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.

There are two words that appear throughout various Louis L’amour novels that really bother me.

Sojer (Slang for Soldier)

Injun (Indian)

Both words are used by various nefarious characters as derogatory terms.  The politically correct movement of the very recent past has strongly discouraged these types of words and phrases and more than a little bit of that movement has ingrained itself into my personality.

In most cases I enjoy putting myself into the time period of the book that I am reading, and L’amour does a wonderful job of recreating the old west.  Both “Sojer” and “Injun” are authentic uses of the words and correctly placed, but they still grate on me.

Part of the problem may be that the only time they seem to appear is when a bad guy uses them.  They are a meta-clue as to who to watch out for and give away pieces of the plot without allowing the reader to solve the mystery organically.

The desert, as described by Louis L’amour is very nearly a living thing.  His characters study it and interact with it as if it were another person.  It is apparent that he had a deep love and respect for all of nature, but he seems to have paid particular attention to the deserts of the American southwest.

Often the desert is described as beautiful.  The beauty of the desert is far different from the beauty of the mountains or of the forests.

I have lived in the mountains, the desert, and in the rainforests of the pacific northwest.  The desert beauty is one that is  best appreciated at a distance and in quiet moments.  More than any other place the desert is a quiet, still place where the scenery can be taken in.  Up close, however, it is often very harsh and unwelcoming.  Either too hot or too cold, and often too windy.  Sandy, dirty, very often unpleasant but at the same time still, quiet, and beautiful.

Of all the places I have lived the desert most calls to me and I think that Louis L’amour expressed much of that sentiment in his works.

Boxing is one of the many recurring themes in Louis L’amour novels.  During his own life L’amour fought many boxing matches and this is certainly a topic that he knew much about.

In my own experience, having fought in the ring I can attest that the information that he presents in the stories are exact and correct.  Whether the boxing is more or less anecdotal such as in Hanging Woman Creek or if it presents a pivotal moment such as in Lando, the theme is generally the same.  The rough fighter that enjoys fighting for the sake of fighting finds a mentor who then begins to teach him how to find in a more precise and scientific manner.

In many ways boxing is a rite of passage for L’amour that takes his heroes from boyhood to manhood despire the fact that many are already adults when the stories begin.  All heroes must undergo a transformation of some kind - physical, emotional, spiritual or otherwise.  Boxing is one of a set of staple transformations that typify Lamour’s characters, and one which I personally enjoy very much.

A similar sort of transformation is very common in the action movies of today.  Many martial arts movies, for example are all about the physical journey from unskilled to master - a well-known precedent of the great Bruce Lee.  George Lucas used the same trope with his Jedi characters.  This trait is one of the many that make Luke Skywalker such an endearing figure.

I cannot fault L’amour for using boxing in this way - in fact I commend it and appreciate it more each time I read it.