Vardis Fisher, a renowned American novelist, was born in Utah in 1895 to Mormon convert parents who were part of the wagon train that traveled west with Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church. Despite his parents' devout background, Fisher himself would later become an atheist and maintain this stance for the remainder of his life.
Fisher's academic pursuits took him to the University of Utah, where he earned his undergraduate degree, and subsequently to the University of Chicago, where he obtained his Master's and Doctoral degrees. His writing career began to take shape in the late 1920s, and by 1935, he had been appointed head of the Federal Writers Project in Idaho.
Throughout his life, Fisher was a prolific writer, producing a vast array of novels, biographies, and poetry collections. One of his most notable works is the 1965 novel "The Mountain Man," which tells the story of Crow Killer Johnson, a real-life mountain man who spent his life exacting revenge on the Crow Indian tribe after they murdered his wife. This novel was later adapted into the hit film "Jeremiah Johnson" (1972),starring Robert Redford.
