Radigan: A Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Louis L'Amour (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1984

When beautiful Angelina Foley presents Tom Radigan with a Spanish grant and claims ownership of his land, he realizes he’s up against a cunning and deadly opportunist. Foley wants him off Vache Creek immediately, and with three thousand head of cattle, an outfit of hardcase gunfighters, and winter coming on, she is unwilling to take no for an answer.

But Radigan has worked four hard years building up his ranch. Fighting for it–and, if he has to, killing for it–is something he is more than willing to do. If Angelina Foley and her men think he is the kind of man to give up without a fight, they are dead wrong.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

He was educated by life and bound to the land he loved.  Then beautiful Angelina Foley came up from Texas with three thousand head of cattle, an outfit of hardcase gunfighters, and an old Spanish grant to Radigan's land.  Radigan reasoned with them, stood up to them, and when they tried to drive him from his home he fought back, determined to make his enemies taste the bitterness of their greed, their stupidity -- and their blood.

About the Author

Louis L’Amour is undoubtedly the bestselling frontier novelist of all time. He is the only American-born author in history to receive both the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal in honor of his life's work. He has published ninety novels; twenty-seven short-story collections; two works of nonfiction; a memoir, Education of a Wandering Man; and a volume of poetry, Smoke from This Altar. There are more than 300 million copies of his books in print worldwide.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (September 1, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553280821
• ISBN-13: 978-0553280821
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 0.6 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #403,692 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

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard Men, Hard times, June 11, 2010

By 

Trevor Lowing "Trevor" (Satellite Beach, Fl, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Radigan: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

Radigan lives up in the hills on a small ranch with one ranch-hand. An honest but cautious man, Radigan is less than happy when Angelina Foley moves into town with a large herd and a bunch of hired hands to push him off his land.

Louis L'Amour's writing style is fast paced and full of authentic, subtle facts that set him apart from all his peers. Like good science fiction, he weaves lessons about living in the wild seamlessly into his books. You won't be able to put this book down.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Range War!, March 15, 2010

By 

D. Mckinzie (Atoka, OK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Radigan: A Novel (Kindle Edition)

Angelina Foley has brought in a herd of cattle and is planning on settling in. Unfortunately, she's planning on settling on Tom Radigan's land. What follows is Radigan's version of a good old fashioned Range War. Adding some complications is Tom's cowhand's adopted daughter, who arrives in the middle of the upheaval and Angelina's half-brother who has plans of his own, which include using the ranch as a base for a band of outlaws he is leading. A good, L'Amour story, as usual.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid and workmanlike Western, July 29, 2002

By 

F. J. Harvey "Cricket ,country music and a go... (Birmingham England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Radigan: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

The most striking thing about Radigan is its clear and potent evocation of landscape.In prose that avoids the trap of self-consciosly "literary" and the trap of "fine writing" L'Amour vividly and with enviable economy depicts the snowbound majesty of high mountain peaks in the grip of harsh unyielding weather.The problem is that such passages tend to dwarf the actual plot which while sturdy and functional is not greatly original and unfolds in a style far removed from the authors smooth professionalism
The jerky narrative makes for a slightly unsettling reading experience with events of signifiacnce being related after the event.The climax in particular feels rushed.
Radigan is a standard Western pulp hero;he is a rancher in New Mexico whose ownership is challenged by a woman named Geraldine who claims the ranch is hers by gubnatorial bequest Stelly of purpose and resolve Radigan disputes the claim and the scene is set for his conflict with the alleged new owners.There are ample scenes of gunplay and fisticuffs with two sturdy and independent women to slightly ameliorate the testosterone heavy action and dialogue

I do not often wish books longer but a liitle more narrative infill would have given it a smoother feel and made a capable book that little sharper

Genre lovers only need read.The rest will be unpersuaded.