Louis Lamour Book Reviews

Cowboy stories are notorious for their depiction of local marshals and sheriffs who have been bought by the big cattle ranchers and wealthy men of the day.  Similar accusations have been circulated in current times regarding some law enforcement and organized crime.

When a person finds himself or herself on the wrong side of this sort of law, where do they really stand?  Catlow by Louis L’amour deals with this issue extensively.  Does a person’s moral obligations begin and end with the law?  There are certainly situations that are not governed by law which could be considered wrong.  Does the opposite hold true?  Are there times when the going against the law is the right thing to do?  If so, how does one make the determination that the law truly is corrupt, immoral or unjust?

In the old west, the adage “might makes right” really did reign supreme in many lives.  Those who had the ability to enforce their will also had the ability to turn the course of history and to establish their own civilization.

Louis L’amour often discusses that the art of tracking a person is more about understanding them than some mystic art of reading hidden tracks in wild places.  The truth is that everything that we do leaves some imprint on the world around us.  Most of us just ignore the signs that others leave.  These signs aren’t terribly important for most of what we do day to day.

Knowing that my wife brushed her teeth because the toothbrush has moved makes no real difference.  Knowing that a horse carries two riders rather than one could be the difference between life and death.  Understanding the details of a person’s life can help to understand their motives and their destinations.  If you reach that destination first then there is no tracking involved.  Just sit back and wait.

L’amour doesn’t make mention of smoke signals too often.  In High Lonesom he talks about Apaches using them to communicate information about Dave Spanyer and his daughter.

As a child I remember thinking about smoke signals and playing cowboys with my siblings.  My parents, of course, never let me build a fire to try to see if by brother and I could develop a smoke signal system that worked.

In the desert smoke would be at least marginally practical.  In other areas, however, where the line of site is more restricted, such as forests and valleys they would be impractical at best and completely useless at worst.  Other kinds of signals, such as mirrors might be just as effective.

Names of towns in the old west could sprout from just about any source.  Most commonly they came from names of people who founded the town.  Other times, however, they borrowed names from different sources.  Native American names, plant names, Bible names, and even completely made up names all became names for towns throughout the west.

Obaro is one of those made up names.  It sounds quite real.  Could it be Spanish?

L’amour offers the explanation that it is named after the O Bar O ranch.  Put it all together and you get the town of Obaro.  This is the sort of lively tidbit of history that makes L’amour’s works unique and interesting.

Considine is another of those wonderful Louis L’amour names.  High Lonesome tells the tale of an outlaw, but when you read the name it doesn’t conjure images of late night bank robberies or cattle rustling.  Rather it speaks of a strong, easy-going person with a clear head.

Considine rolls off the tongue easily.  It is certainly not a name that one hears everyday (unless of course you happen to know a Considine).  Considine carries a whole load of flavor that could not be captured by most other names.

I imagine that when L’amour found Considine somewhere he knew that it would be a fantastic match for a character.  He was right.

In many of Louis L’amour’s novels, he talks about the process of building a home.  Jubal Sackett, Kiowa Trail, Kilkenny, and many others he describes the manner of the pioneer in raising a home from the earth.

Today the process has changed some.  Most of us don’t go out and fell logs with which to put together a cabin.  Certainly there are some out there who do.  We don’t typically find a place suitable for defense against attack, though there are definitely those out there who build their homes like fortresses.

Instead we hire contractors and architects and generally stop by now and again to see the progress.  Most of us just go out and find the house we want and buy it.  Building a home is now more of a metaphor for creating a structured family life than for the literal gathering and placing of materials.

For the adventurous soul, however, the opportunity to build a home does still exist.  It takes a differen kind of determination, courage, and risk than it did 150 years ago.  Now the risks are largely financial rather than physical.  But these risks are real and just as prohibitive.

Fishing remains a popular sport in the United States today despite the declining need for the average man to go out and catch his supper.  Fishing is a past-time that, like golf or other games, requires only a certain amount of physical prowess in order to enjoy, but which rewards anyone willing to give it a try.

Like other hobbies, the amount of preparation and effort will likewise increase the pleasure derived.  But fishing is unique in that it truly does call to the very basic instincts and desires of man.  A man cannot survive without food.  For millenia we have hunted, gathered, and fished.

Fishing harkens to our basic desires and brings us closer to nature and the beauty of the planet we live on.  L’amour doesn’t generally write of the pleasure of fishing, but rather the necessity.  But today it is one way in which we can relive a piece of the past and put ourselves in the places our ancestors were.