Western fiction is a genre of literature set in the
American Old West frontier and typically set from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Well-known writers of Western fiction include
Zane Grey from the early 20th century and
Louis L'Amour from the mid 20th century. The genre peaked around the early 1960s, largely due to the popularity of
televised Westerns such as
Bonanza. Readership began to drop off in the mid- to late 1970s and has reached a new low in the 2000s. Most bookstores, outside of a few west
American states, only carry a small number of Western fiction books.