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The Plainsmen
This collection of stories captures some of the moments of crisis - comic or tragic, and sometimes both - that mark the forks and turning points of men's lives. Here are the real plainsmen stripped of their fancy trappings and all the more human and vital for that.
Jack Schaefer gives you the very feels of a big land and the people whose spirit it touches and, in the words of the Chicago Tribune, "he is a magnificent storyteller." His books have an appeal for all ages, but these stories, all of them previously published, have been selected especially for younger readers.
Stories:
Cooter James
Cat Nipped
Leander Frailey
Jeremy Rodock
That Mark Horse
Nate Bartlett's Store
General Pingley
Harvey Kendall
The Old Man
Jacob
Jack Schaefer gives you the very feels of a big land and the people whose spirit it touches and, in the words of the Chicago Tribune, "he is a magnificent storyteller." His books have an appeal for all ages, but these stories, all of them previously published, have been selected especially for younger readers.
Stories:
Cooter James
Cat Nipped
Leander Frailey
Jeremy Rodock
That Mark Horse
Nate Bartlett's Store
General Pingley
Harvey Kendall
The Old Man
Jacob
252 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1963
13 people want to read
About the author
Jack Schaefer
72 books102 followersSchaefer was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of an attorney. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1929 with a major in English. He attended graduate school at Columbia University from 1929-30, but left without completing his Master of Arts degree. He then went to work for the United Press. In his long career as a journalist, he would hold editorial positions at many eastern publications.
Schaefer's first success as a novelist came in 1949 with his memorable novel Shane, set in Wyoming. Few realized that Schaefer himself had never been anywhere near the west. Nevertheless, he continued writing successful westerns, selling his home in Connecticut and moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1955.
In 1975 Schaefer received the Western Literature Association's Distinguished Achievement award.
He died of heart failure in Santa Fe in 1991. Schaefer was married twice, his second wife moving to Santa Fe with him.
Schaefer's novel Monte Walsh was made into a movie in 1970, with Lee Marvin in the title role, and again in 2003 as a TV movie starring Tom Selleck. Shane was also made into a movie and a series.
from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Sch...
Schaefer's first success as a novelist came in 1949 with his memorable novel Shane, set in Wyoming. Few realized that Schaefer himself had never been anywhere near the west. Nevertheless, he continued writing successful westerns, selling his home in Connecticut and moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1955.
In 1975 Schaefer received the Western Literature Association's Distinguished Achievement award.
He died of heart failure in Santa Fe in 1991. Schaefer was married twice, his second wife moving to Santa Fe with him.
Schaefer's novel Monte Walsh was made into a movie in 1970, with Lee Marvin in the title role, and again in 2003 as a TV movie starring Tom Selleck. Shane was also made into a movie and a series.
from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Sch...
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 10, 2017
A book of small domestic stories set in the American West. Larger issues of the old west and Indians and such hover in the background but Schaefer's characters are more concerned with getting haircuts, horses, and what to do with your elderly stubborn relatives.
The first story, Cooter James, is really funny, in part because you can tell where the characters lives are obviously headed even when they can't. In Schaefer's stories, marriage is often something stumbled into by accident.
I love the most ridiculous story, Leander Frailey, where the title character gives his lazy brother a new haircut and shave and it turns him into a respected pillar of society without him even having to change any of his behaviors. Jeremy Rodock is the toughest, most violent story about a man getting revenge over the bad treatment of his horses.
But my favorite is probably The Old Man, a tribute to the wilder roots of the American west in an age of encroaching, and possibly dishonest, civility.
The first story, Cooter James, is really funny, in part because you can tell where the characters lives are obviously headed even when they can't. In Schaefer's stories, marriage is often something stumbled into by accident.
I love the most ridiculous story, Leander Frailey, where the title character gives his lazy brother a new haircut and shave and it turns him into a respected pillar of society without him even having to change any of his behaviors. Jeremy Rodock is the toughest, most violent story about a man getting revenge over the bad treatment of his horses.
But my favorite is probably The Old Man, a tribute to the wilder roots of the American west in an age of encroaching, and possibly dishonest, civility.
Displaying 1 of 1 review