With These Hands
by Louis L'Amour
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Fiction. Western. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:The timeless fiction of Louis L'Amour is both unforgettable and undeniably American, deftly capturing the heroic bravery and intrepid spirit that make this nation great. L’Amour ’s legacy of work remains unparalleled, setting a standard of excellence that few other writers have matched. Now With These Hands pulls together some of L’Amour's very best work—eleven newly rediscovered stories that have never before appeared in a single show more volume.WITH THESE HANDS
From a South Seas island paradise to the icy reaches of the Arctic, from the dark, gritty streets of urban America to the rugged landscape of the untamed West, the stories gathered in With These Hands combine razor-sharp characters with breathtaking action and historic detail. Here are tales of adventure, mystery, passion, suspense, and the Old West as only L’Amour can tell them. The result is a collection that profoundly echoes the highs and lows of the human experience, while proving that life’s most vital moments can occur when and where we least expect them.
All of the classic L’Amour themes are represented: honor, loyalty, and standing up for what’s right despite the odds. These dramatic stories grab hold of the reader with a power and immediacy unsurpassed by any other writer. An exotic island in the Coral Sea is transformed into a tropical nightmare when it’s taken over by a band of hijackers—and only a daredevil pilot can stop their brutal carnage. A former boxer blows the lid off a vicious crime ring—and finds that his worst enemy is not a thug with a gun but his own tenacious curiosity. A down-on-his-luck rancher discovers the key to his own redemption—and desperately hopes that his revelation has not come too late for him to win the one thing he wants most of all. A private eye navigates the twists and turns of a labyrinthine whodunit—and proves that the greatest risk to a man’s honor is his own greed.
The title story “With These Hands” is a powerful tale that celebrates the triumph of the human spirit, as an oil company executive finds himself the sole survivor of an Arctic plane crash. Fighting for his life against the perilous cold and looming starvation, he resists the temptation to surrender to death—only to discover a life-affirming strength he never knew he had.
Vivid in scope and displaying the diverse talents of a master storyteller, the stories in With These Hands are certain to be treasured by both old and new fans, celebrating the incomparable imagination of a timeless American author. show less
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Member Reviews
Proposed alternate title: With These Hands I'm Going to Punch Your Face. I like L'Amour, but I think he thrives in a long-form context, not in short stories.
I'm not sure of the origin of these short stories but they have the feel of 40's-50's pulps and men's detective stories, the days when men were men and women were babes. With that in mind they are quite enjoyable for what they are. L'Amour had been a successful boxer before he was an author and several of the stories come from that place. Not westerns.
I've read this collection before, kept it on my shelves for several years and recently decided upon a reread. The title story is very good, and there's a rustling/cowboy story that was okay, but the rest of the collection is made up of boxing, detective, and adventure stories which I didn't feel like rereading, not my favorite genres.
I might keep the book just for the With These Hands story, it's that good.
I might keep the book just for the With These Hands story, it's that good.
A writer of tremendous popularity who belongs to a different era--and definitely "a man's writer." A generation out, his works seem almost naïve and also celebratory of "Manhood".
an interesting collection. Boxing is feat ured in several. A couple tales of world war two. The title story is an aarctic survival story.
couldn't really get into this book. I am going to take it to a resident where I work. he likes to read Louis l'amour books
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870+ Works 99,170 Members
Born in Jamestown, North Dakota on March 22, 1908, Louis L'Amour's adventurous life could have been the subject of one of his novels. Striking out on his own in 1923, at age 15, L'Amour began a peripatetic existence, taking whatever jobs were available, from skinning dead cattle to being a sailor. L'Amour knew early in life that he wanted to be a show more writer, and the experiences of those years serve as background for some of his later fiction. During the 1930s he published short stories and poetry; his career was interrupted by army service in World War II. After the war, L'Amour began writing for western pulp magazines and wrote several books in the Hopalong Cassidy series using the pseudonym Tex Burns. His first novel, Westward the Tide (1950), serves as an example of L'Amour's frontier fiction, for it is an action-packed adventure story containing the themes and motifs that he uses throughout his career. His fascination with history and his belief in the inevitability of manifest destiny are clear. Also present and typical of L'Amour's work are the strong, capable, beautiful heroine who is immediately attracted to the equally capable hero; a clear moral split between good and evil; reflections on the Native Americans, whose land and ways of life are being disrupted; and a happy ending. Although his work is somewhat less violent than that of other western writers, L'Amour's novels all contain their fair share of action, usually in the form of gunfights or fistfights. L'Amour's major contribution to the western genre is his attempt to create, in 40 or more books, the stories of three families whose histories intertwine as the generations advance across the American frontier. The novels of the Irish Chantry, English Sackett, and French Talon families are L'Amour's most ambitious project, and sadly were left unfinished at his death. Although L'Amour did not complete all of the novels, enough of the series exists to demonstrate his vision. L'Amour's strongest attribute is his ability to tell a compelling story; readers do not mind if the story is similar to one they have read before, for in the telling, L'Amour adds enough small twists of plot and detail to make it worth the reader's while. L'Amour fans also enjoy the bits of information he includes about everything from wilderness survival skills to finding the right person to marry. These lessons give readers the sense that they are getting their money's worth, that there is more to a L'Amour novel than sheer escapism. With over 200 million copies of his books in print worldwide, L'Amour must be counted as one of the most influential writers of westerns in this century. He died from lung cancer on June 10, 1988. (Bowker Author Biography) Louis L'Amour, truly America's favorite storyteller, was the first fiction writer ever to receive the Congressional Gold Medal from the United States Congress in honor of his life's work, & was also awarded the Medal of Freedom. There are over 260 million copies of his books in print worldwide. (Publisher Provided) show less
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- With These Hands
- Original title
- With These Hands
- Original publication date
- 2002-05
- First words
- He sat bolt upright in his seat, hands clasped in his lap, eyes fixed in an unseeing stare.
Vivid lightning burst in a mass of piled-up cloud for an instant, revealing a black, boiling maelstrom of wind-lashed waves.
Nimbly, "Flash" Moran parried a jab and went in fast with a left to the wind. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)He knew it was there.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"It's the poissonality, William!" Jim sighed, grinning, "It's the poissonality!"
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- Members
- 464
- Popularity
- 65,293
- Reviews
- 8
- Rating
- (3.39)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 6
