Louis L'Amour
AUTHOR

Louis L'Amour

Literature & Fiction | History
Tap the gear icon above to manage new release emails.
"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.
Read more Read less

Try Audible membership today. Start enjoying the benefits.

Try Audible for free with an audiobook of your choice.
Try Premium Plus free
Automatically renews at AUD $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Quick and the Dead

Most popular
View Details

Most Popular

Product list
  • Last of the Breed cover art

    Non-member price: $26.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $26.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • To Tame a Land cover art

    Non-member price: $21.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $21.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Utah Blaine cover art

    Non-member price: $21.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $21.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • The Daybreakers cover art

    Non-member price: $21.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $21.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • The Proving Trail cover art

    Non-member price: $26.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $26.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • A Man Called Trent cover art

    Non-member price: $27.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $27.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Lando: The Sacketts cover art

    Non-member price: $16.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $16.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Comstock Lode (Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures) cover art

    Non-member price: $26.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $26.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • The Warrior's Path: The Sacketts cover art

    Non-member price: $21.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $21.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • The Lonesome Gods (Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures) cover art

    Non-member price: $26.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $26.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • The Walking Drum cover art

    Non-member price: $33.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $33.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Sackett's Land: The Sacketts cover art

    Non-member price: $21.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $21.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • To the Far Blue Mountains cover art

    Non-member price: $26.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $26.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Mistakes Can Kill You cover art

    Non-member price: $22.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $22.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Hondo cover art

    Non-member price: $20.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $20.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • The Riders of High Rock cover art

    Non-member price: $21.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $21.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Flint cover art

    Non-member price: $21.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $21.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Bendigo Shafter cover art

    Non-member price: $26.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $26.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Desert Death-Song cover art

    Non-member price: $26.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $26.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Ride the River: The Sacketts cover art

    Non-member price: $21.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $21.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00