With These Hands: Stories

by Louis L'Amour

The timeless fiction of Louis L'Amour is both unforgettable and undeniably American, deftly capturing the heroic bravery and intrepid spirit that make this nation great. L’Amour ’s legacy of work remains unparalleled, setting a standard of excellence that few other writers have matched. Now With These Hands pulls together some of L’Amour's very best work—eleven newly rediscovered stories that have never before appeared in a single volume.

From a South Seas island paradise to the icy reaches of the Arctic, from the dark, gritty streets of urban America to the rugged landscape of the untamed West, the stories gathered in With These Hands combine razor-sharp characters with breathtaking action and historic detail. Here are tales of adventure, mystery, passion, suspense, and the Old West as only L’Amour can tell them. The result is a collection that profoundly echoes the highs and lows of the human experience, while proving that life’s most vital moments can occur when and where we least expect them.

All of the classic L’Amour themes are represented: honor, loyalty, and standing up for what’s right despite the odds. These dramatic stories grab hold of the reader with a power and immediacy unsurpassed by any other writer. An exotic island in the Coral Sea is transformed into a tropical nightmare when it’s taken over by a band of hijackers—and only a daredevil pilot can stop their brutal carnage. A former boxer blows the lid off a vicious crime ring—and finds that his worst enemy is not a thug with a gun but his own tenacious curiosity. A down-on-his-luck rancher discovers the key to his own redemption—and desperately hopes that his revelation has not come too late for him to win the one thing he wants most of all. A private eye navigates the twists and turns of a labyrinthine whodunit—and proves that the greatest risk to a man’s honor is his own greed.

The title story " With These Hands" is a powerful tale that celebrates the triumph of the human spirit, as an oil company executive finds himself the sole survivor of an Arctic plane crash. Fighting for his life against the perilous cold and looming starvation, he resists the temptation to surrender to death—only to discover a life-affirming strength he never knew he had.

Vivid in scope and displaying the diverse talents of a master storyteller, the stories in With These Hands are certain to be treasured by both old and new fans, celebrating the incomparable imagination of a timeless American author.

Genres: Westerns, Short Stories, Fiction, Adventure, Action, Historical Fiction, Drama

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Louis Dearborn L'Amour was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels, though he called his work "frontier stories". His most widely known Western fiction works include Last of the Breed, Hondo, Shalako, and the Sackett series. L'Amour also wrote historical fiction (The Walking Drum), science fiction (The Haunted Mesa), non-fiction (Frontier), and poetry and short-story collections. Many of his stories were made into films. His books remain popular and most have gone through multiple printings. At the time of his death, almost all of his 105 existing works (89 novels, 14 short-story collections, and two full-length works of nonfiction) were still in print, and he was "one of the world's most popular writers".

Reviews

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Louis L’Amour is arguably the most well-known scribe of western novels and short stories in human history. But it constantly amazes me how many readers never knew he also wrote in other genres, including adventure, historical, sports, and mystery/crime fiction. This collection of eleven stories features those other genres and I enjoyed them all.

“With These Hands” is the title of the second story but a case can be made for each of the stories having something to do with the protagonist’s hands. Several of them are boxing stories, (an early staple of L’Amour’s pulp career) while others may reference a hand at the wheel of a plane or a merchant vessel in the South China Sea during World War 2. Several of L’Amour’s beloved short story characters make another appearance here, including Kip Morgan, P.I. Neil Shannon, and Turk Maddon. In fact, the last two characters I mentioned see their final outings in this collection. The last story in this collection, “Voyage to Tobalai” is more of a novella and features one of my favorite L’Amour characters outside of the Sacketts, Ponga Jim Mayo, which is also the final story of his ever written and published by Louis L’Amour.

Good stuff here, and another notch marked on my L’Amour completion list which now stands at 101 books complete.

[R.M. Archer]

Had to return this one to the library. L'Amour does more "telling" than I tend to prefer, but his storytelling is good and I enjoy the themes he focuses on. Of the stories I was able to get to, the title story was my favorite. I'd like to check this back out and finish it at some point.

[Allison Tebo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely delicious.

I've only recently discovered a liking for short stories and short fiction and this collection commented my burgeoning affections!

A wonderful collection of stories. Boxing, survival, mysteries and war-time adventure are bound together by several of my favorite themes: Hot-blooded, flag-waving, All-American manly heroes well-endowed with brains, fists and weapons and doing what a man has to do and making no apologies along the way.

But it's not just exciting adventures - Louis L'Amour is a good writer - especially in a more thoughtful Arctic survival story - his beautiful style and descriptions fall like thick snowflakes, blanketing me in a truly lovely rhythm. He was much better, I think, at short fiction than novels. In novels, I felt that L'Amour had a tendency to wander, grow vague and had a tendency to "jump cut." This is the perfect length for L'Amour and clips along at a good, natural flow but is still a complete and intriguing story. Without the superfluous words, L'Amour's style is finally in the proper setting and in fine display.

And of course - the mysteries featuring the 1940s slang was a true highlight for me. It's like a different language and it's like old home week. Growing up on hundreds of black and white movies I am well versed on what "ice," "lettuce," "rods," and "mouthpieces" are. The hilarious 1940s style; equal rights - everyone gets insulted equally - and with incomparable style.

I can't read to read more of Louis L'Amour's short stories. He was a true story teller - and had mastered what many new authors have forgotten.

That we write - to entertain.

[Jason Panella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Proposed alternate title: With These Hands I'm Going to Punch Your Face. I like L'Amour, but I think he thrives in a long-form context, not in short stories.

[Jay Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were 4 or 5 fighter (pugilist) stories. There were a few crime stories thrown in. There were Two Turk Madden stories and one Pungo Jim story included that I had previously read. I rated it a three only due to the fact that I had read half the book in other places. Otherwise the boxing and crime stories are different and I liked them even though some read like Mickey Spillane.

[Bryan H · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoy L'Amour's Western novels. This collection of short stories is repetitive and overly simple. "With These Hands" short story is the best of the bunch. If it were not for the author's famous reputation, I doubt any of these would have been published

[Stephanie Ricker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just finished With These Hands, a collection of stories also by L’Amour. The book opens with a rough-and-tumble boxing story. (I’ll make a confession right now: what little I know of boxing and street fighting, I learned as a very young girl from L’Amour. “Haymaker” and “Liverpool kiss”are probably not in the vocabulary of most eight-year-olds.) I like L’Amours books because in spite of themselves they feel plausible, probably because L’Amour drew from personal experience and his biography reads like one of his own novels. To summarize: He grew up in North Dakota and left home at 15, getting jobs as a seaman, lumberjack, elephant handler, and miner, among other things. He served in WWII, circled the world on a freighter, sailed a dhow on the Red Sea, was shipwrecked in the West Indies, and was stranded in the Mojave Desert. He won 51 out of 59 professional boxing matches, and he was a journalist and lecturer. Somewhere in there he found the time to amass a 10,000-book library, do extensive historical research, and write more than 100 books. He was every bit as colorful as one of his characters, and I can’t offhand think of anyone who lived a fuller life. In some ways I envy the people who lived just as history was turning the corner into modernity. They grew up with horses and buggies and died with space rockets; what must that have been like? But I think it must also have been sad, to see things that you loved changing and going away forever. Life was altering so quickly during that time, sometimes it must have felt as if there was nothing recognizable from your childhood at all. Adventure seemed so much easier to find back then; but perhaps I just haven’t been looking hard enough. : )

[Richard Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A refreshing set of short stories from an author whom I had stereotyped as a writer of Westerns. Now I find that his life included work as a seafarer, WW2 veteran, world traveler, boxer and much more. The man draws on his experiences world-wide to create these glimpses of life, adventure, trials and tribulations and war in short stories that will keep you entranced for many and evening. i fond it best to read and absorb one story at a time, rather than binging on the whole book all at once. My favorite in this compendium is "Voyage to Tobalai" a true to life story of a tranp steamer and her cargo braving the East Indies as the Japanese surge through the area and attempt to pull an ambush on American warships. This is a book to read---set down---cogitate---read---set down---cogitate--- in order to feel the fullness of L'Amour's amazing skills and powers as a writer.

[Harron68 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I reviewed OFF THE MANGROVE COAST recently, so I'll be brief here. Many of the tales are good, tho the prizefighting ones I don't like. We've learned so much since L'Amour was a bare-knuckle fighter in his youth. We understand now, and the fighting ones here are so limited by the sparring, 'one to the wind', 'knocked him for a loop', etc and the determination in the face of permanent brain damage to keep punching simply no longer makes sense today.
For this reason, I can't give the book more than three stars. Times change, people ought to as well.

[Will Plunkett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will admit, perhaps like other readers, that I assumed L'Amour was just a western writer. So when I picked this book from the library shelf, I expected rustlers and six-shooters and lassos and wagons. This was a semi-connected series of short stories that involve... hands doing things (mostly fighting, and untying bonds around wrists and ankles). Great characters, decent dialogue, excellent mysteries and clues in the crime stories.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Louis L'Amour in my opinion was one of the greatest Western Authors to have ever lived, but this collection of short stories are as good as they get, though they are not westerns. I think he wrote a lot of stories about things that actually happened or was inspired by events in his own life. I would recommend this book to anyone. It is good clean reading.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some early L'Amour short stories. Most deal with prize fighters or World War II action. Mostly written for the pulp magazines in the 30s and early 40s. The war interrupted his writing career for several years, but he returned to publishing stories when he returned after the war. He published his first full length novel in 1953, Hondo, which made his mark as a Western writer.

[Keith B · Rating 3 out of 5]

An OK collection of L'Amour stories. I have read them at one time or another separately. Misleading description of the theme behind the collection as each is not a "dramatic tale" of "men and women pushed to the limits of human endurance---and surviving against all odds".

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first of his short stories, and I wasn't all that impressed. Too much of each story seemed to revolve around a fight. The good, manly, moralistic, hero-type takes on the bad guy, the corruption, the evil - etc., etc., etc.

[John Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stories of crime, sports, war, and adventure that only Louis L'Amour could write. They are not westerns, if that's what you're looking for. These are stories of hard boiled detectives, pilots, boxers, and others, thrown into the thick of danger.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories about strong adventurous and tough men in risky situations during war time alternating with stories about the boxing world. Reminded me of TV shows and movies popular in 1960’s. Enjoyable read though.

[Delonna Oskouee · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's all about fighting

And I don't care about uppercuts, left hooks, or stabs to the wind. Mr. L'Amour is still a very good writer, but all of the stories in this book are not why I usually enjoy reading his work.

[Jennifer Robison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me want to drink a scotch, smoke a cigar and play some poker with my friends Big Jim, Ace and Snakes, and I don’t even drink scotch, smoke cigars, know how to play poker or have friends named Big Jim, Ace and Snakes!

[Carrie Cantalupo-Sharp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved half the stories.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good short stories

I really like the stories. This is the second collection that I have read. I do prefer the books, and in particular the westerns more.

[Peter Sidell · Rating 5 out of 5]

an interesting collection. Boxing is feat ured in several. A couple tales of world war two. The title story is an aarctic survival story.

[Oleta Blaylock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good short stories. It is so sad that there will be no more books by Mr. L'Amour. I have read his books since the late seventies. He was one of my Mom's favorite authors. He has been and will be one of the few authors that I have collected all his books.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely not what I expected from name alone. I expected some hoity toity boring romance

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fun collection of adventure and Boxing stories.

[Steve Wall · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of short stories by a very accomplished author.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

EBN25 Category: A short story, novella, or anthology collection.

[Evelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

too many boxing short stories ran together but the other 3 stories were better.

[Brad Erickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Repetitive characters and fights, not much variety.

[Theresa Lange · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn’t put it down!

[Allen Perry · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite style of writing for L’Amour has always been the short story. It’s where his strength really lay. This is a good mix of stories of a variety of sub genres.