"In the Western Tradition" is a science fiction short story by Phyllis Eisenstein.
It was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, in March 1981.
Alison is a time viewer technician supervising research into the Old West, who becomes fixated on one of the long-dead subjects of the project's surveillance.
[2] James Nicoll considered it to be a "gem".
[3] Steven H. Silver, however, found the story to be "a little on the long side", and faulted it for not adequately resolving issues surrounding Alison's romance with her coworker Barry.