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These Thousand Hills: An Epic Literary Classic of 1880s Montana – Western Drama and Frontier Ambition
Conjuring up the ephemeral world of cattle ranchers in the 1880s, this intimate saga delights in a Montana community's boisterous, wanderlusting eccentrics as they chase after love and their unbridled ambitions. At its center is Lat Evans, good-hearted and yet seduced by the possibilities for prosperity in his new life; gradually he discerns how the perils of the natural world, and most especially human nature, can conspire to frustrate a young man's best intentions.
352 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1956
3 people are currently reading
559 people want to read
About the author
A.B. Guthrie Jr.
52 books114 followersAlfred Bertram Guthrie, Jr. was an American novelist, screenwriter, historian, and literary historian who won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction during 1950 for his novel The Way West.
After working 22 years as a news reporter and editor for the Lexington Leader, Guthrie wrote his first novel.
Ηe was able to quit his reporting job after the publication of the novels The Big Sky and The Way West (1950 Pulitzer Prize).
Guthrie died during 1991, at age 90, at his ranch near Choteau.
(Source - Wikipedia)
After working 22 years as a news reporter and editor for the Lexington Leader, Guthrie wrote his first novel.
Ηe was able to quit his reporting job after the publication of the novels The Big Sky and The Way West (1950 Pulitzer Prize).
Guthrie died during 1991, at age 90, at his ranch near Choteau.
(Source - Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
August 7, 2021
These Thousand Hills is the fourth of A. B. Guthrie’s Big Sky series that I have read. Much to my disappointment this is an okay, but not stellar, book. It is much in the vein of the cowboy movies we watched as children, Shane and 3:10 to Yuma, the struggle of a good man in a violent world, and it incorporates almost all the standard plot lines of that time.
Lat Evans is the son of Brownie and Mercy Evans, two characters we met in The Way West. He is basically a good man, but he has more than his share of hang-ups, and I would call some of his decisions at the least questionable. After a very slow start, the novel did pick up, but in the end, I didn’t care enough for any of the characters to shed a tear over their fates.
Guthrie’s great strength is his ability to write a scene that comes to life under his pen. He engages all the senses, so that I can see the breath of cold air, hear the coyotes, envision the stretches of white falling mile upon mile. As here:
In the distant darkness a squaw wailed for her dead, and dogs chimed in, joined by coyotes on the hills. They sent a shiver up the spine, of chill and lonesomeness and dread and hope of things to come.
Or as here:
It had been cold before but not close to this. This was as cold as cold ever could be. Even the campfire at night was only a whisper of warmth, a promise of heat somewhere in the world, maybe far off in Texas; but here in itself was the whole world, lapped white from skyline to skyline, with no end to be seen and none to be hoped for.
I highly recommend the first three books of this series. The Way West won a Pulitzer, and well deserved it. But, when you have finished Fair Land, Fair Land, you are done with the story. This book was not a continuation, it was another story altogether, not as fine a tale, and not as well told.
Lat Evans is the son of Brownie and Mercy Evans, two characters we met in The Way West. He is basically a good man, but he has more than his share of hang-ups, and I would call some of his decisions at the least questionable. After a very slow start, the novel did pick up, but in the end, I didn’t care enough for any of the characters to shed a tear over their fates.
Guthrie’s great strength is his ability to write a scene that comes to life under his pen. He engages all the senses, so that I can see the breath of cold air, hear the coyotes, envision the stretches of white falling mile upon mile. As here:
In the distant darkness a squaw wailed for her dead, and dogs chimed in, joined by coyotes on the hills. They sent a shiver up the spine, of chill and lonesomeness and dread and hope of things to come.
Or as here:
It had been cold before but not close to this. This was as cold as cold ever could be. Even the campfire at night was only a whisper of warmth, a promise of heat somewhere in the world, maybe far off in Texas; but here in itself was the whole world, lapped white from skyline to skyline, with no end to be seen and none to be hoped for.
I highly recommend the first three books of this series. The Way West won a Pulitzer, and well deserved it. But, when you have finished Fair Land, Fair Land, you are done with the story. This book was not a continuation, it was another story altogether, not as fine a tale, and not as well told.
August 10, 2021
3.5 rounded up
This has been my summer of reading the best of the West and I’ve certainly chosen some wonderful reads. Guthrie’s The Big Sky, The Way West, and Fair Land, Fair Land have all been stellar 5 star reads. This trilogy contained one of the most iconic mountain men created in Dick Summers and he was the glue that spread through each novel holding my desire to keep returning to read the next story in the saga of the West. So naturally, my expectations were pretty high going into my 4th Guthrie novel, These Thousand Hills. Hoping for a continuation of the Evans family we met in The Way West who trekked the Oregon Trail and set up a new life in Oregon, I was disappointed to only get a few cameo appearances from those loved characters. Guthrie decided to pick up the story in the late 1880’s with Lije Evan’s grandson, Lat Evans, as the central focus.
Lat’s desire in this novel is to leave his family in Oregon and go out on his own essentially in order to settle in the Montana territory as a cattle rancher. Sounds pretty normal, a young man wanting to find his own way in the world, leaving everything and everyone he knows. He is so young and green when he sets out on a cattle drive. In 5 different sections of the novel, we see the progression of Lat’s life and his accomplishments and ambitions. He is a good man on the whole who faces some obstacles and perils along the way that he must figure out how to overcome or how to work them to his advantage. It depends on how you look at each one of his situations whether you think he always makes the right or best choices. Seems to me that sounds pretty normal of anyone’s life. But Lat certainly has his share of questionable behaviors and actions but Guthrie has given the reader a very plausible character even though he’s not as likable, in my opinion, as the others I’ve already mentioned. He is a man trying to figure out his head and his heart and find the best way to prosper in his new life.
Here was his land, he thought. Here he was the land’s. Miles, mountains, sky, waters, grass - they freed and claimed him. Here he’d hoped to work and build and rear his family and deserve a name for service to people, to a territory that was sure to be a great state. Given any choice, here he’d choose to live and die.
I also found the beautiful descriptions of the landscape not as prevalent and that was certainly missed. Something else that was different from the other three novels was the sense of place. There wasn’t that much movement from one place to another in this novel as the others characterized. That sense of movement was a palpable addition previously but here the opportunities were limited. Guthrie still demonstrates his skill as a novelist even though These Thousand Hills won’t be on my absolute favorites list like the first three novels
This has been my summer of reading the best of the West and I’ve certainly chosen some wonderful reads. Guthrie’s The Big Sky, The Way West, and Fair Land, Fair Land have all been stellar 5 star reads. This trilogy contained one of the most iconic mountain men created in Dick Summers and he was the glue that spread through each novel holding my desire to keep returning to read the next story in the saga of the West. So naturally, my expectations were pretty high going into my 4th Guthrie novel, These Thousand Hills. Hoping for a continuation of the Evans family we met in The Way West who trekked the Oregon Trail and set up a new life in Oregon, I was disappointed to only get a few cameo appearances from those loved characters. Guthrie decided to pick up the story in the late 1880’s with Lije Evan’s grandson, Lat Evans, as the central focus.
Lat’s desire in this novel is to leave his family in Oregon and go out on his own essentially in order to settle in the Montana territory as a cattle rancher. Sounds pretty normal, a young man wanting to find his own way in the world, leaving everything and everyone he knows. He is so young and green when he sets out on a cattle drive. In 5 different sections of the novel, we see the progression of Lat’s life and his accomplishments and ambitions. He is a good man on the whole who faces some obstacles and perils along the way that he must figure out how to overcome or how to work them to his advantage. It depends on how you look at each one of his situations whether you think he always makes the right or best choices. Seems to me that sounds pretty normal of anyone’s life. But Lat certainly has his share of questionable behaviors and actions but Guthrie has given the reader a very plausible character even though he’s not as likable, in my opinion, as the others I’ve already mentioned. He is a man trying to figure out his head and his heart and find the best way to prosper in his new life.
Here was his land, he thought. Here he was the land’s. Miles, mountains, sky, waters, grass - they freed and claimed him. Here he’d hoped to work and build and rear his family and deserve a name for service to people, to a territory that was sure to be a great state. Given any choice, here he’d choose to live and die.
I also found the beautiful descriptions of the landscape not as prevalent and that was certainly missed. Something else that was different from the other three novels was the sense of place. There wasn’t that much movement from one place to another in this novel as the others characterized. That sense of movement was a palpable addition previously but here the opportunities were limited. Guthrie still demonstrates his skill as a novelist even though These Thousand Hills won’t be on my absolute favorites list like the first three novels
November 18, 2024
These Thousand Hills
Our book group read A.B. Guthrie's 1947 novel "The Big Sky" over the summer. Westerns are not the group's usual fare. I felt the novel made little impression with the group. Then, one of the participants mentioned he had been interested enough to follow-up with Guthrie's novel, "These Thousand Hills". I changed my mind about the impact of "The Big Sky" and our discussion. And I read "These Thousand Hills" for myself.
Guthrie (1901 -- 1991) was a Pulitzer-prize winning author who wrote six novels about the settlement of the Montana territory, including "The Big Sky" and "The Way West." "These Thousand Hills (1956), the third novel, is set in the Montana territory of the 1880s. The book follows some of the characters introduced in "The Way West", but knowledge of the earlier book is unnecessary to read this novel. The novel follows the life of Albert Gallatin Evans, known as "Lat" as, age 20, he leaves his Oregon homesteading family to seek independence and a life for himself. Starting out with nothing but ambition, Lat dreams of becoming a successful rancher.
There is a tension in the book between the broad, historical depiction of the Montana territory on the one hand and on the development of individual people in the story, primarily Lat, on the other hand. The various sections of the novel portray various aspects of life in the West -- a cattle drive to Montana, encounters with Indians, a small, raw developing settlement, life on the range during a bitterly cold winter, and more. With the beauty and scope of these depictions, the book's focus is highly introspective, particularly for a Western. Guthrie shows Lat and a variety of other characters as they change and grow through time. At several points, Lat is faced with moral choices about the sort of life he wants and about what he is prepared to do in order to succeed. As with many people, Lat is a basically good, divided, man who sometimes makes questionable decisions.
Lat has his first sexual experience in a brothel in the settlement and he and a young girl, Callie, fall in love. Later, when he is on the verge of success and perhaps has a political career in his future, Lat meets Joyce, an educated, prim, conventionally religious new settler from further East. The book turns on Lat's choice between the two women and its impact on his life.
The writing shows Guthrie's deep love and knowledge of the American West. It is full of cowboy songs and poetry and of stories culled from his own experience as a child with storytellers, from omnivorous reading, and from extensive research in the archives of the Montana State Historical Society. At a pivotal moment, one of the characters quotes from an American western poet, Joaquin Miller (1837 -- 1913) whom I hadn't known before. In 1871, Miller had written:
"In men whom men condemn as ill
I find so much of goodness still.
In men whom men pronounce divine
I find so much of sin and blot
I do not dare to draw a line
Between the two, where God has not. "
Miller's thought mirrors several of the ethical dilemmas presented in Guthrie's book, including Lat's decision about the woman he will marry.
"These Thousand Hills" has not been as well received as Guthrie's first two Montana books. The introspection of the book, the action, and the depictions of Western life do not always mesh well. The book has a large group of characters than need to be followed throughout the story. As I continued to read, I became taken with the book. I learned a good deal about the West but I was more moved by the characters and by Guthrie's ethical and religious perceptions. This is a fine American novel which deserves to be read. I was pleased to have introduced at least one reader to "The Big Sky" and, in return, to have that reader introduce me to this successor novel.
Robin Friedman
Our book group read A.B. Guthrie's 1947 novel "The Big Sky" over the summer. Westerns are not the group's usual fare. I felt the novel made little impression with the group. Then, one of the participants mentioned he had been interested enough to follow-up with Guthrie's novel, "These Thousand Hills". I changed my mind about the impact of "The Big Sky" and our discussion. And I read "These Thousand Hills" for myself.
Guthrie (1901 -- 1991) was a Pulitzer-prize winning author who wrote six novels about the settlement of the Montana territory, including "The Big Sky" and "The Way West." "These Thousand Hills (1956), the third novel, is set in the Montana territory of the 1880s. The book follows some of the characters introduced in "The Way West", but knowledge of the earlier book is unnecessary to read this novel. The novel follows the life of Albert Gallatin Evans, known as "Lat" as, age 20, he leaves his Oregon homesteading family to seek independence and a life for himself. Starting out with nothing but ambition, Lat dreams of becoming a successful rancher.
There is a tension in the book between the broad, historical depiction of the Montana territory on the one hand and on the development of individual people in the story, primarily Lat, on the other hand. The various sections of the novel portray various aspects of life in the West -- a cattle drive to Montana, encounters with Indians, a small, raw developing settlement, life on the range during a bitterly cold winter, and more. With the beauty and scope of these depictions, the book's focus is highly introspective, particularly for a Western. Guthrie shows Lat and a variety of other characters as they change and grow through time. At several points, Lat is faced with moral choices about the sort of life he wants and about what he is prepared to do in order to succeed. As with many people, Lat is a basically good, divided, man who sometimes makes questionable decisions.
Lat has his first sexual experience in a brothel in the settlement and he and a young girl, Callie, fall in love. Later, when he is on the verge of success and perhaps has a political career in his future, Lat meets Joyce, an educated, prim, conventionally religious new settler from further East. The book turns on Lat's choice between the two women and its impact on his life.
The writing shows Guthrie's deep love and knowledge of the American West. It is full of cowboy songs and poetry and of stories culled from his own experience as a child with storytellers, from omnivorous reading, and from extensive research in the archives of the Montana State Historical Society. At a pivotal moment, one of the characters quotes from an American western poet, Joaquin Miller (1837 -- 1913) whom I hadn't known before. In 1871, Miller had written:
"In men whom men condemn as ill
I find so much of goodness still.
In men whom men pronounce divine
I find so much of sin and blot
I do not dare to draw a line
Between the two, where God has not. "
Miller's thought mirrors several of the ethical dilemmas presented in Guthrie's book, including Lat's decision about the woman he will marry.
"These Thousand Hills" has not been as well received as Guthrie's first two Montana books. The introspection of the book, the action, and the depictions of Western life do not always mesh well. The book has a large group of characters than need to be followed throughout the story. As I continued to read, I became taken with the book. I learned a good deal about the West but I was more moved by the characters and by Guthrie's ethical and religious perceptions. This is a fine American novel which deserves to be read. I was pleased to have introduced at least one reader to "The Big Sky" and, in return, to have that reader introduce me to this successor novel.
Robin Friedman
January 19, 2015
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 8, 2021
At the End of Gutherie's The Way West, The Evan's family is full of hope for the future after making the long arduous wagon train journey from Missouri to Oregon. Their son Brownie is married to the pregnant Mercy McBee. This story picks up some years later when Brownie and Mercy had already lost two children and their 3rd child, Lat is 20 years old. Lijie, is now widowed and lives with them. He is relegated to the Grandfather in the chair who talks of better times.
Brownie has been unsuccessful at ranching, in part due to the damages from overpopulation. His failure has produced a volatile temper in him that is easily triggered when his rigid religious rules are broken. He is always sorry following outbursts and loves his wife and son, but that is not enough to keep Lat from venturing out on his own by joining a cattle drive. Lat wants his freedom but he's also ambitious and determined to make something of himself. He wants wealth, but more than that, he wants respectability.
This story didn't feel as special as any of the others in the series, but where it excelled for me was in Lat's development as he meticulously sets out his course to becoming successful and respectable but finds himself making decisions that aren't always caring or moral. It's this push and pull within him that makes the story for me. He's a decent person who wants to do good but his ambition causes him to make some poor decisions when it comes to relationships with his parents, his friends, his lover and his wife.
Missing from this were Guthrie's beautiful landscape descriptions and thoughtful inner thoughts of beloved characters. It may be it's somewhat detached because Guthrie's main goal seems to be showing how the erosion of the land, also erodes the spirit. The ending here was perfect and made up for some of the slow parts. I'm rounding this up to 4 stars because of that. I don't normally let an ending rule my rating of a book but in this series, I also let the ending affect my rating downward for The Big Sky because of it's ending. I'm still planning on revisiting that book at some point.
Brownie has been unsuccessful at ranching, in part due to the damages from overpopulation. His failure has produced a volatile temper in him that is easily triggered when his rigid religious rules are broken. He is always sorry following outbursts and loves his wife and son, but that is not enough to keep Lat from venturing out on his own by joining a cattle drive. Lat wants his freedom but he's also ambitious and determined to make something of himself. He wants wealth, but more than that, he wants respectability.
This story didn't feel as special as any of the others in the series, but where it excelled for me was in Lat's development as he meticulously sets out his course to becoming successful and respectable but finds himself making decisions that aren't always caring or moral. It's this push and pull within him that makes the story for me. He's a decent person who wants to do good but his ambition causes him to make some poor decisions when it comes to relationships with his parents, his friends, his lover and his wife.
Missing from this were Guthrie's beautiful landscape descriptions and thoughtful inner thoughts of beloved characters. It may be it's somewhat detached because Guthrie's main goal seems to be showing how the erosion of the land, also erodes the spirit. The ending here was perfect and made up for some of the slow parts. I'm rounding this up to 4 stars because of that. I don't normally let an ending rule my rating of a book but in this series, I also let the ending affect my rating downward for The Big Sky because of it's ending. I'm still planning on revisiting that book at some point.
September 11, 2021
I continue to be charmed by the sweeping writing of A.B.Guthrie,Jr. These Thousand Hills tells the story of the vast,western land of Montana and the people who shaped their life in it. The story thread follows Lat Evans,a grandson of a pioneer of the Oregon Trail, as he settles in the wild country in the Montana territory. The conflict between righteousness and baseness of the soul contrasts with the raw,terrible beauty of the land and man's tentative efforts of constructing society and a town. The struggle to master the elements of nature mirrors the same struggle some men make to master their own human nature and ambition. My only complaint of this beautiful book is that I wanted more writing telling about the cattle drives, ranch building, courtship etc. What is written is well done , just it feels hurried through, and I was content to linger in 1880's Montana.
June 19, 2012
If you liked Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy you might like Guthrie's sextet, as it seems to me the template for McCarthy's trilogy [plus three more books of course]. There are a vast number of similarities in character, theme, events, tone, poetry and prostitutes who aren't cut out for the business. I preferred Guthrie hands down. When things happen in one of Guthrie's Big Sky sextet they seem like life, when things happen in McCarthy's Border Trilogy it is pointless death doom and destruction for the sake of pointless death doom and destruction. Just not as much fun.
September 2, 2022
In the 1967 movie "The Way West" a young Sally Field is pregnant with the main character of this book, These Thousand Hills. So this novel is kind of the 4th installment of Guthrie's trilogy, although not given a number. I haven't read the first 3, just saw the movie, but that will have to do, since this one was a little too rough for my taste. I like my 1880s Montana a bit more sanitized, I guess.
Anyway, the animal suffering, as usual, ruined it for me, as well as the unlikeable main character Lat Evans. He is too human to be a western hero. I've been spoiled rotten by L'Amour! I'd like to read more Guthrie, I'll look for his lighter stuff.
Anyway, the animal suffering, as usual, ruined it for me, as well as the unlikeable main character Lat Evans. He is too human to be a western hero. I've been spoiled rotten by L'Amour! I'd like to read more Guthrie, I'll look for his lighter stuff.
August 19, 2021
Chronologically, this is the fourth book in the six-part Big Sky Series by A. B. Guthrie, Jr. I have thoroughly enjoyed all four books, including this one. If, at times, I have been disappointed that Guthrie did not continue the storylines of some of the characters, I understand that Guthrie's focus was on the evolutionary development of the Far West in the 1800s and the types of men and women who were a part of each development. I thought Guthrie did an outstanding job of recreating for his readers what the frontier was like through each era, and how each era attracted its own kind of people. To me, it was living history at its best.
August 13, 2021
The first three books of The Big Sky series prompted me to read this one. It did not live up to the high bar set by the others. Don’t get me wrong — it was an okay read. The book had it’s moments, but somewhere along the way, I think it lost it’s trail.
October 1, 2013
I have to give this a 5 star rating, because I found it engrossing all the way through. I'm not one who reads ahead (I don't like "spoiled" mystery), but I found myself looking at the next page as soon as I turned the last one. I liked the way it jumped from scene to scene, and I loved the Montana (and Oregon and Idaho - my own stomping grounds) grandeur so passionately described. No, Lat is not a perfect man - he's got a streak of holier-than-thou that is certainly not attractive and that bit of ambition to be a senator doesn't do a thing for me - but for all that he is at heart a decent, loving man with what I consider to be good ambition, a desire to leave the land beautiful, to be a good steward of it, and to have a simple, gracious home at the center of it all.
January 16, 2013
I don't remember much about "These Thousand Hills" other than Lat's pursuit of wealth, land and fame. I remember him pursuing these things at the expense of his friendships. I was disappointed by this book.
I loved "The Big Sky" and found this book to fall short of that one.
I thought his description of life on a ranch in winter to be interesting but the rancher's use of the Chinook winds to thaw the snow so he could feed his cattle was stupid.
I loved "The Big Sky" and found this book to fall short of that one.
I thought his description of life on a ranch in winter to be interesting but the rancher's use of the Chinook winds to thaw the snow so he could feed his cattle was stupid.
December 18, 2022
Bello leggere libri così emozionati ed emozionanti: racconta l'INELUTTABILITÀ delle scelte di un uomo.
Western puro
Western puro
November 4, 2020
Immediately upon finishing this fourth episode in Guthrie’s six-volume Big Sky sequence, I returned to The Way West (#2), which had directly spawned These Thousand Hills (#4) and Fair Land, Fair Land (#3). These Thousand Hills (1867 – 1880) takes up about 21 years after the events in The Way West (1845), while the events in Fair Land, Fair Land (1845 – 1868) begin immediately after that novel, with the doings of Hig and Dick Summers spanning a little over 20 years. Besides Dick Summers, the principal character in The Way West is Lije Evans, father to Brownie Evans who marries pregnant Mercy McBee while on the trail to Oregon. Brownie and Mercy are parents to the principal character in These Thousand Hills, and he’s unaware that his birth-father is not Brownie Evans…
To the extent that Lat Evans is an upstanding man, talented, intelligent, and ambitious, he was well raised by Brownie and Mercy. There is, however, a discord in his father that Lat will never understand, how he can be cruelly punitive and sin-obsessed and yet afterward immediately, weepfully repentant. While it’s possible to read this novel without knowing anything of the origin of Brownie’s behavior, reading The Way West makes clear that it’s in reaction to Mercy’s actions before they were married, that it is by hewing close to God’s word that he hopes to ensure no transmission to Lat of the sins of the fathers (which effort Guthrie will show is vain).
Twenty-one-year-old Lat sets out to return to Big Sky country, to settle there and make himself a homestead, with wife and children, to do proud by his parents. There is a playful looseness to Lat’s early adventures, first as a horse-busting rider on a cattle drive, then as a hunter of wolf and buffalo hides in the freezing clime of a Montana winter. All along the way, people are drawn to him, recognizing in him a vision to shape and build. Many of the compañeros from that first cattle drive will continue to work for and side with him long after that single season of work. At the completion of the cattle drive, in Fort Benton, Lat falls for Callie, a young whore. She, too, plays a lasting part in Lat’s ongoing life, continuing to care for him even after he’s married respectably and has a child.
Lat’s skill as a horseman earns him money and esteem on two important occasions, even enough that the local banker is swayed by Lat’s gumption to offer Lat generous terms when he stakes out his new ranch and stock. But even as he’s setting down stakes, Lat sours the strong friendship with Texan Tom Ping, who’d saved Lat’s life when he’d been shot and held several weeks hostage by Indians. (Even captive, Lat shows his mettle and saves the leg and life of the chief’s son, earning him lifelong fealty.) But it is this disintegration of friendship with Ping that defines the mixed and corruptible nature of people and relations.
As Lat prospers with his ranch, wife, child, and friends and seems to be poised for bigger things (there are plans to run for Senator), there comes a confluence of life-changing altercations with the darker side of things: Lat is accosted by his never-seen-before Grandpa McBee (insinuating his mother’s indiscretion), is forced to participate in the running down and execution of rustlers, agrees to Callie in dealing with a murdered man in her parlor, and is banished from the house by his wife when he explains what Callie had meant to him. He experiences a dark night of the soul at novel’s end. His wife takes him back, but the moment is subdued, and it is clear Lat is chastened and his ambitions tempered.
There’s fun and brio in the early going, even when Lat is injured and held captive, but Lat’s story becomes complicated and less buoyant as he takes on more (land, family, cattle, friends, politics). While this is the natural course of things, Lat’s self-imposed sanctimony plays a big part in sundering two of his vital relations. It’s to his credit that he feels the loss and understands (even as his conflicted father had) the pain his principles have caused others. While Guthrie was able to conclude The Way West with a hurrah, he is further along with interpolating events in These Thousand Hills that converge on his present (circa 1956), and this makes him and his initially exuberant protagonist take a rueful pause.
To the extent that Lat Evans is an upstanding man, talented, intelligent, and ambitious, he was well raised by Brownie and Mercy. There is, however, a discord in his father that Lat will never understand, how he can be cruelly punitive and sin-obsessed and yet afterward immediately, weepfully repentant. While it’s possible to read this novel without knowing anything of the origin of Brownie’s behavior, reading The Way West makes clear that it’s in reaction to Mercy’s actions before they were married, that it is by hewing close to God’s word that he hopes to ensure no transmission to Lat of the sins of the fathers (which effort Guthrie will show is vain).
Twenty-one-year-old Lat sets out to return to Big Sky country, to settle there and make himself a homestead, with wife and children, to do proud by his parents. There is a playful looseness to Lat’s early adventures, first as a horse-busting rider on a cattle drive, then as a hunter of wolf and buffalo hides in the freezing clime of a Montana winter. All along the way, people are drawn to him, recognizing in him a vision to shape and build. Many of the compañeros from that first cattle drive will continue to work for and side with him long after that single season of work. At the completion of the cattle drive, in Fort Benton, Lat falls for Callie, a young whore. She, too, plays a lasting part in Lat’s ongoing life, continuing to care for him even after he’s married respectably and has a child.
Lat’s skill as a horseman earns him money and esteem on two important occasions, even enough that the local banker is swayed by Lat’s gumption to offer Lat generous terms when he stakes out his new ranch and stock. But even as he’s setting down stakes, Lat sours the strong friendship with Texan Tom Ping, who’d saved Lat’s life when he’d been shot and held several weeks hostage by Indians. (Even captive, Lat shows his mettle and saves the leg and life of the chief’s son, earning him lifelong fealty.) But it is this disintegration of friendship with Ping that defines the mixed and corruptible nature of people and relations.
As Lat prospers with his ranch, wife, child, and friends and seems to be poised for bigger things (there are plans to run for Senator), there comes a confluence of life-changing altercations with the darker side of things: Lat is accosted by his never-seen-before Grandpa McBee (insinuating his mother’s indiscretion), is forced to participate in the running down and execution of rustlers, agrees to Callie in dealing with a murdered man in her parlor, and is banished from the house by his wife when he explains what Callie had meant to him. He experiences a dark night of the soul at novel’s end. His wife takes him back, but the moment is subdued, and it is clear Lat is chastened and his ambitions tempered.
There’s fun and brio in the early going, even when Lat is injured and held captive, but Lat’s story becomes complicated and less buoyant as he takes on more (land, family, cattle, friends, politics). While this is the natural course of things, Lat’s self-imposed sanctimony plays a big part in sundering two of his vital relations. It’s to his credit that he feels the loss and understands (even as his conflicted father had) the pain his principles have caused others. While Guthrie was able to conclude The Way West with a hurrah, he is further along with interpolating events in These Thousand Hills that converge on his present (circa 1956), and this makes him and his initially exuberant protagonist take a rueful pause.
November 17, 2021
𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 @𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒆.𝒄𝒐𝒏.𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒛𝒛𝒂
Che meraviglia!!!
Ho avuto la fortuna di leggere in anteprima questa favolosa epopea western americana.
Prima di parlare delle mie impressioni, voglio fare chiarezza sulla questione della trilogia/sestologia.
Più di qualcuno mi ha chiesto delucidazioni in merito.
𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 è il quarto volume della sestologia del Grande Cielo ma è il terzo libro tradotto in Italia da Mattioli in ordine cronologico.
La grande epopea del West ideata da Guthrie racchiude appunto sei volumi.
La sequenza cronologica però non rispetta la sequenza di pubblicazione americana.
Il primo è 𝘐𝘭 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘰 ( da questo libro è stato tratto il film) il secondo è 𝘐𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘭 𝘞𝘦𝘴𝘵 ( premio Pulitzer nel 1950) , il terzo è 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘥 (non ancora tradotto). Questi tre sono di per sé una trilogia completa con elementi di continuità e andrebbero letti in ordine cronologico. Una trilogia che inizia negli anni '30 dell'Ottocento e termina bel 1870.
In 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 invece Guthrie ha abbandonato i personaggi dei precedenti libri, c'è solo un collegamento marginale che non influisce minimamente nella lettura.
Io l'ho scoperto solo a lettura ultimata.
Quindi, alla domanda : si può leggere separatamente?
Assolutamente sì, io l'ho fatto e non ho letto i precedenti libri.
Guthrie in questo romanzo ha voluto sviluppare la vita di Lat Evans un nipote della famiglia Evans, unico elemento in comune con i precedenti romanzi.
Qui si riparte da zero.
Una nuova storia, una nuova vita, un nuovo viaggio.
E inizia proprio con il viaggio che intraprese Lat Evans.
Senza soldi in tasca, giovanissimo ma determinato, decide di lasciare la famiglia e l'Oregon per cercare fortuna nel Montana.
•
Qui trova la sua terra, le sue amicizie, i suoi amori traboccanti di passione, la sua nuova famiglia.
•
Con difficoltà, allo stremo delle sue forze e delle sue risorse, lotterà con tutto sé stesso per raggiungere i suoi obiettivi.
Impossibile non avere compassione per lui. Mi sono affezionata a Lat come ad un figlio, ho fatto il tifo per lui e per la sua realizzazione.
•
Ma c'e una cosa importante che Lat capisce da subito.
Lat appartiene a questa terra.
Le distanze, le montagne, il cielo, i fiumi, l'erba, ogni cosa lo rende libero e allo stesso tempo lo reclama.
•
Il Montana, la terra promessa, il sogno Americano.
•
Qui decide di mettere le radici, sperando di costruirsi un ranch, dove crescere dei figli, di farsi un nome e un posto di rilievo in società.
•
Queste mille colline è un viaggio meraviglioso.
Chi ha amato Lonesome Dove, amerà anche questo libro.
•
Un romanzo storico sull'inserimento del West americano che è anche un omaggio alla Natura, a volte ostile, a volte gentile in balia a dei destini incredibili e alla durezza della vita.
•
Una scrittura che sa essere cruda e poetica allo stesso tempo con dei personaggi memorabili, che mi hanno ricordato alcuni di Lonesome Dove.
•
Cowboy, indiani pellerossa, mercanti , coloni, avventurieri, cacciatori, soldati , uomini d'affari, prostitute, tutti facevano parte di un sogno senza fine.
•
Tutti questi personaggi cambiano e crescono nel tempo, e prendono decisioni discutibili. Li custodirete nel cuore, ve lo posso garantire.
•
Porterò dei ricordi bellissimi di questo viaggio e se anche voi avete voglia di ascoltare la musica del vento, sentire le viscere della terra vibrare, inginocchiarvi alle stelle o vedere nel cielo buio la stella luna, buttatevi in questo viaggio straordinario, ne resterete affascinati.
Lo prometto 😉
.
Che meraviglia!!!
Ho avuto la fortuna di leggere in anteprima questa favolosa epopea western americana.
Prima di parlare delle mie impressioni, voglio fare chiarezza sulla questione della trilogia/sestologia.
Più di qualcuno mi ha chiesto delucidazioni in merito.
𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 è il quarto volume della sestologia del Grande Cielo ma è il terzo libro tradotto in Italia da Mattioli in ordine cronologico.
La grande epopea del West ideata da Guthrie racchiude appunto sei volumi.
La sequenza cronologica però non rispetta la sequenza di pubblicazione americana.
Il primo è 𝘐𝘭 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘰 ( da questo libro è stato tratto il film) il secondo è 𝘐𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘭 𝘞𝘦𝘴𝘵 ( premio Pulitzer nel 1950) , il terzo è 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘥 (non ancora tradotto). Questi tre sono di per sé una trilogia completa con elementi di continuità e andrebbero letti in ordine cronologico. Una trilogia che inizia negli anni '30 dell'Ottocento e termina bel 1870.
In 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 invece Guthrie ha abbandonato i personaggi dei precedenti libri, c'è solo un collegamento marginale che non influisce minimamente nella lettura.
Io l'ho scoperto solo a lettura ultimata.
Quindi, alla domanda : si può leggere separatamente?
Assolutamente sì, io l'ho fatto e non ho letto i precedenti libri.
Guthrie in questo romanzo ha voluto sviluppare la vita di Lat Evans un nipote della famiglia Evans, unico elemento in comune con i precedenti romanzi.
Qui si riparte da zero.
Una nuova storia, una nuova vita, un nuovo viaggio.
E inizia proprio con il viaggio che intraprese Lat Evans.
Senza soldi in tasca, giovanissimo ma determinato, decide di lasciare la famiglia e l'Oregon per cercare fortuna nel Montana.
•
Qui trova la sua terra, le sue amicizie, i suoi amori traboccanti di passione, la sua nuova famiglia.
•
Con difficoltà, allo stremo delle sue forze e delle sue risorse, lotterà con tutto sé stesso per raggiungere i suoi obiettivi.
Impossibile non avere compassione per lui. Mi sono affezionata a Lat come ad un figlio, ho fatto il tifo per lui e per la sua realizzazione.
•
Ma c'e una cosa importante che Lat capisce da subito.
Lat appartiene a questa terra.
Le distanze, le montagne, il cielo, i fiumi, l'erba, ogni cosa lo rende libero e allo stesso tempo lo reclama.
•
Il Montana, la terra promessa, il sogno Americano.
•
Qui decide di mettere le radici, sperando di costruirsi un ranch, dove crescere dei figli, di farsi un nome e un posto di rilievo in società.
•
Queste mille colline è un viaggio meraviglioso.
Chi ha amato Lonesome Dove, amerà anche questo libro.
•
Un romanzo storico sull'inserimento del West americano che è anche un omaggio alla Natura, a volte ostile, a volte gentile in balia a dei destini incredibili e alla durezza della vita.
•
Una scrittura che sa essere cruda e poetica allo stesso tempo con dei personaggi memorabili, che mi hanno ricordato alcuni di Lonesome Dove.
•
Cowboy, indiani pellerossa, mercanti , coloni, avventurieri, cacciatori, soldati , uomini d'affari, prostitute, tutti facevano parte di un sogno senza fine.
•
Tutti questi personaggi cambiano e crescono nel tempo, e prendono decisioni discutibili. Li custodirete nel cuore, ve lo posso garantire.
•
Porterò dei ricordi bellissimi di questo viaggio e se anche voi avete voglia di ascoltare la musica del vento, sentire le viscere della terra vibrare, inginocchiarvi alle stelle o vedere nel cielo buio la stella luna, buttatevi in questo viaggio straordinario, ne resterete affascinati.
Lo prometto 😉
.
July 3, 2022
A. B. Guthrie's Big Sky novels have always been slow-paced, but These Thousand Hills, the third in the Western sequence (or fourth, if you place Fair Land, Fair Land chronologically after The Way West), is so slow as to lose all momentum, and it stalls on the uphill climb.
It is the first book in the series not to follow the mountain men Boone Caudill or Dick Summers, and the replacement character – the rancher Lat Evans – takes a good while to become interesting. The first half of the story is a mush – it never becomes turgid, just uneventful – and we don't know why we, the reader, should be paying attention. Later, Lat's character angst is shown to be how he wants his life to be "open and solid and respectable" (pg. 244), but this pursuit of social and moral respectability is much less exciting than the slow but wild roaming of Caudill and Summers in the previous books.
There's much less of the descriptive landscape writing that could take your breath away in the other books, and while These Thousand Hills gets more interesting in its final third, it's such an unnecessarily long burn for such a small spark. Guthrie tries to morph his antagonist's angst into a sort of classical, code-driven man-of-the-West ("Carmichael watched him, thinking how lonely the right was, or what men took for right" (pg. 323)), but the novel lacks the drama to really bring that out. The only conclusion to reach, for all that the book is well-written, is that These Thousand Hills doesn't reward the reader's perseverance to anything like the extent the other books in the sequence did. It survives in reputation only by its composure and the general goodwill extended by fans towards Westerns. It reverses its stall and continues its uphill climb, but your muscles groan as you follow and the blood fails to stir.
It is the first book in the series not to follow the mountain men Boone Caudill or Dick Summers, and the replacement character – the rancher Lat Evans – takes a good while to become interesting. The first half of the story is a mush – it never becomes turgid, just uneventful – and we don't know why we, the reader, should be paying attention. Later, Lat's character angst is shown to be how he wants his life to be "open and solid and respectable" (pg. 244), but this pursuit of social and moral respectability is much less exciting than the slow but wild roaming of Caudill and Summers in the previous books.
There's much less of the descriptive landscape writing that could take your breath away in the other books, and while These Thousand Hills gets more interesting in its final third, it's such an unnecessarily long burn for such a small spark. Guthrie tries to morph his antagonist's angst into a sort of classical, code-driven man-of-the-West ("Carmichael watched him, thinking how lonely the right was, or what men took for right" (pg. 323)), but the novel lacks the drama to really bring that out. The only conclusion to reach, for all that the book is well-written, is that These Thousand Hills doesn't reward the reader's perseverance to anything like the extent the other books in the sequence did. It survives in reputation only by its composure and the general goodwill extended by fans towards Westerns. It reverses its stall and continues its uphill climb, but your muscles groan as you follow and the blood fails to stir.
July 3, 2017
Although I enjoyed the story and the characters, I didn't love it as much as the first two in the series. It took me a while to feel engaged with the youngest Evans family member who leaves Oregon for Montana to build his own cattle ranch. It's a story of what a man will do to make his dream come true and how those things may come back to touch him later in life. The book is full of the raw-boned and tough characters you'd expect from the earlier novels as well as the often lovely language describing the land and people on it.
note to gentle readers: plenty of profanity and whoring
note to gentle readers: plenty of profanity and whoring
August 29, 2017
I have read all four books of this series...something I don't normally like to get involved with - a series. I enjoyed every word. AB Guthrie Jr. tells a story that is a simple read, with a clear rising action and conflict, that seems like there is nothing philosophical under the surface, and then (I am sure it hits each reader at different places) the deeper message about land and its relationship to man and visa-versa hit at a deep level.
THESE THOUSAND HILLS, is no different and pushes the theme: It is best to live in truth.
THESE THOUSAND HILLS, is no different and pushes the theme: It is best to live in truth.
August 20, 2023
Guthrie like Zane Grey, Max Brand, L’amour, and others reflect the eras in which they wrote. That is to say, maybe the tone, language, and sensibilities are a little dated. Having conceded such, it is the only point which may pull a reader out of a superb story.
An old timer told me Guthrie was the best western writer. Prior to reading The Way West, I would have argued for Kelton or certainly McMurtry. Guthrie weaves exposition into the story so effortlessly we turn the page, never appreciating we’ve absorbed a history course.
An old timer told me Guthrie was the best western writer. Prior to reading The Way West, I would have argued for Kelton or certainly McMurtry. Guthrie weaves exposition into the story so effortlessly we turn the page, never appreciating we’ve absorbed a history course.
February 8, 2021
One in a series of 5 books with The Way West being the Pulitzer prize winner.
This book follows one of the key characters in The Way West as he winds up in southern Montana working hard with the vision of starting a cattle ranch. Guthrie continues with folksie language, great descriptions, and a plot with plenty of interest.
A good book to curl up with of interest to those wanting to know about life in the west in the latter 19th century.
This book follows one of the key characters in The Way West as he winds up in southern Montana working hard with the vision of starting a cattle ranch. Guthrie continues with folksie language, great descriptions, and a plot with plenty of interest.
A good book to curl up with of interest to those wanting to know about life in the west in the latter 19th century.
August 22, 2018
Zzzzzzzzzzzz
Too much exposition and not enough letting the reader see what was happening. And, well, not much happened, anyway.
The best thing I can say about this book is that, at times, the writing put me in mind of John Steinbeck.
It isn't an awful book, especially if you like more drama than action in your westerns. If you need a gunfight, or really, any kind of fight, look elsewhere.
Too much exposition and not enough letting the reader see what was happening. And, well, not much happened, anyway.
The best thing I can say about this book is that, at times, the writing put me in mind of John Steinbeck.
It isn't an awful book, especially if you like more drama than action in your westerns. If you need a gunfight, or really, any kind of fight, look elsewhere.
Read
October 1, 2019I like the book a lot. I have read some of the books in the series and l will also read the next books in the series and other books by ab Guthrie. I really like the author and I like his writing a lot. I like how his writing is about what he did during his era. I really like reading books about the old days and this is one of my favorite books and author's.
June 12, 2021
3 1/2 🌟 rounded up ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Here we meet up with the Evans family from, The Way West. I really hoped the story would stay awhile with Brownie and Mercy, but that was not the storyline Guthrie wanted to tell. Albert (Lat) is Brownie Evans son and at 20 yrs of age, his desire is to strike out on his own. With an adventurous spirit much like the Evans men proceeding him.
I enjoyed the twist and turns Guthrie has created in this novel. And I fell in love with a horse named Sugar.
Here we meet up with the Evans family from, The Way West. I really hoped the story would stay awhile with Brownie and Mercy, but that was not the storyline Guthrie wanted to tell. Albert (Lat) is Brownie Evans son and at 20 yrs of age, his desire is to strike out on his own. With an adventurous spirit much like the Evans men proceeding him.
I enjoyed the twist and turns Guthrie has created in this novel. And I fell in love with a horse named Sugar.
July 2, 2018
I'm stupefied at Guthrie's vision and his talent. This series is old, but it's a gift to America. And have we ever needed it more?
The world Guthrie "gets" is gone. And it's not. It's hard to be a good man.
But not too hard.
The world Guthrie "gets" is gone. And it's not. It's hard to be a good man.
But not too hard.
August 29, 2022
The Big Sky saga continues to the second generation after the trek on the Oregon Trail. What were once acceptable behaviors are now very frowned up. The country grows up and, as it does, a loss of spirit and innovation is evident. But the land still inspires.
January 2, 2023
Slow and deliberate with its pacing and action, These Thousand Hills is a classy oater. Guthrie’s prose is fantastic, bringing these rough hewn characters to pulsing life, and his storytelling is top notch, if a little traditional.
March 30, 2023
Good old western, not as good as some of his others (Big Sky) but still fun and. Kinda slow-paced, dialogue/accent is hilarious, Lat is a great character. A.B. Guthrie just sounds like a good gruff name.
January 1, 2025
More forgettable and/or unpleasant characters, some as offspring from the previous books in Guthrie Jr.'s Big Sky series. Cattle ranching in Montana. These last 2 of Guthrie’s books can’t hold a candle to the first two in the series. Like Fair Land, Fair Land, another 2 stars.
November 16, 2025
A.B. Guthrie's authentic third member of his series that began with The Big Sky. Written in 1956, These Thousand Hills offers a realistic description of cowboy life and some of the challenges cowboys faced in that day. The book begins with a cattle drive from Oregon to Montana. Guthrie follows young Lat Evans as he struggles with cattle, life, love and the changing West.
December 29, 2018
Saga, one man making his way in the wild west.
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