Bret Harte

Harte, Bret (Francis Brett Harte; 1836–1902), U.S. writer whose short stories of frontier life helped create the mythology of the West. Among the stories that brought him worldwide fame are “The Luck of Roaring Camp” (1868) and “The Outcasts of Poker Hat” (1869). He was U.S. consul in Germany and Scotland (1878–85), and when his popularity in the United States declined, he settled in Britain, where he spent his last years.