The Empty Land [Paperback]

Louis L'Amour (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1995

For thousands of years the lonely canyon knew only wind and rain, wild animals, and an occasional native hunter. Then a trapper found a chunk of gold, and everything changed overnight.

In six days a town called Confusion appeared . . . and on the seventh it could disappear, consumed by the flames of lawlessness and violence. On one side are those who understand only brute force. On the other are men who want law and order but are ready to use a noose to achieve their ends. Between them stand Matt Coburn and Dick Felton: one a hardened realist, the other an idealist trying to dig a fortune from the muddy hillside. Outnumbered and outgunned, Felton and Coburn can’t afford to be outmaneuvered. For as the two unlikely allies confront corruption, betrayal, and murder in an attempt to tame a town where the discovery of gold can mean either the fortune of a lifetime or a sentence of death, they realize that any move could be their last.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

On the edge of the frontier, boomtowns like Confusion sprang up overnight. Here honest men came to work the mines, while thieves, gamblers and outlaws worked on them. But in Confusion there was more at stake than law and order--the mines themselves were the target of a violent plot. Matt Coburn had cleaned up tough towns before, but he wanted no part of Confusion. Too many enemies knew he was there, too many lies had been told. Now there's only one way out of Confusion for Coburn--a path of honor that could cost him his life.

From the Inside Flap

On the edge of the frontier, boomtowns like Confusion sprang up overnight. Here honest men came to work the mines, while thieves, gamblers and outlaws worked on them. But in Confusion there was more at stake than law and order--the mines themselves were the target of a violent plot. Matt Coburn had cleaned up tough towns before, but he wanted no part of Confusion. Too many enemies knew he was there, too many lies had been told. Now there's only one way out of Confusion for Coburn--a path of honor that could cost him his life.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (April 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553253069
• ISBN-13: 978-0553253061
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.6 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #480,875 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

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "I'll clean up the town...", October 17, 2001

By 

Priscilla Stafford (Yokohama, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Empty Land (Paperback)

At first Matt Coburn is reluctant to do just that, to clean up the town of Confusion, Utah, a boom town over-run by the most dangerous men, every kind of gunman, drygulcher, outlaw, tin horn, and murderer. But he knows that no one else is up to the task, most of the town people believe that there must be another way to clean up the town without killings. Laurie Shannon is one of these people, a ranch owner, who is attracted to Matt yet doesn't want him to get involved. But there are others who knows that if the killers in the town aren't killed, more innocent people will be killed. Madge Healy is one of these people, who is being hunted down by Willard & Kingsbury who want her claims and would even have a woman killed to have it. Matt must make up his mind whether to forget about the whole matter and just leave, or to make Confusion into a good town.

"The Empty Land" is a great book. Where as most of Louis L'Amour's books it was easy to guess which girl the main character was going to get, but I couldn't figure out if Matt was going to love Laurie or Madge. But you'll have to read the book yourself to find out. I also love the book how it explains like most of L'Amour's book that the main character is always at the same time doesn't want to kill anyone, he always knows when it is necessary to stop the bad guys.

For those people who want to start reading Louis L'Amour books, I suggest you read the Sackett series which I think are the best of Louis L'Amour, besides also "Crossfire Trail", one of my favorites!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tame a wild west town with Matt Coburn, October 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Empty Land (Paperback)

Action packed book depicting the taming of a murderous wild west mining town by a gunfighter. Two conniving financiers who try to swindle a former child actress of her inheritance and the woman's efforts to outwit them, add to the plot. In the relationship between Matt Coburn and a ranch girl who wants to marry him, there's an attempt to explore the psychology of a gunfighter when he tries to reconcile his way of life with the normal world.

All in all, a memorable western!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some Love Him, Some Hate Him!!, August 12, 2004

By 

J. Pace "Darrell Pace" (Tuscumbia, AL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Empty Land (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (School & Library Binding)

Matt Coburn, the main character of this story, has a reputation as a gunfighter. The bad guys hate him and even some of the good guys hate him. He has been known to clean up towns before and the town of "Confusion" desparately needs his help! He struggles with his desire to leave and avoid gunshed, and his desire to help the town's people. He also struggles between the love of two different ladies. The end is action packed and of course he wins...or does he? You will have to read this one to find out, and I suggest you get it and read it, or face Matt Coburn yourself!!