Riders of the Purple Sage (THE GREAT CLASSICS LIBRARY)

Originally published in 1912, this novel is often said to have given rise to the Western genre. It tells the story of Jane Withersteen, a rich young woman's struggles with her LDS church at a time when polygamy was still part of Mormon practice. In this sense it presents - in however melodramatic and distorted from - a glimpse at forgotten conflicts in the American West.
The novel has been dramatized both in film and for TV.