Directed by George Stevens, then one of Hollywood's most successful filmmakers, Shane (1952) is one of the most revered and imitated of all westerns. Starring Alan Ladd as a mysterious drifter who protects a fledgling community from a predatory gang, Shane is one of the definitive reimaginings of America's frontier mythology.

This is, remarkably, the first substantial study of Shane. In it, Edward Countryman and Evonne von Heussen-Countryman show, with reference to a wide range of historical and archival sources, how subtly the film treats some fundamental themes: family, the history of settlement and community in America, violence, and the culture of the gun.