Grass Kingdom (Barons) [Mass Market Paperback]

Jory Sherman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Barons | Publication Date: January 15, 1995

Matt Baron, the patriarch of a powerful clan, and his sister Lou, a tough cattle puncher, find their dream of a profitable Texas panhandle ranch threatened by oil drilling, drought, and marauding rustlers. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Golden Spur Award-winner Sherman ( The Medicine Horn ) sets his sprawling rangeland epic on the mighty Baron ranch and lesser properties surrounding the West Texas town of Baronsville during Prohibition. When a group of rustlers led by Apache Jack Bone slaughter a prize bull and slit the throat of a young ranch hand in their rush to get purloined Baron cattle to their hideout in the untameable brasada , Matt Baron and his foreman Tom Casebolt ride into a storm to catch the criminals. Trouble is also brewing back in Baronsville: the son of a leading citizen robs a local payroll; the town's banker is being blackmailed by a rancher who wants to ruin her debt-ridden neighbors; bootleggers, Mexican-haters and the Ku Klux Klan threaten the ranchers' law-abiding ways. The relatively contemporary setting enlivens this traditional western, in which ambulances, police cars and radio broadcasts compete with buckboards, horses and stories 'round the campfire. Only a superabundance of characters (more than 140 spread over two generations) and a slightly disjointed plot line mar the fast-moving narrative spiced with salty dialogue; otherwise, it's a down-home Texas treat.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The publisher says Lonesome Dove and Giant. Dallas and Bonanza are more like it. That's not all bad: this isn't timeless literature, but it's definitely entertaining in that miniseries kind of way--dozens of characters and a half dozen intertwining, melodramatic plots. Matt Baron, owner of the Baron Ranch in 1920s Texas, finds one of his hired hands, Jamey Dobbs, with his throat cut. Then one of Matt's prize stud bulls is castrated and mutilated. The incidents begin a series of events in which the Baron clan is pitted against some of its neighbors and into sometimes uneasy alliances with others. Among the other key characters are Baron's sister, Lou, who may be just a little tougher than her formidable brother; Ben Killian, who owns a rival ranch and is just as ambitious and loyal to his family as Matt and Lou are to the Barons; and, finally, Jake Bone, one of the more memorable villains in recent memory. Bone is a deadly mix of opportunist and sexual psychopath who is willing to kill and maim to achieve his goals or--even more chilling--set others at each other's throats to do his work for him. This is formulaic, middlebrow fiction, but it works. Wes Lukowsky --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; First Edition edition (January 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812520742
• ISBN-13: 978-0812520743
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,902,044 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

You can find my biography on www.jorysherman.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine dynastic saga of early Texas, March 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Grass Kingdom (Barons) (Mass Market Paperback)

Jory Sherman brings to this book a love of early Texas and the larger-than-life people who founded it. This is a novel of empire building, and written with such poetry and beauty that it will inspire delight in any reader. It is as if Sherman had borrowed from the history of the great King Ranch in Texas.

A reader cannot help but enjoy this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grass Kingdom, August 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Grass Kingdom (Audio Cassette)

I really enjoyed this book. It has the makings of a great western movie. I am beginning to read the other stories of the Baron's, stories of Matt's ancestors and i really enjoy them so far.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's better than GIANT, and another Texas great!, August 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Grass Kingdom (Barons) (Mass Market Paperback)

Wes Lukowsky could stand a lesson in good literary fiction and watch less TV. GRASS KINGDOM is a work of art and a literary masterpiece. If you understand the talent behind novels such as LONESOME DOVE or CALL OF THE WILD, then you'll see what makes Jory Sherman rank with the best. Read GRASS KINGDOM, you won't be disappointed.