Beyond the Great Snow Mountains [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Louis L'Amour (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1999 | ISBN-10: 0786220406 | ISBN-13: 978-0786220403

From the wide-open range of the American West to the frozen seas of the Siberian coast, from the deceptive glitter of Hollywood to the bloodstained canvas of the boxing ring, these are stories of war, mystery, romance, crime, and punishment as only Louis L'Amour can tell them.

Here are vintage L'Amour stories of men and women pitted against impossible odds, yet struggling to do what's right: a hard-bitten cattle driver must deal with a man trying to steal his woman, the disappearance of a thousand head of cattle, and a plot to frame him for murder. A private eye visits a remote mining town on a case involving a sexy widow, an uneasy lawman, and a fortune in gold buried in an abandoned mine shaft. A young country boy with a good right hand must fight not only his vicious opponent in the ring but the ruthless gangsters who'll do anything for profit--even commit cold-blooded murder. A young woman stranded with her sick father in an isolated harbor run by a sadistic fortune hunter must call upon all her resources to survive in a brutal battle wits.

Filled with L'Amour's trademark blend of action, imagination, historical detail, and fascinating characters, these stories are a welcome addition to the L'Amour legend, revealing the impressive visionary breadth and genius of one of the world's most extraordinary writers.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Written in the 1940s and '50s, the 10 stories in this collection, none previously published in book form, come complete with curvy Hopper-like heroines "shaped to please" whose "eyes you could lose yourself in." The heroesAboxers, detectives and gunslinging cowboysAsleuth, shoot and slug their way valiantly through plots that seem like dress rehearsals for the full-blown L'Amour novels. Surprisingly, there is just one true western, a melodramatic horse opera loaded with cattle rustlers, gunfighters and hayseed dialogue. "Meeting at Falmouth," an unconvincing historical fiction, imagines a proud and tragic Benedict Arnold on a rainy night in 1794. "The Money Punch" and "Sideshow Champion" make prizefighting (an early occupation of L'Amour's) the theater for drama, suspense and moral conflict as ambition calls the loyalty and honesty of two young boxers into question. The collection's most successful story, "Under the Hanging Wall," is a clever whodunit with a chiseled gumshoe investigating a murder in a California mining town. Smart foreshadowing and snappy plotting reveal L'Amour to be a skilled mystery writer. Though not sophisticated psychologically, L'Amour's brassy women and dusty men keep the action of these cinematic stories hot. Entertaining and of interest to the devotees of L'Amour's 100-plus books, these adventure tales offer their share of the high drama L'Amour is famous for. Three more collections of yet-unpublished work will follow. (May) FYI: Louis L'Amour, who wrote 90 novels, was the only novelist to receive both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. There are more than 260 million copies of his books in print.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up-Eight stories of adventure by Louis L'Amour.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Pr (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786220406
• ISBN-13: 978-0786220403
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,105,311 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

"I think of myself in the oral tradition--as a troubadour, a village tale-teller, the man in the shadows of a campfire. That's the way I'd like to be remembered--as a storyteller. A good storyteller."

It is doubtful that any author could be as at home in the world re-created in his novels as Louis Dearborn L'Amour. Not only could he physically fill the boots of the rugged characters he wrote about, but he literally "walked the land my characters walk." His personal experiences as well as his lifelong devotion to historical research combined to give Mr. L'Amour the unique knowledge and understanding of people, events, and the challenge of the American frontier that became the hallmarks of his popularity.

Of French-Irish descent, Mr. L'Amour could trace his own in North America back to the early 1600s and follow their steady progression westward, "always on the frontier." As a boy growing up in Jamestown, North Dakota, he absorbed all he could about his family's frontier heritage, including the story of his great-grandfather who was scalped by Sioux warriors.

Spurred by an eager curiosity and desire to broaden his horizons, Mr. L'Amour left home at the age of fifteen and enjoyed a wide variety of jobs, including seaman, lumberjack, elephant handler, skinner of dead cattle, and miner, and was an officer in the transportation corps during World War II. During his "yondering" days he also circled the world on a freighter, sailed a dhow on the Red Sea, was shipwrecked in the West Indies and stranded in the Mojave Desert. He won fifty-one of fifty-nine fights as a professional boxer and worked as a journalist and lecturer. He was a voracious reader and collector of rare books. His personal library contained 17,000 volumes.

Mr. L'Amour "wanted to write almost from the time I could talk." After developing a widespread following for his many frontiers and adventure stories written for fiction magazines, Mr. L'Amour published his first full length novel, Hondo, in the United States in 1953. Every one of his more than 120 books is in print; there are more than 300 million copies of his books in print worldwide, making him one of the bestselling authors in modern literary history. His books have been translated into twenty languages, and more than forty-five of his novels and stories have been made into feature films and television movies.

The recipient of many great honor and awards, in 1983 Mr. L'Amour became the first novelist to ever to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States Congress in honor of his life's work. In 1984 he was also awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Reagan.

Louis L'Amour died on June 10, 1988. His wife, Kathy, and their two children, Beau and Angelique, carry the L'Amour publishing tradition forward with new books written by the author during his lifetime to be published by Bantam.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a wonderful treat, L'amour fans don't miss this one., April 28, 2000

By 

Neerja Mishra - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond the Great Snow Mountains (Mass Market Paperback)

I am buried up to my nose in work but I had to come in and give my review on this one. These are great great stories, written by a man who believed in things he told you about and knows how to tell them good. I have not even completed the book, but oh man, it is so good... "By the waters of San Tadeo", "Beyond the great snow mountains", "Meeting at Fallmouth", "The money punch" and "The gravel Pit"...they will leave you to wonder at the versatile man who wrote them and the fact that he is known as a "great western writer" ? Western, my foot! He is a GREAT WRITER - Period ! And oh, for the fans of Jeffery Archer (I am one too) The Gravel Pit,The Money Punch and Meeting at Fallmouth will delight you for sure, although Louis always has his flavour in what ever he writes ( and I am glad of that) And for hard core louis fans - it has a Ward McQueen story too.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another treasure from L'Amour, June 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Beyond the Great Snow Mountains (Hardcover)

I agree with the reviewers who have praised BEYOND THE GREAT SNOW MOUNTAINS. It is classic Louis L'Amour. I also agree with the reviewer who loved THE TRIUMPH AND THE GLORY, a stunning new novel rich in the tradition of L'Amour at his best. He is loved so much because he is passionate about his writing and proclaims timeless themes of love, taking responsibility for oneself, and simple respect for others.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic L'Amour, June 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Beyond the Great Snow Mountains (Hardcover)

Beyond the Great Snow Mountains is great reading, an enjoyable journey through a selection of tales. I received the book, along with the recent WWII novel, "The Triumph and the Glory", as birthday gifts, and greatly enjoyed them both. Each displays the style and grace of timeless writing, and themes that are so much more worthwhile than the hyped trash so many publishers offer us today.