The soul of the American West lives in Peter Dawson. He was a trail blazer across a time when the destiny of America was coming of age. Here for the first time in book form, are seven tales of the West that depict the fortitude and courage of men and women in a time of violence and determination. It was a wide-open country of dreamers, outlaws, cavalrymen, lawmen and cunning ranchers. Each story embodies the struggles that made the American frontier the stuff that legends are made of.
Peter is the pen name of author Jonathan Hurff Glidden. He was born in Kewanee, Illinois, in 1907, and studied English literature at the University of Illinois. In his career as a Western author, Glidden published sixteen Western novels and over one hundred and twenty short novels and short stories for the magazine market. His first novel, The Crimson Horseshow, won the Dodd, Mead Prize as the 1941 Best Western of the Year. He died in 1957.
Note: "Peter Dawson" was also a pen name used by Frederick Faust (better known another of his pen names, Max Brand). Care should be taken when attributing books.
PD. has penned the following: 1.) The Sweetest Draw - This is a western adventure of known bank robbers/A bank is robbed/escape is made, but ends in a shoot out in a bar. 2.) Bullet Cure - This is a western adventure of four men who make a discovery, but two want everything. They fight over gold in a very unique way. 3.) The Echo Heard - This is a western adventure about trouble between homesteads and cattlemen. The homesteads are framed, but the law sees thru the smokescreen. 4.) Angel Leak - This is a western adventure about the U.S. Calvary and Victorio. A Young LT falls for the Majors daughter/The LT. Ambushed Victorio and wins. 5.) Gunpowder Campaign - This is a western adventure about a Civil War Veteran who is a drunk, but owns a cannon. He wants to use his cannon in the town. 6.) Showdown in Shadow - This is a western adventure about an Outlaw, his unknown daughter, and a Bank owner bank robber. 7.) Skull Creek Double Cross - This is a western adventure about Nesters, one ranch owner rustling, a frame job. A cowboy out smarts everyone.
The above seven novellas are excellent reads for the genre.....DEHS
A great collection of 7 western shorts. Dawson definitely had an unique style usually starting dramatically with no preamble and caught you up with the plot later. Some of the best western shorts I've read. My third collection I've read of his and not read a dud story yet. Love the way these collections from Leisure Books had short blurbs telling you how much he was paid for the stories, which magazines they appeared in, and other factoids.