The Strong Shall Live

by Louis L'Amour

FRONTIER TOUGH
They came West to stay, risking their blood to dig the gold, ride the range, conquer the greedy and carve out a legacy of freedom. Men honed by desert fires and edged by combat with fist and gun. Women tested to the limit of endurance by an unrelenting land. Now, in a long-awaited collection of his stories, Louis L'Amour tells of the real heroes of the frontier, the survivors, for whom hanging tough was as natural as drawing breath.

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Short Stories, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Audiobook, Action

145 pages, Leather Bound

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Louis Dearborn L'Amour was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels, though he called his work "frontier stories". His most widely known Western fiction works include Last of the Breed, Hondo, Shalako, and the Sackett series. L'Amour also wrote historical fiction (The Walking Drum), science fiction (The Haunted Mesa), non-fiction (Frontier), and poetry and short-story collections. Many of his stories were made into films. His books remain popular and most have gone through multiple printings. At the time of his death, almost all of his 105 existing works (89 novels, 14 short-story collections, and two full-length works of nonfiction) were still in print, and he was "one of the world's most popular writers".

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

"These are stories of people living out their lives against a background that demanded all they could give and often a bit more. There were people trying to find acceptable patterns of behavior in a totally new environment, drawing upon their past but adjusting themselves to new situations and attitudes. The frontier demanded they be self-reliant." -- from the author's introduction

The Strong Shall Live is a briskly entertaining short story collection featuring ten standalone tales set in the then-Arizona/California/Nevada territorial region of the late 19th century. Although one is over thirty pages in length, the rest are only about fifteen on average. Often pleasantly crisp and just no-nonsense, they are generally straightforward action-suspense-drama hybrids featuring a loner protagonist working his way out of a difficult situation. However, author L'Amour nicely shakes it up on occasion by featuring humor ('One Night Stand,' about a stage actor impersonating the feared gunslinger 'Wild Bill' Hickok) and romance ('Hattan's Castle,' featuring some racy double entendre-laced dialogue that briefly rivaled Bogart and Bacall's celebrated exchanges in the film noir The Big Sleep) or a combination of the two ('The Romance of Piute Bill,' in which a middle-aged bachelor amusingly has a marriage arranged for him by his slick but well-meaning friend) amidst the expected showdowns pitting honest and upright marshals and/or cowpokes against bank-robbing outlaws, unscrupulous cattle barons, and duplicitous land-grabbing ranchers. I think it's sort of an underrated skill when a writer can craft a relatively brief narrative, and L'Amour is repeatedly up to the task here.

[Joe Krakovsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE STRONG SHALL LIVE is a collection of short stories by that master of wild west historical fiction, Louis L'Amour. Although the stories are at times predictable, they were nevertheless entertaining. His reference to various things is evidence of the man's understanding of the topic of his genre. What I found most interesting was his short forward. Normally I just breeze through introductions and forwards, and sometimes even skip them altogether if I feel they are way too long. In this case I am glad I read it.

He says, "My stories have nothing to do with race, creed, or nationality. They are simply stories of people on the frontier, and those people were of all kinds."

Further on he states that, "The frontier was itself selective. It tended to eliminate the weak and the inefficient by one means or another."

Also, "The West has been portrayed as lawless. This is literally untrue. The pioneers brought their church, their schools, and their town meeting with them."

That said, it helped set the tone for the stories he told, and so, I had fun reading them.

[W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ten short stories of the American West,by the world's bestselling frontier storyteller.

I liked four stories in particular :

The Strong Shall Live : A man is left without any water,a long way from anywhere,but finds the will to survive and get even with his tormentors.

One Night Stand : A broke actor impersonates a famed gunfighter to scare away a killer.

The Romance of Piute Bill : A woman marries the man,who killed her first husband,a horse thief.

Bluff Creek Station : A dying man learns minutes before his death,that he has a son.

And I love the covers of these L'Amour books,which I used to read as a teenager.

[Laur · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not much in the way of originality or excitement.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of ten short stories. A welcome follow up from a previous collection of short stories called War Party.

The Strong Shall live a great story about a man called Cavagan who goes up against John Sutton a cattle rancher. He finds himself captured and left in the middle of a desert and left to die. He has other ideas.

One Night Stand is about an actor who pretends to be Wild Bill Hickok.

Trail to Squaw Springs is about a cowboy standing up to a tyrannical Marshall in a town.

Merrano of the Dry Country tells the tale of a man who the community hates but who manages his land well in a drought. Can he change their minds about him.

The Romance of Piute Bill is a funny tale about courtship with a reluctant and bemused bridegroom.

Hattans Castle about a fallen woman and finding true love.

Duffys Man is about a man who stood up to an outlaw gang and finds unexpected support.

Big Man was excellent about a giant who knew what he wanted and how to get it.

The Marshall of Sentinel finds redemption with the sister of a man he accidentally killed.

Bluff Creek Station is about a man dying at a way station being attacked by Indians. Will he last to warn the expected stagecoach from a deadly ambush.

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a marvelous collection of western short stories by the immortal Louis L'Amour. As an example of the stories you'll find here, "Bluff Creek Station" is one of the shortest of the stories in the entire collection and yet it is one of the most inspiring. It begins with the main character knowing he is soon to die, shot through the spine by Indians raiding the stage coach station. His only purpose in living at this point is to warn the stage that is due in to the station shortly, striving to live just long enough to fire off his shotgun as a warning that Indians still lay in ambush. His thoughts while he waits and as numbness sets in throughout his limbs are poignant indeed. This is excellent writing and definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat for the few minutes it takes to reach the end.

I've said before that Louis L'Amour has two reputations: one as a hack western formula writer who churned out short book after short book for years and so was obviously a "bad" writer. I know personally of some people who dismiss him as a horrible writer simply because there are so many of his books on the book store shelves. Obviously he can't be any good. Of course, they have never tried a single one; they choose to let their elitism keep them from enjoying a good reading experience. Others have said that his writing is "authentic" and allows the readers of today a glimpse into the real west of the later 1800s. I probably fall somewhere in between but I've read enough to know that he isn't just a western writer, having written all sorts of adventure books from the WWII era all the way back to the stoneage. He puts a lot of real history in his stories. His biography makes it clear that even though he was a self-taught man he did an enormous amount of research for his stories; walking the hills and valleys where they take place.

While I don't pretend to say he is a "great" writer, he certainly fits the description of an enjoyable writer. And when all is said and done, that's a pretty good epitaph.

[Frode · Rating 3 out of 5]

Satisfying, easy and quick. Some drama, some action, some humor, even a little match making. There's not much time in a short story, but LL packs it in with these stories.

For humor, read "One Night Stand," and "The Romance of Piute Bill." That is not to say there isn't a bit of humor in a couple of other stories.

L'Amour imparts his wisdom in "The Big Man" when Cherry Nobles retells what a fellow told him, "Son, it isn't how many books you read, it's what you get from those you do read." I like that.

The last time I read this book was some years back; I remembered only a little, so it was fun to read it again. Enjoy.

[Vincent Darlage · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good collection of stories. This was one of my dad's favorite books (and we laid a copy of it to rest with him), and I wanted to make sure I had read it. Louis L'amour writes a good story, and this collection is evidence of that.

The title story is a nice little tale of survival and vengeance.

[Camille Siddartha · Rating 5 out of 5]

That is me...The strong...and I shall live...and hopefully bring humanity out of hell...

[Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating stays the same. 2nd time reading this and i still really enjoyed this book. What an adventure

[Anderson Rearick III · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting series of short stories centering on the theme of American toughness as key to the success of its people. But I note, that this toughness is always based on a principle of personal law and rightness. For example a man stands against a whole crowd of bandits in order to protect his land, a Mexican American stands against his neighbors to protect the portion of the wilderness that he had carved out. The opening story is one of a man who survives being abandoned in the desert but even in that there is a strong sense of justice in the narrative.

There is no room here for nihilism, there is no room here for random survival. All characters are depicted with the quality of determined grit and all are rewarded, even if they do not survive. It is true that some characters are not always on the “the right side” of the law but they have a plum line of ethics.

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the GOAT authors, only writes bangers

[Mender · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent short stories, although by the middle of the book the themes were starting to wear a bit thin. Strong cowboy who lives by his own rules brings justice to his hometown etc. I made it through story three where a 16 year old girl and her grandfather were being bullied by the town Marshall, who clearly had his eyes on her which all the townsfolk deemed inappropriate. Then the Marshall was overthrown in a shoot-out with the Hero, and the girls grandfather died during the two weeks he was unconscious afterwards, and somehow it was now perfectly right for Hero to marry the underage girl.

But I gave up at the story after that where a Mexican rancher managed to build four dams by himself and run a ranch perfectly and have plenty of gold coins laying around while his neighbours were over-farming their land and bringing it all to drought and living off store credit. I mean, managing his farm well, possibly. Doing all that work single handed, dubious. Doing all that work, and managing to drive his cattle out to sell the profits to have those gold coins on hand, all without anyone knowing about it or any help? Mmm. It's ok though, he doesn't need help, he has the prettiest girl in the valley deciding to stand next to him with her shot-gun when the townsfolk turn on them (and we are also privy to the other farmer's private conversations with each other, during which they talk about how they are in the wrong and this other fellow is both very clever and clearly in the right. You know, the sort of conversations people who are going to kill someone have all the time).

But I am bad at short stories in general, and these seem middling to ok so even though I'm not going to finish the book, I'm not sorry to have read the start of it.

[Katie L. 5 Losee · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Strong Shall Live, by Louis L’Amour, a short book about the West, cowboys, and everything cliche about it. Men of the West are depicted exactly like the movies, they drink, ride, hunt down anyone they don’t like, and have a horse as their best friend. And all they want is to strike gold and get rich. This book was very cliche, the strong, valiant cowboys, their enemies, and the gentle and naive frontier women. Although there is one female character in the book that stands up for herself and really stood out to me because you don’t see that very much in old American writing. The story starts out really strong and exciting, but it doesn’t go anywhere from there, it lost me in the middle, but I think a good book should keep you attentive and turning pages. As I said, it is very cliche which can be good sometimes, but in this book, the cowboys in it just kill anyone that they don’t like, which can be exciting, but in this, it happens right in the beginning. So the book can’t go anywhere, unless it’s a mystery-type book. The theme of this book is that money can make you do crazy things.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun collection of two-fisted Western adventure stories. Don't expect much in the way of nuance or subtlety; these are stories in which our hero is always tall, dark, and handsome; lightning on the draw; hard-working in the extreme; pure as the wind-driven snow; and irresistible to them sensitive, delicate lady folk.
L'Amour is terrific when it comes to action, plot, and descriptions of landscape, but his attempts at humor and romance are downright cringe-worthy. A couple of these stories get a little too cutesy and wind up falling on their faces. But the remaining tales more than make up for the one or two lemons in the bunch.
Each story starts off with a great hook, and they are unrelentingly entertaining. Sure, adjectives like "unpredictable" and "thought-provoking" cannot be applied here, but who cares when it comes to this sort of escapist fare? In today's political climate, it's always refreshing to harken back to the days of rugged gunfighters and early American pioneers.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid collection of early L'Amour short stories, mostly about survival and facing hardship with determination and fortitude.

Each story features one person who is in dire circumstances and the manner which they face it, sometimes dying in the process, to serve others. There is a wide variety of stories here, all in the frontier genre. All are about men, with a few extraordinary women scattered through as well. There's a Mexican-American rancher, a hostler at a stage stop, a stable worker, a sheriff, and so on. Each faces their own trials and how they deal with the hardship is the story.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is just a collection of short stories by our favorite western author, Louis L'amour. Even though this book is extremely short, I love how L'amour uses these mini stories to tell his readers that anyone can be a hero. It doesn't matter who you are or what you've done, you can always make the right choices and you can always be the hero. That lesson has some Christian echoes which speak directly to my heart. Throw in some horses and a little romance and voila! The perfect book. Five out of five stars for The Strong Shall Live.

[Chuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of Louis L'Amour short stories that he wrote early in his career. I have read several volumes of his short stories and I didn't believe that it was his best work. This group of stories, however, I found to be very entertaining and engaging. If you wish to read L'Amour and want a place to start this would be a good choice.

[Chuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories by the great western writer. Each was a gem that I thoroughly enjoyed! Reissued way back in 2004, it will be hard to find, but I recommend any of his stories if you admire the days of the old west.

[Bert van der Vaart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Louis L'Amour is a super reliable pick me up. Whenever the world seems too crazy--whether University students rooting for the "heroic" Houthis in their quest to rob or destroy ships in the Red Sea or Biden asking us to believe in his youthful leadership-- dipping into a L'amour novel is a sure restorative to those who want to believe that hard work and honesty in the end wins the pretty but strong woman to share one's life in building out one's own Eden in the free and beautiful American West.

If YOU, dear reader, should seek such bon-bons, "The Strong Shall Live" may be even better than reading one of his 100 novels. This is because the present reviewed book is a collection of 10 mini-novels, each delivering the desired result. Yet before anyone is tempted to dismiss L'Amour as a formulaic (but very successful) hack, he/she/they should read even the first story here, eponymous with the title of the collection--where the son of a Mexican and Irish woman comes back to the stake his parents had claimed, and against the unfair opposition of the local ranchers, demonstrates through (you guessed it) hard work and also, it has to be said, clever planning, how in the end, he becomes the generous winner--without whining, without claiming victimhood and with making sure to include those who would have wished him harm.

This largeness of spirit becomes inspirational. Yes, we want to see the "good guys" win--well, at any rate, most of us do--but too often we see victory these days as grinding our foes into the ground. L'Amour writes about heroes who, if need be, are prepared to do so, but who in virtually all cases, seek to bring in a win-win--or at least a win-win to those others who would share the basic tenets of law and order and reward to those who work hard and share their success.

Says one hero:

"They tell us, Sir, that we are weak, unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be next week? Will it be next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed and a guard stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Sir, we are not weak if we make proper use of those means which the God of nature has placed in our power."

Yes, mankind can collectively race to the bottom, if permitted to, as in Hattan's Castle--a typical town springing up near a new gold mine:

"Hattan's Castle went form nothing to a population of four thousand people in seven days, and three thousand of the four came to lie, cheat, steal, and kill each other and the remaining one thousand odd citizens, if such they might be called."

But L'Amour shows again and again how the courage of one generous man can change this sad trend for the better, as in "Big Man" he does with "Cherry Noble", who, upon building out his homestead is sewing hundreds of cherry trees, is asked where he is going to sell the cherries that may eventually be harvested:

"Why, friend, I don't worry about that. The Lord will provide, says I, and when folks come they will find the earth flowering like the gardens of paradise, with fat black cherries growing, and if by chance the injuns get me my trees will still be growing. For I say he who plants a tree is a servant of God, which I heard somewhere long ago. Even if there's no fruit on the limbs there'll be shade for the weary and a coolness in the summer." And by being a good neighbor to the native Americans near his farm, Cherry Noble in the end prevails and the town near him blossoms.

L'Amour's basic insights that generosity, sociability and initiative will win out in the end are in my humble opinion just deep enough to transform these "feel good" stories into wise fables. This collection shows well that the variations on these themes are different enough from each other as to cause the reader to pause and think how he might act in each such situation and why L'Amour's heroes are actually pretty clever.

Good stuff--each one of these 10 stories and heartily recommended.

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Strong Shall Live" is a collection of ten short L'Amour western stories. And when I say short, I mean really short. A total of 144 pages in a small paperback, so we're talking about 14-15 pages per story.

This collection was compiled by L'Amour himself in 1980. His Foreword left me with the impression that he was attempting to set the record straight on some of his early writing, namely the lack of minority protagonists across his portfolio, while also responding to fan requests for a collection of his short stories. His estate has since published quite a few more short story collections.

Just giving a plot synopsis for any of the stories in "The Strong Shall Live" would be spoilery since they are so short lol. As the title implies, these stories all share a theme of strength, resilience, survival, and standing one's ground while facing adversity. I'll say that of these ten I especially enjoyed "Trail to Squaw Springs," "Hattan's Castle," and "The Marshal of Sentinel."

The brief storylines work for quick and focused reads but lose some of the usual L'Amour standards of character, and especially suffer with the love interests which come across as silly - because the protagonist and his love interest only have a few pages in which to meet, talk, and fall in love, of course - but these stories are still quite good.

Verdict: A fun collection of smart short westerns, the entire collection readable in one sitting ... or across ten really short evenings.

Jeff's Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG

[Hannah Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed all of these stories, though the very last one was slightly bittersweet and made me tear up and I typically don't like stories that make me cry, but it was sweet and I did like it.

I love how wholesome and good and manly the heroes are in these stories. I also love that a lot of these stories had just the tiniest hint of romance in them. A couple of my favorites are Big Man and The Marshal of Sentinel.

If you enjoy short stories, this a great collection of western short stories.

[Oleta Blaylock · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another collections of short stories. The stories are the following: The Strong Shall Live, One Night Stand, Trail to Squaw Springs, Merrano of the Dry Country, The Romance of Piute Bill, Hattan's Castle, Duffy's Man, Big Man, The Marshal of Sentinel and Bluff Creek Station.

All the stories are typical of the short stories that Mr. L'Amour wrote while trying to break into the publishing of books. There are a couple that are funny and one that is very sad. Overall they are good stories and a picture into the imagination of Mr. L'Amour

[Zach Gibeau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would give 4.5 stars if possible. It's a great short collection of short stories to stuff in your pocket and read here and there. It's like distilling westerns down to their simplest story elements, with only some of the longer stories allowing for any descriptions lasting longer than a paragraph. That said, it's all right there and pretty decent. I think Lamour leans on romance a lot for these short stories because it is low hanging fruit for a short story. But that's just because it's easier to fit into a short story and gives a comprehensive(if, at times very vague) ending.

[Elissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've listened to the audio of this innumerable times and it never gets old. Like most of Louis L'Amour's western short stories, the hero is rugged, strong, and handsome and there is often a touch of romance, but you learn all sorts of details about the local terrain and often a few survival tactics. I started to write "be prepared for a surprise ending" and realized that were you actually prepared the surprise would be lost.

[Kry Tiger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gold. Everyone wants a piece, and they will do just about anything to get it. They would risk it all for a tiny taste.

I just needed something to pass the time.
I'm not huge on westerns, but I have learned that I can tolerate Louis L'Amour. He comes highly recommended.
I will say that I like how realistic it is. There's not unnecessary drama or outlandish concepts. It's all very basic and simple. And his stories can be read by anyone, all ages.

[Jay Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a group of short stories. I had not read any of the stories, but one. As I have often stated, L"Amour may be best as a short story writer. These are some of his best and if you have not read any of his short stories, start here. His work is very good. I found the "Romance of Piute Bill" outrageously funny (but I have a strange sense of humor).

[Reid · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of ten Western short stories was fun to read. He writes with interesting detail. Usually the bad guys show up, and the good guy against all odds, eventually wins. And the guy usually gets a girl.

The end.

I have a bunch of this L'Amour novels to read. They are fun yet even with big gaps in the development of the characters the stories are engaging enough to keep reading.

[wally · Rating 3 out of 5]

started finished 13th march 2025 good read three stars i liked it no more no less stories from l'amour and of hi 105 or is it 120 i've read just over four dozen counting his short stories are one named for collection that contains them entertaining stories all enjoyed them all and will continue reading until i've covered them all.

[Delonna Oskouee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read all of Mr. L'Amour's short stories.

But I'm having a hard time finding any more novels of his that I haven't read. So reading this book of stories was like a breath of fresh air. I guess I'll have to go back to the beginning of the list and start over. Nobody comes even close to Mr. L'Amour's talent writing westerns.