Well the most obvious example I think would be Atlas Shrugged, the novel written by Ayn Rand in 1957. It is a mish mash of genres like romance, science fiction and mystery, but the whole book is basically one big propaganda piece for Objectivism. One could say that this started as far back as her book, The Fountainhead, but Atlas Shrugged is arguably the better known one. She also wrote a bunch of non-fiction books about her beliefs, such as The Virtue of Selfishness, but I am assuming that your question refers explicitly to fiction. The reason why her believes are so harmful is basically because it teaches people that it is good to only have your own interests at heart and to avoid altruism altogether because it is harmful. Any rational human being can obviously see the flaws in this philosophy, but I still encounter people who gush about Rand's books where she promotes self-interest above everything else. It's not like her ideas have any merits either, there are many real-world examples of companies that tried to follow her beliefs and it always ended in disaster.

Terry Goodkind is another good example of an author who just can't keep his own warped views out of his books and end up preaching at the readers throughout most of them. Just read the Sword of Truth series for an example of how bad it can get. Not only is Goodkind very anti communism and pro capitalism, but he also appears to hate pacifism and has a huge appreciation of Objectivism. He tries his best to dress up his views in a nice fantasy disguise, but it is impossible to read the books without feeling like the author is trying his best to convince you about his beliefs.

The only other one I can think of right now is Gennady Stolyarov II, with the novel Eden Against The Colossus. It is a science fiction novel that is steeped in Objectivist propaganda. The "hero" of the story is a scientist who discovers a distant planet that is occupied by an alien species unlike anything ever seen before. While observing these aliens, the scientist notices how destructive their nature is and uses it as an opportunity to praise the virtues of Objectivism.

While I don't think that true "Western" novels like the early ones are that common anymore, there are still more than enough historical novels with Western themes around. I can't say that I actively seek out books in this genre, but I have read a couple of ones. Patric deWitt wrote a good one in 2011, titled The Sisters Brothers. It is likely more comedic than typical fans of the Western genre would prefer, but in my humble opinion, it is a classic. The Sisters Brothers is about two brothers, Eli and Charlie, who are hired to assassinate a man that allegedly stole from their boss. They make the trip from Oregon City to San Francisco, but when they encounter they target, their plans change slightly.

It is a bit older, but I would recommend the Pete Dexter novel, Deadwood, as well. I think a lot of people tend to overlook this novel because they think that the HBO television series was based on it. While the show shared some eery similarities with the book, the producer of the show claimed to have never read the book. Whether you want to believe him or not, the one thing that the book has, which the television show did not, is an actual ending. If you are still upset that Deadwood was canceled before the show could finish the story, then you should definitely read the book.

As other people here have already pointed out, many of the so called "classics" are really not that long when you take a closer look at them. It is simply because some of the larger books like War and Peace tend to steal most of the limelight that people are under the mistaken impression that for a book to qualify as a "classic" it must be big enough to shatter a floor tile if you drop it. Classics is also a very broad category, which could mean anything from Victorian era books to The Old Man and the Sea or Lord of the Flies. Most places where you can buy or borrow classic books these days will also have some form of information where you can check out the page count, so first figure out what type of books you would like to read within the "classics" genre and then go for the ones that are short enough to fit in your time schedule.

One book I originally found hard to get into was E. R. Eddison's "The Worm Ouroboros" (available here as https://manybooks.net/titles/eddisoneother060602051.html)

Rucker was a Victorian who wrote Elizabethan prose. I found it hard to approach. I discovered that what I had to do was stop trying to actively read the book, and sit back and let the book read itself to me. Once I did, the prose went down like fine cognac, and it's become one of my favorite volumes. I understood why Ursula Le Guin praised it in her books "The Languages of the Night" where she discussed the use of language in fantasy, and was put off by some works because the prose simply didn't fit the story or the setting.

Another I'm reading at the moment is James Joyce's Ulysses (also here at https://manybooks.net/titles/joycejametext03ulyss12.html)

One suggestion I found helpful was to read Joyce *aloud*. His primary sense was hearing, and he was trying to reproduce what he heard on his legendary walks through Dublin. Reading his work aloud helps to get the rythym and cadence of his prose.
______
Dennis

Westerns have died down a bit as a genre lately, so unless you haven't already read all the classics, I don't think you are going to have much luck finding anything new that is good. I can't say that I'm too much of a fan of the genre, though, so don't take my word for it. For all I know there could be hundreds of great westerns out there, but personally I think that times have changed and books like that don't really fit in anymore. About the only "recent" western that I have read is the Cormac McCarthy book, Blood Meridian, but even this book don't have that much in common with the time period when westerns were all the rage.