Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West

Published in 1985, Cormac McCarthy’s novel is widely regarded as one of the most harrowing and brutal works in American literature. Set along the United States—Mexico borderlands in the mid-nineteenth century, it chronicles the grim path of a gang of scalp hunters. The book examines themes of primeval violence, fate, and moral ruin against the backdrop of an unforgiving wilderness.