Smoke from This Altar [Hardcover]

Louis L'Amour (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1990

Smoke From This Altar, a book that has become legendary among Louis L'Amour readers, is the very first book L'Amour ever published. It appeared, to great critical praise, for sale only in Oklahoma bookstores more than fifty years ago. Since then it has become the most sought-after L'Amour title of all, with the few circulating copies from the small print run commanding top dollar from rare book collectors. Now, at last, it is being published nationally in this beautiful keepsake Bantam edition.

It was in Smoke From This Altar that L'Amour first gave public voice to his now-celebrated spirit of wanderlust. Like the short stories in his classic, million-copy-selling Yondering, and his best-selling memoir Education of a Wandering Man, the poems in this book are inspired by his experiences and memories of his journeys across oceans and continents. It is vintage L'Amour storytelling--in verse--about nature, the land, and the people who loved and braved it.

Smoke From This Altar begins with a newly written introduction by his wife Kathy in which she discusses the special place this work has held in the L'Amours' lives. In concludes with twenty previously uncollected L'Amour poems selected by his family.

Impassioned, adventurous, heroic, and humorous, Smoke From This Altar is unique L'Amour writing, to be read and enjoyed again and again.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"When one sees that Louis L'Amour is six feet tall and views his 185 pounds of bone and muscle, one is inclined to agree with [critic] Walt Mills who one expressed surprise that one who could polish off an opponent in the prize ring could also polish off a sonnet of startling beauty."

So read the sales brochure for Smoke From This Altar, a book that has become legendary among Louis L'Amour readers--the very first book he ever published. It appeared, to great critical praise, for sale only in Oklahoma bookstores more than fifty years ago. Since then it has become the most sought-after L'Amour title of all, with the few circulating copies from the small print run commanding top dollar from rare book collectors. Now, at last, it is being published nationally in this beautiful keepsake Bantam edition.

It was in Smoke From This Altar that L'Amour first gave public voice to his now-celebrated spirit of wanderlust. Like the short stories in his classic, million-copy-selling Yondering, and his best-selling memoir Education Of A Wandering Man, the poems in this book are inspired by his experiences and memories of his journeys across oceans and continents. It is vintage L'Amour storytelling--in verse--about nature, the land, and the people who loved and braved it.

Smoke From This Altar begins with a newly written introduction by his wife Kathy in which she discusses the special place this work has held in the L'Amours' lives. In concludes with twenty previously uncollected L'Amour poems selected by his family.

Impassioned, adventurous, heroic, and humorous, Smoke From This Altar is unique L'Amour writing, to be read and enjoyed again and again.

From the Inside Flap

Smoke From This Altar, a book that has become legendary among Louis L'Amour readers, is the very first book L'Amour ever published. It appeared, to great critical praise, for sale only in Oklahoma bookstores more than fifty years ago. Since then it has become the most sought-after L'Amour title of all, with the few circulating copies from the small print run commanding top dollar from rare book collectors. Now, at last, it is being published nationally in this beautiful keepsake Bantam edition.

It was in Smoke From This Altar that L'Amour first gave public voice to his now-celebrated spirit of wanderlust. Like the short stories in his classic, million-copy-selling Yondering, and his best-selling memoir Education of a Wandering Man, the poems in this book are inspired by his experiences and memories of his journeys across oceans and continents. It is vintage L'Amour storytelling--in verse--about nature, the land, and the people who loved and braved it.

Smoke From This Altar begins with a newly written introduction by his wife Kathy in which she discusses the special place this work has held in the L'Amours' lives. In concludes with twenty previously uncollected L'Amour poems selected by his family.

Impassioned, adventurous, heroic, and humorous, Smoke From This Altar is unique L'Amour writing, to be read and enjoyed again and again.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 75 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (November 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553073494
• ISBN-13: 978-0553073492
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 0.5 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #125,204 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

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I'm Impressed, January 21, 2000

By 

[e-mail] "[e-mail]" (Beaumont, tx USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Smoke from This Altar (Hardcover)

I first bought this collection of poems years ago, because I am a fan of Louis L'Amour (at the time I wasn't so much a fan of poetry). I didn't remember much of it when I picked it up again to reread it, but I am impressed. L'Amour was quite a capable poet. There are many good poems in this collection that you really won't see elsewhere.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing depth, June 21, 2001

By 

Stacey (Bristol, NH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smoke from This Altar (Hardcover)

Most people know L'Amour as a strictly Western writer. However, I have owned this book of poetry for about 6 or 7 years, and it continues to amaze me. The variety of poetical styles is impressive. There are humorous anecdotes in poem form, love poems, and haunting poems of wanderlust. Naturally, there are a lot of poems addressing wanderlust, seeing as it was a driving force in L'Amour's life. This collection is highly worthwhile if you are a L'Amour fan, and even if you are not.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First time poetry lover, June 11, 2001

By 

John A. Kuhn (Livingston, Ky. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smoke from This Altar (Hardcover)

I never liked liked poetry until this book. Only Louis could do it!