<P> <i>The Western Genre: From Lordsburg to Big Whiskey</i> offers close readings of the definitive American film movement as represented by such leading exponents as John Ford, Howard Hawks, and Sam Peckinpah. In his consideration of such iconic motifs as the Outlaw Hero and the Lone Rider, John Saunders traces the development of perennial aspects of the genre, its continuity and, importantly, its change. Representations of morality and masculinity are also foregrounded in consideration of the genre's major stars John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, and such films as <i>Shane</i>, <i>Rio Bravo</i>, <i>The Wild Bunch,</i> and <i>Unforgiven</i>.</P>