vardis Fisher
About the author
Born in Annis, Idaho, on March 31, 1895, Vardis Fisher grew up in a frontier environment that strongly shaped his fiction. He studied at the University of Utah and the University of Chicago, then taught English at the University of Utah and at New York University before turning fully to literary and historical work.
Fisher became known for novels rooted in the American West and for the sweeping Testament of Man series, his large fictional retelling of human cultural history. He also worked with the Federal Writers' Project and led the Idaho Writers' Project in the 1930s, helping produce books on Idaho's history, folklore, and geography.
Among his best-known books is Mountain Man, later adapted into the film Jeremiah Johnson. Fisher died in Hagerman, Idaho, on July 9, 1968, and he remains closely associated with Idaho's literary history.