There are few giants in the world of western literature, but ask any reader of westerns and undoubtably, the name Louis L'Amour will inevitably come up somewhere. If not for his 200 plus million sales, but perhaps for his sheer presence on the bookshelves of history. The Sacket Saga, War Drum, Hondo, Haunted Mesa, and many more titles are considered classics of the genre.
Louis L'Amour was born Louis Dearborn LaMoore in 1908, in North Dakota. By 1923, his formal education was finished, and his wandering spirit took him to England, the Far East, and throughout the United States. After a decade of travel and employment, his first professional sale was a review of "Anthony Adverse" for the Daily Oklahoma in 1933. His first short story, "Anything for A Pal" appeared in 'True Gang Life' in 1938, and from there he never looked back. The pulp markets ate up his work until his enlistment into the army in 1942. Four years later, he was discharged from the army and picked up his western pen once more. The pulps again took his work, and soon he began his book length fiction. "Westward the Tide" appeared in 1950, and using the name Tex Burns, he wrote four Hopalong Cassidy tales. As well as using Tex Burns, he also used the nom de plume Jim Mayo. His first novel, Hondo was turned into a movie of the same name in 1953, and he was honoured with an Academy Award nomination for "Writing, Motion Picture Story." His most popular body of work, The Sackets, was introduced in 1960 in "The Daybreakers". Other notable novels during his life include "Crossfire Trail" (1954), which was recently produced by Tom Selleck for TNT, "The Quick and the Dead" (1973), "Haunted Mesa" (1987) and "How The West Was Won" in 1963. He passed away in 1988, his place in literary history assured, leaving a legacy and body of work that will never die.
His literary output is documented at 122 novels during his life, and 20 posthumously. In terms of short fiction, 245 stories have been identified, while 73 non fiction pieces were pubished, and his poetry output is numbered at 41. Overall, his literary accomplishments are impressive, and by the end of his life he felt he was just hitting his stride having plotted at least 40 more novels!
The awards he amassed over his lifetime include The Golden Spur in 1968 and 1969, a Congressional Gold Medal in 1982, three PH D's, and the Jamestown Elementary School has been named after him. Highly recognized and praised by fans and critics everywhere, Louis L'Amour was truly a man of the frontier.
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