Old Books by Dead Guys: Westerns by Elmore Leonard (Library of America)

Friday, June 26, 2026

Westerns by Elmore Leonard (Library of America)

The modern master of the genre

The Library of America is a nonprofit publisher that puts out authoritative hardcover editions of works by American authors, essentially establishing a “canon” of American literature. They began with reliable classic old books by dead guys—Melville, Twain, London, Emerson, and so on—but over time have expanded into collections of more recent authors’ writings, with mixed results. Some of their choices are not exactly canon-worthy, but one American author who certainly does deserve a spot in the LOA pantheon is Elmore Leonard (1925–2013). The Library of America has published four volumes of Leonard’s work. Three are devoted to his crime novels; the fourth and most recent volume, entitled Westerns, was published in 2018.

Leonard is best known for his crime fiction and thrillers, but he originally began his literary career writing Western stories for pulp fiction magazines. His Western fiction, however, is more than just standard Wild West adventure literature. Leonard has consistently demonstrated himself to be one of the all-time masters of the Western genre. This volume from the Library of America includes four near-perfect Western novels: Last Stand at Saber River (1959), Hombre (1961), Valdez Is Coming (1970), and Forty Lashes Less One (1972). One thing notable about these novels is that three out of the four feature Native American, Latino, and Black protagonists that are handled in a realistic and sympathetic manner that unfortunately was not the norm for 1960s and ‘70s Westerns.

The novels are followed by eight of Leonard’s short stories, all of them quite good. Leonard set most of his Western stories in Arizona. They tend to be situational thrillers involving good folks persecuted by hostile Apaches, cattle rustlers, bandits, or corrupt land barons. The best of the short stories presented here is “The Tonto Woman,” which is also the latest selection, from 1982. The rest were originally published in the 1950s. As is usual for the Library of America, this book also provides a chronology of the author’s life and career, which in this case amounts to a detailed, comprehensive biographical sketch of Leonard.

Leonard’s body of work has been the basis for many film adaptations. Hombre (1967), directed by Martin Ritt and starring Paul Newman, and 3:10 to Yuma (1957), directed by Delmer Daves and starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin, are two excellent Western film classics. The latter was remade fifty years later with Russel Crowe and Christian Bale in the lead roles. Valdez Is Coming was also adapted into a 1971 film starring Burt Lancaster. Last Stand at Saber River became a made for TV production starring Tom Selleck (1997). Director Quentin Tarantino bought the rights to Forty Lashes Less One but hasn’t done anything with it. Leonard’s story “The Captives” was also made into a great movie entitled The Tall T (1957) starring Randolph Scott. “The Tonto Woman” was adapted into a short film (2008) that garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Live Action Short. Not all of these films are masterpieces, but they’re all well worth a watch. I cite them here as evidence of Leonard’s prominent and enduring influence on the genre.

Even readers who don’t typically like Westerns may still enjoy Leonard’s suspenseful plots and clever dialogue. His writings have an appeal that transcends genre boundaries. If you liked Get Shorty or Justified, you might very well like this as well. The only Western book I can think of that’s comparable in literary merit and entertainment value to Leonard’s novels is Charles Portis’s True Grit. If you like Westerns, then you should definitely check out Leonard’s work, and if you’re going to buy a paper hard copy edition, why not get this top-notch volume from the Library of America? They do hardcovers right.

Novels included in this volume
(all previously reviewed at Old Books by Dead Guys)