Sackett (The Louis L'Amour Collection) (original 1961; edition 1981)

Another excellent story by L'Amour about the type of men who settled the west. After the Civil War he drifted west working anything from cattle drives to riverboats. After killing a man who tried to kill him he decided it was time to try to improve his life. On his way down to New Mexico to visit his brothers (see Daybreakers) he stumbles on a rich vein of gold. After talking to his brothers he and Cap Rountree get the supplies together to mine that gold. With gold being one of those things that tends to draw unwanted attention they ran into trouble almost from the beginning. Also in the valley where he found the gold he found a young woman whose grandfather had found the gold first. He rescued her and faced the trouble that found them. Tell is another one of L'Amour's quiet heroes. He doesn't go looking for trouble but he doesn't run from it either. He has a strict code of honor and believes in the difference between right and wrong. One of the things he was determined to do was to improve his reading which he did by reading a book about law which gave him a lot to think about. I also liked the way that he tried to resolve issues without shooting if it was possible. Besides the intense drama of some of the events, there were also some funny times. I really enjoyed the shaving scene at the beginning and also his dealing with the interlopers of the town near the end. ( )

Older brother to Orrin and Tyrel Sackett, Tell's beginning to think he may never measure up to his younger brothers. Discovering gold and starting a town seems like a good start - but gold comes with a heap of trouble all its own...

Short on pages and long on description, but as readable as any of L'Amour's Sackett novels. ( )

There’s lots of action and adventure like mining for gold, and gun duals. I read this book because I really like westerns.

I read this book for a senior seminar on Western Literature. It was good to read the stereotypes and mythology of the West, but my goodness, this was terrible. Poorly written, ideologically offensive, misogynistic, anachronistic historical fiction. I'm desperately hoping the West has something else to show for itself. ( )

I really liked William Tell Sackett. Takes me a bit to get a hang of how L'Amour writes his character's thoughts and speech. This book was much better than Daybreakers. Stayed on a specific story and character, and I found that to be much more enjoyable and easier to read.