Westerns

Black, Michelle. An Uncommon Enemy. Forge, 2001. "There is no word in the Cheyenne language for forgiveness." Captain Bradley Randall is the aide-de-camp of General George Armstrong Custer and has been placed in charge of caring for Eden Elizabeth Clanton Murdoch, the only survivor of the United States army’s attack on a Cheyenne encampment at Washita in the territory of Kansas. Mrs. Murdoch had been abducted four years earlier and has flourished as the one of the wives of Hanging Road, the tribe’s medicine man. With her family killed before her very eyes, Eden stuns the troops by not being the appreciative damsel rescued from her degradation. As they realize that she preferred where she had been and considered them murderers, Eden becomes a pariah in the town where the army is currently stationed. Receiving criticism over the massacre at Washita, General Custer has charged Captain Randall with finding out all he can about Eden so he can spin the attack to his advantage, rescuing a white woman supposedly held captive and tortured for years. Eden discovers the plot and plans her own letter-writing campaign to denounce General Custer. Fate turns against her however, bringing secrets from the past and unexpected surprises to become obstacles in her path. Captain Randall finds he cannot stop thinking about this brave and courageous woman and cannot continue to think of the Indians he had come to fight as the savages they have been portrayed to be. There is nothing common in this struggle with an uncommon enemy.

Bowman, Doug. The Guns of Billy Free. Tom Dohertry Associates, 1996. Billy Free is just a hard-luck kid from Mississippi with no qualms about pulling a trigger when cornered, and he's cornered a lot. This sixth novel by an author who's also a Grand Ole Opry performer is mostly a chase tale that carries its star-crossed protagonist first north, then south, then west into Texas. Framed for the murder of a deputy sheriff by a man seeking to steal his mother's land, Billy kills both the bad guy and his brother when they attempt to muscle their way into the family cabin. Thanks to a sheriff who appears just bright enough to feed himself and take a bribe, Billy becomes a wanted man. A crooked sheriff in Texas, aptly named Fink, ices Billy's cake and adds to his reputation as a killer with well-notched pistol grips. Only sweet Bess Noble, who is everything her name implies, believes in Billy. Unfortunately, their love is not enough to save them. It does, however, provide a good ending to an entertaining tale.

Brand, Max. The Legend of Thunder Moon. Originally published in 1927-28, this is the first of four novelettes in Brand's Thunder Moon series. Brand (1892-1944), a pseudonym of Frederick Faust, captures the spirit and pride of the Cheyenne Indians on the Great Plains in this story of a young white captive's growth to manhood as a Cheyenne warrior. Big Hard Face is an honorable, respected Cheyenne warrior. His three marriages have produced no son, however. Alone, he travels on a perilous journey to the white man's villages, where he kidnaps a white male infant, whom he names Thunder Moon. As the years pass, the boy brings both joy and sorrow to Big Hard Face. Thunder Moon has difficulty accepting some Cheyenne rituals, but he rides on dangerous raids against his tribe's enemies to prove himself worthy of his father's respect and to seek his own place as a Cheyenne warrior. Brand's mastery of the genre is still evident in this artfully crafted story.

Durham, David Anthony. Gabriel’s Story: A Novel. Doubleday, 2001. Fifteen year-old Gabriel’s rough and gritty tale begins as he and his mother and younger brother move from a brownstone in Baltimore to a one-room sod house on the plains of Kansas; an attempt to start a better life away from the over-crowded city. He immediately hates everything about the West. It’s dirty, hot, and he and his brother are now expected to help their new stepfather plow the unforgiving land in order to survive. Gabriel mourns over the lost plans for medical school he and his father had talked about as he now contrasts those plans with the back-breaking work that never ends. To make matters worse he finds out that Eliza and Solomon, his mother and stepfather, had been slaves on the same plantation long ago and that Eliza’s love for Solomon had never died despite her marriage to Gabriel’s biological father. Deciding to seek their fortunes elsewhere, Gabriel and his friend James leave town with what they think is simply a group of hardworking cowboys. From there Gabriel sinks into a numbing life among a heinous band of drunkards, thieves, rapists and, ultimately, murderers. Can Gabriel decide what to do before an outlaw’s life is all he has left? This dark coming-of-age story is violent and horrifying but Gabriel’s tale is one of strength and maturity gained at high cost…maybe too high.

Grey, Zane. Riders of the Purple Sage. Zane Grey was a fixture in American letters when it came to the Western. In fact, one might suggest that he invented the modern form of it (though, of course, there were writers of dime novel westerns before him, not to mention James Fenimore Cooper and his leatherstocking tales). But Grey certainly did something memorable and lasting with the form, if this book is any measure. I had never read Grey before, so I picked this one up with some uncertainty. Thought I could not count myself well-read until I'd tried one of his books and this seemed to be the one with the most literary weight. It's certainly named well enough. As it happens, I enjoyed the book in the end, but have to admit that it is weak in a number of serious ways. Set in Mormon Utah in the late 1800's, it's the tale of a young Mormon woman who is the sole heir of her father and owner of the substantial ranch he has left her. Because of the significance of her ranch and because she is a rather headstrong young woman, the Mormon elders feel it essential to rein her in and get her married into the fold as quickly as they can. One particular Mormon Elder, a man named Tull, has his eye on her especially, with the support of his mysterious Bishop. But Jane, pious as she is, demurs, recognizing that becoming one more of Tull's wives (in those days the Mormons were still taking several wives) will only strip her of her freedom and clout in the little community (which she has inherited along with her father's extensive ranch). The story opens with Tull and his other pious brethren about to administer a sound thrashing to a young cow hand who has been working for the heroine, Jane Withersteen, and who Jane has been flirting with. Jane is powerless to prevent the beating and worse until the appearance, out of the hazy, distant horizon, of a man called Lassiter. Lassiter proves to be a hard sort and a known gunman with a special dislike for Mormons. His arrival proves salutary and the end of it is he stays on with Jane at the ranch while the cow hand heads out and the Mormons scatter, tails between their legs. Jane sets out to convince Lassiter that not all Mormons are bad while the Mormon elders conspire to bring Jane down by scaring off all her Mormon and non-Mormon ranch hands.

Kelton, Elmer. The Pumpkin Rollers. Tom Doherty Associates Book, 1996. Six-time Golden Spur winner Kelton produces westerns that are far from routine oaters, and this new novel set in post-Civil War Texas is high-quality fare. Pumpkin rollers such as Kelton's new hero, Trey McLean, are farmboys-turned-cowpokes who don't yet know one end of a steer from the other. When the "War of Northern Aggression" ends and his brother returns from fighting the despised Yankees, Trey leaves the suddenly crowded East Texas homestead and heads west with $17 in his pocket. After losing his money to a sharpie, the green youth reaches the cowtown of Fort Worth. There, he gets a job as a drover, meets his future love and learns the herding trade from a grizzled old-timer. The requisite violence of the genre is provided by marauding Comanches and gunman Jarrett Longacre, who pops up in Trey's life with uneasy regularity. Trey eventually becomes a pro drover, marries Sarah and watches the cycle of life on the range begin again. Though not Kelton's best, with its colorful argot, lively period detail and manly action, this novel will no doubt be corralled by a passel of western fans.

L’Amour, Louis. More Brains than Bullets. Bantam Books, 2004. Banker Tom Lindsay’s dead body is found in the local bank with no witnesses. Cattle trader, Ross Yerby has entered into a counterfeit money for cattle trade with Lindsay at the bank When the deal goes bad, an argument ensues which leads to Lindsay’s accidental death. Yerby, the culprit flees town and stages the crime scene to look like a robbery/murder that someone else has committed, namely the banks second in command Bill Culver. Texas Ranger Chick Bowdrie is called into town to investigate the counterfeit money scandal gone bad. Drawn by his own personal instinct and desire, he decides to take a different path and solve the robbery turned murder which he feels is somehow connected to the counterfeit money. In the end, good triumphs over evil in this Wild West adventure.

L’Amour, Louis. Valley of the Sun. Bantam, reprint 1996. Cattlemen ride alone across the open range under the deadly aim of roving desperadoes--. Gamblers stake their fortunes and their lives on a deck of cards--. Strong-willed senoritas seek independence through an enticing combination of beauty, audacity, and spirit--. Lawmen and outlaws walk the same dusty streets and speak a common language: Colt, Winchester, Smith & Wesson. Gritty, tough, and unflinchingly authentic, here is the West as it really was: a land where for every friend there is an enemy, for every handshake a fist, for every dispute a resolution--usually in an explosive showdown of blood and bullets. In these remarkable tales, Louis L'Amour--like the very heroes he depicts--blazes a trail across the American frontier and takes us on an unforgiving journey into the heart of our western heritage.

McMurtry, Larry. Zeke & Ned: A Novel. Simon & Schuster, 1997. With this historical Western, Larry McMurtry returns to the genre in which he created such memorable characters as Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call. In collaboration with Pretty Boy Floyd coauthor Diana Ossana, he dramatizes the Cherokee struggle for independence following the Civil War. Ezekiel Proctor and Ned Christie are the last Cherokee warriors, men of legend and history, whose fates are a consequence of such brutal policies as the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the infamous Trail of Tears. They struggle to find honor in a harsh, violent land under the relentless pressure of white law and broken promises. Every bit as tough as their men, the women in Zeke and Ned are determined to raise their families and keep the two men alive--whatever it takes.

Peterson, Tracie. Land of My Heart- Heirs of Montana #1. Bethany House, 2004. The Chadwick family lived in New Madrid, Missouri, during the Civil War. When the father was killed the family decided to sell the store and move west to live with Uncle Bram. The oldest boy decided to stay in Missouri to avenge his father's death. So Dianne, her mother, two sisters and twin brothers joined a wagon train bound for Montana. Along the way there were tragedies to the train and to the family which caused Susannah to withdraw from everyone- leaving Dianne to care for her siblings as well as her mother. She was looking forward to the end of their journey so they could live with Uncle Bram and let him care for all of them. Life doesn't always go as we expect or want and Dianne soon had to face that reality. She and her brothers made friends and made changes in their lives in Montana, including career changes and romantic involvements. This is a story of the westward expansion of our nation and it is also Christian fiction.

Ross, Dana Fuller. Independence! Nebraska! Wyoming! Oregon!(books 1-4 of Wagons West series). Bantam Books. President Andrew Jackson arranged the financing of an American adventure to settle the Oregon territory. He enlisted Sam Brentwood to organize the wagon train and lead it to Independence, Missouri. From there Whip Holt will be wagon master and Sam Brentwood will establish and run a supply depot in Independence. Beginning in New England people packed their homes in wagons and headed toward promised free land in an amazing territory. The British and Russians were also interested in Oregon-to the point of having agents secretly traveling on the wagon train to keep it from reaching its destination. Know one knew their identity which they thought would help them. But they didn't count on Sam Brentwood's abilities or determination. The agents themselves tried to slow or stop the progress of the wagon train. They enlisted outlaws and drunks and even some Indians to carry out their plans. After Whip Holt took over as wagon master he and Stalking Horse, Hosea and Lee Blake led others in combating the natural elements along the way and the schemes of Henry St. Clair and Andre Sebastian. The romantic attraction between Whip and Cathy, Dr. Martin and Tonie continued as we learn more about life on a wagon train and about the personalities involved. In the third volume we read about the long winter spent by the settlers in a secluded area. They experienced cabin fever and sickness before continuing their journey. Relationships between the people were sometimes strained but they learned to get along and work together. Then they began the last leg of their push to Oregon. There were two mountain ranges yet to cross and more Indian tribes. When they arrived in Oregon the British immediately claimed the entire Oregon territory for Queen Victoria. Since the Americans had traveled across North America to claim the territory for the United States, Colonel Lee Blake established official military presence on the President's authority. Those who had been members of the wagon train each scouted the area, claimed their land and began businesses and farms. Their previously developed relationships helped in maintaining a cooperative and growing community. Except when Russians, British, drunks or Indians have other ideas. These are stories of challenges faced and the human spirit meeting them along the way toward a dream- our expanding nation.

June 14, 2006