18 books like The proving trail

What to read after The proving trail — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Flint Louis L'Amour · 1960 · ★ 4.3 · 183p · ≈ 6h · Moderate He left the West at the age of seventeen, leaving behind a rootless past and a bloody trail of violence. In the East he became one of the wealthiest financiers in America--and one of the most feared and hated.Now, suffering from incurable cancer, he has come back to New Mexico to die alone. But when an all-out range war erupts, Flint chooses to help Nancy Kerrigan, a local rancher. A cold-eyed… Shares: Western, Westerns

Riding for the Brand Louis L'Amour · 1985 · 244p · ≈ 8h · Moderate The open West was a land where wanderers could find themselves a home--a home to fight for, to be changed by, sometimes to die for. Jed Ashbury was one such journeyman, taking on the identity of a dead man. Allen Ring was another: he'd won his plot of land in a card game only to find he had to win again with a gun. From a has-been boxer to a ranch hand taking on his bosses' troubles, the… Shares: Western, Westerns

Utah Blaine Louis L'Amour · 1954 · ★ 4.2 · 191p · ≈ 6h · Moderate Colonel Utah Blaine, held captive by the Army of the Revolution, broke out of jail and headed north from Mexico with nothing but the clothes on his back. Then he found new trouble struggling at the end of a noose–and stepped in just in time to save the life of a Texas rancher. The would-be executioners were the rancher’s own men, looking to steal his land. Now Utah has a unique proposition: Have… Shares: Western, Westerns

Rivers West Louis L'Amour · 1974 · ★ 4.1 · 156p · ≈ 5h · Moderate His dream was to build magnificent steamboats to ply the rivers of the American frontier. But when Jean Talon began his journey westward, he stumbled upon a deadly conspiracy involving a young woman’s search to find her missing brother, and a ruthless band of renegades. Led by the brazen Baron Torville, this makeshift army of opportunists is plotting a violent takeover of the Louisiana Territory.… Shares: Western, Westerns

The Trail to Crazy Man Louis L'Amour · 1986 · ★ 4.0 · 340p · ≈ 11h · Moderate A word from Louis L'Amour:"Almost forty years ago, when my fiction was being published exclusively in 'pulp' western magazines, I wrote several novel-length stories, which my editors called 'magazine novels'. In creating them, I became so involved with my characters that their lives were still as much a part of me as I was of them long after the issues in which they appeared became collector's… Shares: Western, Westerns

Tucker William johnstone · 1971 · ★ 2.0 · 185p · ≈ 6h · Moderate If a man won't fight for what is rightly his, then he ain't much account." With this challenge from his dying father, young Shell Tucker rode out after three men who had stolen the twenty thousand dollars his father was carrying. Two of the men he hunted, Doc Sites and Kid Reese, were his friends. Dreaming of adventure, Tucker had wanted to join their gang. But now, with his father gone and the… Shares: Western, Westerns

Kilkenny Louis L'Amour · 1954 · ★ 4.5 · 158p · ≈ 5h · Moderate As part of the Louis L’Amour’s Lost Treasures series, this edition contains exclusive bonus materials!   Kilkenny wasn’t looking for trouble when he entered the Clifton House stage station, but trouble found him when a reckless youngster named Tetlow challenged him, drew his gun, and paid for it with his life. Looking to escape a reputation that he never wanted, Kilkenny settles in the… Shares: Western, Westerns

Matagorda Louis L'Amour · 1967 · ★ 4.1 · 163p · ≈ 5h · Moderate Tap Duvarney lost his innocence in the War Between the States and then put his skills to the test as a soldier in the frontier army. Now he has settled on the Texas coast, working a ranch as the partner of his old friend Tom Kittery--and finding himself in the middle of a feud between Kittery and the neighboring Munson family. Around Matagorda Island, most people are either backing the Munsons or… Shares: Western, Westerns

Rider of the Ruby Hills Louis L'Amour · 1986 · ★ 4.5 · 388p · ≈ 12h · Moderate A WORD FROM LOUIS L’AMOUR “Almost four decades ago, when my fiction was being published exclusively in ‘pulp’ western magazines, I wrote a number of novel-length stories, known back then as ‘magazine novels.’ In creating them, I lived with my characters so closely that their lives were still as much a part of me as I was of them long after the issues in which they appeared went out of print.… Shares: Western, Westerns

The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard Elmore Leonard · 2004 · ★ 4.0 · 545p · ≈ 18h · Moderate No one is more evocative of the dusty, gutsy hey-day of the American West than Elmore Leonard. And no story about a young writer struggling to launch his career ever matched its subject matter better than the tale behind Leonard's Western oeuvre.In 1950, fresh out of college -- having written two "pointless" stories, as he describes them -- Leonard decided he needed to pick a market, a big one,… Shares: Western, Westerns

Buckskin Run Louis L'Amour · 1981 · ★ 4.5 · 175p · ≈ 5h · Moderate A Collection of Short Stories. Louis L'amour, Nuff Said. Shares: Western, Westerns

Sixguns and Double Eagles Ralph Compton · 1998 · ★ 4.0 · 349p · ≈ 11h · Moderate Wes Stone was once a lawman. Then the Sandlin Gang shot down his father, known as The Gunfighter. Swearing vengeance, he takes up his father's guhns. But little does he know that the odds are even more against him than he thinks-and that to get revenge for a dead man, he might have to die himself... Shares: Western, Westerns

The Law at Randado Elmore Leonard · 1955 · 302p · ≈ 10h · Moderate Back in Randado, young deputy sheriff Kirby Frye sets out to bring to justice twelve upstanding citizens who, prompted by hard-drinking and the urgings of wealthy cattle baron Phil Sundeen, have hanged two of Kirby's prisoners behind his back. Shares: Western, Westerns

The Thundering Herd Zane Grey · 1924 · 421p · ≈ 14h · Challenging Great classic western! Subject matter appropriate for ages 12 up. Description: Tom Doan joins the buffalo hunters going into the Southwest’s inhospitable Staked Plain. Seeing huge herds there, he thinks of getting rich off their hides. He proves efficient as a skinner, and what follows is almost a literal baptism in sweat and blood. Fighting the Comanches and Kiowas, some unscrupulous white… Shares: Western, Westerns

Killoe Louis L'Amour · 1962 · ★ 4.2 · 150p · ≈ 5h · Moderate Dan Killoe—over six feet of tough, raw, lightning fast man.  He had a trail heard and a mass of settlers to get across unknown territory to a new land.  Then he gave shelter to a stranger being hunted by Felipe Soto, scar-faced leader of the renegade Comancheros.  This time Killoe was borrowing more trouble than he wanted to handle. Shares: Western, Westerns

Passin' Through Louis L'Amour · 1920 · ★ 4.5 · 196p · ≈ 6h · Challenging It seemed the perfect place to lie low. The owner of the ranch was an attractive gray-haired lady who had once been an actress. The other woman was a beautiful, fragile-seeming blonde. They needed repairs done, and he needed to disappear for a while.The first sign that things were not as they should be was when a Pinkerton man questioned him about a missing woman. Then he accidentally found a… Shares: Western, Westerns

Kilrone Louis L'Amour · 1966 · ★ 4.1 · 154p · ≈ 5h · Moderate When Major Frank Paddock and Barnes Kilrone were dashing young officers in Paris, they both fell in love with the same woman. But now they are men in exile in one of the harshest territories of the American West. It is against this inhospitable backdrop, where survival itself is a day-to-day struggle, that Paddock makes a fateful decision that will plunge both men into a headlong battle for their… Shares: Western, Westerns

Silver Canyon Louis L'Amour · 1957 · 164p · ≈ 5h · Moderate “You’re not wanted in Hattan’s Point,” Matt Brennan was told moments after arriving in town. “There’s trouble here and men are picking sides.” But Matt decided he wasn’t going anywhere. Not until he found out what the dispute was about, and not before he got to know Moira Maclaren. She considered him nothing more than a drifting ranch hand, but Matt was determined to prove her wrong. To do… Shares: Western, Westerns

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