guitar_slinger Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Along the lines of the best Western movie, what's your favorite book about the West? Can be fiction or historical. (yes, I'm looking to expand my library). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucky Buscadero, SASS #73085 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Gone To Texas (aka The Outlaw Josey Wales) by Forrest Carter is a good and fast paced story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-BAR #18287 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Outlaw by Warren Kiefer, fiction Cities of Gold by Douglas Preston, non-fiction Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowhouse Sam # 25171 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 All of J. Lee Butts are good. Start with "Hell in the Nations" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chantry Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Bendigo Shafter by Louis L'Amour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrel Cody Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Tucker by Louis L'Amour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugs Bonney SASS # 10171 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Quinton by Paul Mazan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Gone To Texas (aka The Outlaw Josey Wales) by Forrest Carter is a good and fast paced story. That and the sequel, the title of which I cannot remember. My copy has both books in it. Ah. I just went and looked. Vengeance Trail. http://www.amazon.com/Josey-Wales-Westerns-Texas-Vengeance/dp/0826311687 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 "Valdez is Coming" by Elmore Leonard. All in all, I think Leonard was the best Western novelist out there. "The Comanches; the Destruction of a People", later reissued as "The Comanches, the History of a People", by T.H. Fehrenbach, the great Texas historian who died not long ago, is the best book on that Western subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Legends by Tom "Forty Rod" Taylor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Three Years Among the Comanches, by Nelson Lee. It's mentioned in Bendigo Shafter. A Texas Ranger was captured and lived with the Comanche for three years. You can either buy it from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Three-Years-Among-Comanches-Narrative/dp/1589760948 Or download the PDF from the Texas Rangers website. http://www.texasranger.org/E-Books/Three%20Years%20Among%20The%20Comanches.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rye Miles #13621 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Black Valley Riders by Ralph Cotton, I'm reading it now….it's got my attention! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_slinger Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 saving link to this thread for future reference. My summer and fall reading are starting to take shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-BAR #18287 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Not to overload you, but some others that I love, all non- fiction: Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides. A great biography of Kit Carson and his times. A Terrible Glory by James Donovan. A fair and comprehensive history of Custer and his last battle. Nothing Like It In The World by Stephen Ambrose. A history of the transcontinental railroad that will leave you shaking your head in wonder. Company Of Heroes by Harry Carey, Jr. Dobey's memoirs about making movies with John Ford and John Wayne. Doc Holliday, A Family Portrait by Karen Tanner Holliday (a cousin). The real Doc was not like Dennis Quaid or Val Kilmer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_slinger Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 J-Bar, thanks for the additions. I've read Undaunted Courage by Ambrose and it was indeed a great book. No worry about overload. Love to read. GS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 I'll second A Company of Heroes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Harley, #14153 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Lonesome Dove. Loved the movie and the book was even better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Lynchem Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Its not a classic (yet) but there's a new book (and tv series) out by Bill O'Reilly called Legends and Lies. Great read and series! W. L. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocWard Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Despite the issues an editor should have caught and some of the inconsistencies and inaccuracies, Louis L'Amour will always be my favorite western author. My favorite among his books would be difficult to say. Flint, The Key-Lock Man, and the "Kilkenny" trilogy all come to mind as being favorites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt John Dunbar Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 As stated above by two folks, Nothing Like It In the World (about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad) and Undaunted Courage (about Lewis & Clark). Both by Stephen Ambrose, and both spectacular. Oh, and OF COURSE, Dances With Wolves, by Michael Blake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrel Cody Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 @Guitar_Slinger: Have you read any of Cameron Judd's books? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 The "Brules" trilogy by Harry Combs ("Brules; "The Scout" & "Legend of the Spotted Horse") All fiction. A great fictional saga of western history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_slinger Posted July 21, 2015 Author Share Posted July 21, 2015 Its not a classic (yet) but there's a new book (and tv series) out by Bill O'Reilly called Legends and Lies. Great read and series! W. L. I just finished Killing Jesus and Killing Patton. Interesting books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-BAR #18287 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 One more... The Cowboy Year by Ethan D. Bryan A memoir about learning to play the cowboy action game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chili Pepper Kid, SASS #60463 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 #1 Monte Walsh by Jack Schaefer, better than the movie version. #2 any Louis Lamour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Despite the issues an editor should have caught and some of the inconsistencies and inaccuracies, Louis L'Amour will always be my favorite western author. My favorite among his books would be difficult to say. Flint, The Key-Lock Man, and the "Kilkenny" trilogy all come to mind as being favorites. I've read several L'Amour Westerns and I think they are average at best. L'Amour's big limitation as a writer is that he inserts himself as narrator into the thought processes of his characters. For example, he'll have a scene where his protagonist is riding down the range into the plain, headed for the town, and he'll have pages of the character's interior monologue, which is mostly just L'Amour reflecting on his own personal philosophy, the "code of the West", etc. etc. l Better writers tell the story only through action and dialogue. As in the real world, we can't read minds; we can only hear what people say and see what they do. Compare a Elmore Leonard Western with a L'Amour, and the difference is clear. That said, one of my favorite yarns is one of L'Amour's non-Westerns: Last of the Breed, which I have read many times over the years with great enjoyment. It has the same defects, but is a great story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_slinger Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 Great suggestions. I'm reading Washington's Spies: The Story of America's first Spy Ring right now. Going to start marching down through the above list when this one's done. Ashamed to say, I've never read a L'Amour book. Will have to give some of his stuff a try. I may read the Ambrose book next since I've already read one of his and liked the style. Read all of Ekert's Frontiersman series a couple years back. Interesting reads too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Bullweed Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage Owen Wister's The Virginian Wyatt Earp Speaks is the story of Wyatt and those around him based on newspaper, court and interview documents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucky Buscadero, SASS #73085 Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Not a western, but a great Civil War historical fiction novel is The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. Fantastic read. Makes you feel like you are there in the middle of it all as it happened. Won a Pulitzer prize (for what that's worth). Edited to add that this novel is about the battle of Gettysburg.Bucky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_slinger Posted July 23, 2015 Author Share Posted July 23, 2015 Not a western, but a great Civil War historical fiction novel is The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. Fantastic read. Makes you feel like you are there in the middle of it all as it happened. Won a Pulitzer prize (for what that's worth). Bucky Killer Angels is a very good book. Along same lines is Blaze of Glory (about Shiloh) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bama Red Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Elmer Kelton's Huey Callaway trilogy, "Six Bits A Day", "The Good Old Boys", and "The Smiling Country" are a real treat and my current favorites. That reminds me - time to read 'em again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bama Red Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Hmmmmmmmm...........LT John Dunbar?!?!?! Didn't they "disappear" you? Seriously, welcome aboard, Pard!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Dodge Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 One more... The Cowboy Year by Ethan D. Bryan A memoir about learning to play the cowboy action game. J-Bar, After looking this one up, I ordered it from Amazon. (Along with the first two brule books) It came today and I've read almost half of it already. It's a pretty fun read that I can relate to since I just started again after about 10-12 years! I'm about your sons age, but my dad don't shoot. That's ok, because I have a girl and two boys of my own, that I already got guns for. Tell Fret I'm getting a kick out of his work! Thanks DD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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