I have been a fan of Louis L'Amour since I was at least 12 years old. While other girls I knew were reading romance stories and pining away after Backstreet Boys, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and Luke Perry, I was reading "Killoe", "Man from Skiberdeen", "Kilkenny", and of course "the Sacketts." My heroes were men of action, hard men who worked hard and fought hard and pinned everything on their word and their honor. As a young girl, Louis L'Amour shaped my idea of manhood and what a good man looks like and what kind of man I wanted to find, but not only that, it inspired me to learn to be the kind of woman that such a man would need and want. I wanted to live up to that breed of man.
For my own writing, the highest praise I could ever get is to be told my writing sounds like Louis L'Amour!
alas, I was not blessed with children, but I absolutely plan to introduce them to my niece! Right along with my Hardy Boys books, Sherlock Holmes, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Sir Walter Scott books! :D
I've read a few of L'Amour's Westerns and they're all good. I think Conagher is my favorite book, and Hondo might be my favorite movie while The Sacketts was an excellent mini-series. L'Amour's protagonists definitely were tough men with morals, which is definitely lacking now. It's also hard to say that any genre appeals to masculinity quite like the Western. Great post, Henry.
I haven't read Conagher. What is it that sets it apart for you?
I'm trying to remember if I've seen The Sackets. I think I might be getting it confused with The Long Riders. There was also a film adaptation of The Quick and the Dead starring Sam Elliot that I should watch again. There was a distraction when I tried watching it many moons ago.
From what I remember about Conagher, it’s about a drifter who fights off a gang of rustlers while finding notes from a woman and wondering about her and searching for her. He’s a tough man and at one point, he finds some bones in the desert that also tell a story. It has the same stuff as his other westerns but I think it dove a little more into the tough drifter who is changing his life for the better. Lots of good character development. Yes, the Sackets was in the early 1980s with Tom Selleck and Sam Elliot and another actor all playing the Sackett brothers and Glenn Ford playing the heavy, or one of them. It’s a really awesome series. I also read one of the Sackett books that went all the way back to the Scots-Irish coming to America. That was a long series but an interesting one. Louis wrote so much stuff. It’s incredible, really.
My grandfather had shelves and shelves of L.L. I must have read all of them at least twice.
I've read Zane Grey and others, but L.L. is the king of the westerns. I wish I had been able to get hold of those books when he died, but my Uncle got them and now they are gone.
Love Louis L’Amour. I’m a new admirer of the man and his work. No prior family read him, I discovered him through the Men’s Adventure Fiction Podcast. Great podcast and the two host are great writers and storytellers themselves.
You have got to read LL’s memoir, he led an amazing life and read as widely as anyone I’ve seen. Vast, wide reading while he travelled the world and had encyclopedic knowledge of European history, intellectual thought, and huge knowledge of the far east.
Y’know, that doesn’t surprise me at all. Even in his westerns, he’ll drop little nuggets of info that must have come from voracious reading. He did plenty of traveling in his younger days, too.
About L'Amour still being popular today... Do you think young people will still read him? I was gifted a selection of short stories, which I enjoyed, but when I look at the discourse around young men and books, it seems that sci-fi and fantasy dominate. I don't have many friends who read, but none of them read westerns except me. Not to sound depressing, but it will be interesting to see how his legacy lives on when his initial audience ages out.
Depends on your definition of young. I've been pleasantly surprised to discover men in their 20s and 30s have discovered L'Amour's work and love it. It would be great if there were more of them, but it's a start.
Fantasy REALLY dominates--at least in the circles I'm adjacent to, though I'm not sure why.
What I suspect is that classic men's fiction (including L'Amour) will become increasingly esoteric niche, which kinda' sucks. But his legacy might be supplanted by talented contemporary genre authors, which could work out great for some of us.
Right, I'm in my early 20s, and it's all fantasy and manga stuff for most of the guys around me (if they read at all). When you look at all the films/TV that guys rave over, a lot more of them tend to be superhero/sci-fi/fantasy stuff (LOTR, MCU, The Last of Us). And that's fine, I like that stuff too. But the more classic stuff, like westerns and especially detective novels, are where I really get my fix, so it will be interesting to see that as the world creeps closer to all of the stuff the sci-fi stuff has been predicting, if books about "normal" (as in, not fantasy/sci-fi) life will have a little renaissance. Really enjoying your articles on this topic.
I've read all of the Philip Marlowe novels, and then have read and watched more modern stuff that I love a lot too. Not sure what exactly counts as pulp and what doesn't. I think I want to read all of the crime classics of the last century, and then I pick up a Hard Case Crime novel whenever I see one at a used bookstore—most recently, that was "The Twenty Year Death" by Ariel Winter
Try some Dashiell Hammett if you haven’t already—especially Maltese Falcon. I think you’d like it. Spillane’s Mike Hammer is hit-or-miss with me, but definitely is hardboiled—and there’s a lot of those books.
You've made me want to pick some up, though I haven't seen any in the garage sales. People don't tend to dispose of their favourites. We used to call them 'romance novels for men' though to be honest they're a lot less cringey than some of the Mills and Boons I blazed through in my youth. It's kind of the point though, we know the girl gets her guy after they overcome some sort of conflict. We didn't pick up a romance novel to be challenged. The formula is sound and they're not pretending to be anything but a pleasant distraction. Cue 'honest work' meme here.
I have been a fan of Louis L'Amour since I was at least 12 years old. While other girls I knew were reading romance stories and pining away after Backstreet Boys, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and Luke Perry, I was reading "Killoe", "Man from Skiberdeen", "Kilkenny", and of course "the Sacketts." My heroes were men of action, hard men who worked hard and fought hard and pinned everything on their word and their honor. As a young girl, Louis L'Amour shaped my idea of manhood and what a good man looks like and what kind of man I wanted to find, but not only that, it inspired me to learn to be the kind of woman that such a man would need and want. I wanted to live up to that breed of man.
For my own writing, the highest praise I could ever get is to be told my writing sounds like Louis L'Amour!
Wow, you just made my day. Thanks for sharing.
If you have daughters, I hope you snuck some of your favorite books into their TBR pile.
alas, I was not blessed with children, but I absolutely plan to introduce them to my niece! Right along with my Hardy Boys books, Sherlock Holmes, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Sir Walter Scott books! :D
I've read a few of L'Amour's Westerns and they're all good. I think Conagher is my favorite book, and Hondo might be my favorite movie while The Sacketts was an excellent mini-series. L'Amour's protagonists definitely were tough men with morals, which is definitely lacking now. It's also hard to say that any genre appeals to masculinity quite like the Western. Great post, Henry.
Thanks, Parker.
I haven't read Conagher. What is it that sets it apart for you?
I'm trying to remember if I've seen The Sackets. I think I might be getting it confused with The Long Riders. There was also a film adaptation of The Quick and the Dead starring Sam Elliot that I should watch again. There was a distraction when I tried watching it many moons ago.
From what I remember about Conagher, it’s about a drifter who fights off a gang of rustlers while finding notes from a woman and wondering about her and searching for her. He’s a tough man and at one point, he finds some bones in the desert that also tell a story. It has the same stuff as his other westerns but I think it dove a little more into the tough drifter who is changing his life for the better. Lots of good character development. Yes, the Sackets was in the early 1980s with Tom Selleck and Sam Elliot and another actor all playing the Sackett brothers and Glenn Ford playing the heavy, or one of them. It’s a really awesome series. I also read one of the Sackett books that went all the way back to the Scots-Irish coming to America. That was a long series but an interesting one. Louis wrote so much stuff. It’s incredible, really.
Thanks for sharing that. Sounds like I need to watch The Sackets and read Conagher.
My grandfather had shelves and shelves of L.L. I must have read all of them at least twice.
I've read Zane Grey and others, but L.L. is the king of the westerns. I wish I had been able to get hold of those books when he died, but my Uncle got them and now they are gone.
That sucks, dude. My father had promised to leave me his M-1 Carbine when he died, but my stepmother gave it to a cousin.
Excellent post. L’Amour is a legend.
Bro. Louis L’Amour so good. My favorite was Jack Higgins.
I had a chance to pick up a few books, and Westward the Tide was one of my favorite reads. Fast, but a good time from start to end.
Love Louis L’Amour. I’m a new admirer of the man and his work. No prior family read him, I discovered him through the Men’s Adventure Fiction Podcast. Great podcast and the two host are great writers and storytellers themselves.
https://youtube.com/@mensadventurefictionpodcast?si=iU3q_LvDxY4NL6kR
Luke and Nathaniel are doing a great job building a community and stoking enthusiasm for the genre.
You have got to read LL’s memoir, he led an amazing life and read as widely as anyone I’ve seen. Vast, wide reading while he travelled the world and had encyclopedic knowledge of European history, intellectual thought, and huge knowledge of the far east.
Y’know, that doesn’t surprise me at all. Even in his westerns, he’ll drop little nuggets of info that must have come from voracious reading. He did plenty of traveling in his younger days, too.
About L'Amour still being popular today... Do you think young people will still read him? I was gifted a selection of short stories, which I enjoyed, but when I look at the discourse around young men and books, it seems that sci-fi and fantasy dominate. I don't have many friends who read, but none of them read westerns except me. Not to sound depressing, but it will be interesting to see how his legacy lives on when his initial audience ages out.
Depends on your definition of young. I've been pleasantly surprised to discover men in their 20s and 30s have discovered L'Amour's work and love it. It would be great if there were more of them, but it's a start.
Fantasy REALLY dominates--at least in the circles I'm adjacent to, though I'm not sure why.
What I suspect is that classic men's fiction (including L'Amour) will become increasingly esoteric niche, which kinda' sucks. But his legacy might be supplanted by talented contemporary genre authors, which could work out great for some of us.
Right, I'm in my early 20s, and it's all fantasy and manga stuff for most of the guys around me (if they read at all). When you look at all the films/TV that guys rave over, a lot more of them tend to be superhero/sci-fi/fantasy stuff (LOTR, MCU, The Last of Us). And that's fine, I like that stuff too. But the more classic stuff, like westerns and especially detective novels, are where I really get my fix, so it will be interesting to see that as the world creeps closer to all of the stuff the sci-fi stuff has been predicting, if books about "normal" (as in, not fantasy/sci-fi) life will have a little renaissance. Really enjoying your articles on this topic.
I appreciate that, and your taking the time to share your thoughts.
Also encouraging that you read and enjoy westerns and detective. Some are predicting that westerns are on the verge of a comeback, BTW.
Do you prefer detective novels set in the classic pulp era (or written in that era), or pretty much anything that captures the hardboiled vibe?
I've read all of the Philip Marlowe novels, and then have read and watched more modern stuff that I love a lot too. Not sure what exactly counts as pulp and what doesn't. I think I want to read all of the crime classics of the last century, and then I pick up a Hard Case Crime novel whenever I see one at a used bookstore—most recently, that was "The Twenty Year Death" by Ariel Winter
Try some Dashiell Hammett if you haven’t already—especially Maltese Falcon. I think you’d like it. Spillane’s Mike Hammer is hit-or-miss with me, but definitely is hardboiled—and there’s a lot of those books.
Read that and The Thin Man as well, but I'll look into Spillane!
You've made me want to pick some up, though I haven't seen any in the garage sales. People don't tend to dispose of their favourites. We used to call them 'romance novels for men' though to be honest they're a lot less cringey than some of the Mills and Boons I blazed through in my youth. It's kind of the point though, we know the girl gets her guy after they overcome some sort of conflict. We didn't pick up a romance novel to be challenged. The formula is sound and they're not pretending to be anything but a pleasant distraction. Cue 'honest work' meme here.
Awesome! I have earned my keep today, then.
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