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The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard
The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard
Author: Elmore Leonard
No one is more evocative of the dusty, gutsy hey-day of the American West than Elmore Leonard. And no story about a young writer struggling to launch his career ever matched its subject matter better than the tale behind Leonard's Western oeuvre. In 1950, fresh out of college -- having written two "pointless" stories, as he describes them -- Leo...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780061242922
ISBN-10: 0061242926
Publication Date: 5/1/2007
Pages: 544
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 3

4 stars, based on 3 ratings
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 1
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Top Member Book Reviews

perryfran avatar reviewed The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard on + 1164 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I've been a fan of Elmore Leonard since the 80s when I first read some of his hard-hitting crime novels such as CAT CHASER, 52 PICK-UP, and THE SWITCH. Since then, I have read several of his other novels and recently read his short story collection WHEN THE WOMEN COME OUT TO DANCE which included the story "Fire in the Hole" that was the basis for one of my favorite TV series, Justified. When I first read Leonard, I didn't realize that he started out by writing Western stories for pulp magazines in the 1950s such as Argosy, Dime Western, Zane Grey's Western, and Gunsmoke.


I haven't read many Westerns in recent years although when I was younger I did read some of my father's Zane Grey and William McLeod Raine novels; later I also read Louis L'Amour and enjoyed most of these. Then there was probably my all-time favorite, LONESOME DOVE, Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize winning Western novel. Well, I thought this compilation of Leonard's Western stories was excellent. The collection includes 31 stories with the majority of them being originally published in the 1950s.

I think Leonard included most of the familiar Western tropes in his stories. The first several take place in the Arizona desert at the time of the Apache wars and were mainly about renegade Apaches fighting against the injustices of the Indian agents including one story where the agent was selling beef on the black market that should have gone to feed the people on the reservation.

There were stories about lost mines including "Under the Friar's Ledge" about a lost silver mine being watched over by an Apache who rode with Geronimo. There were stories about cattle rustlers, outlaws, and lynchings. There were also stories about women and the men who protected them. "The Rancher's Lady" was about a woman who worked in a saloon and was lined up for marriage by a marriage broker.

One of my favorites was "The Captives" about a group of people held for ransom after a stage holdup. A woman on the stage was the daughter of a rich businessman and was married to a man who married her for her father's money. This was made into a move called "The Tall T" in 1957 and starred Randolph Scott, Maureen O'Sullivan, and Richard Boone as the bad guy. I'll be keeping a lookout for this movie.


Probably Leonard's most famous Western story, "Three-Ten to Yuma", was also included. Of course this was also made into a couple of movies that really embellished on the story which was rather concise about an outlaw being taken to meet a train to Yuma prison when his gang tries to interfere.


Overall, I really enjoyed these. It took me a while to read this because I thought it better to read these in small doses to savor them more. They were very well-written and I think some of the best examples ever of Western fiction.
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