Honor at Daybreak

by Elmer Kelton

From one of the West's greatest living  storytellers, winner of numerous awards, including the Spur,  the Golden Saddleman, and the Western Heritage  Award, here is Elmer Kelton's magnificent new novel  of the wildcat West Texas oil boom of the 1920s.  It used to be that the worst crime in Caprock was  moonshining or lying about your Saturday night date  on Sunday morning--until someone struck oil. Now  the scent of the stuff has brought every dreamer,  drifter, and two-bit swindler to town. Among them  is the frontier mobster Big Boy Daugherty, who  warns any who'd stand in his Get Out or  Die . One man will do neither. Sheriff  Dave Buckalew is a man too proud to give up and  too stubborn to give in. He liked his town the way  it was--before the bootleggers, brothels, and  fortune-seeking roustabouts--and so did a lot of other  hardworking decent folk. Together they'll fight  to win back their town--and their future. This is  the story of their heroic stand.

Genres: Fiction, Westerns

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Elmer Kelton (1926-2009) was award-winning author of more than forty novels, including The Time It Never Rained, Other Men’s Horses, Texas Standoff and Hard Trail to Follow. He grew up on a ranch near Crane, Texas, and earned a journalism degree from the University of Texas. His first novel, Hot Iron, was published in 1956. Among his awards have been seven Spurs from Western Writers of America and four Western Heritage awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. His novel The Good Old Boys was made into a television film starring Tommy Lee Jones. In addition to his novels, Kelton worked as an agricultural journalist for 42 years. He served in the infantry in World War II. He died in 2009.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/elmerk...

Reviews

[Jeff Dickison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good book by America's best western writer (even L'amour). Honor At Daybreak is set in West Texas during the oil boom of the 1920's. The oil attracts drifters, swindlers and gangsters that quickly make life miserable for the town sheriff, his deputy and good citizens. This story has the ring of authenticity about it that only Kelton can provide. Highly recommended.

[Donna Jo Atwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sheriff Dave Buckalew tries to keep oil boomtown Caprock safe from the predations of Boss Daughtry's gang. Young Slim McIntyre comes into town looking for cowboy work, but he too gets caught up in the search for oil. Set in dusty 1920's Texas, Kelton's book is very true to life.
15.3 a

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took a while for the story to get started in my opinion, but once it was it was a good read. It didn't follow the typical route for resolving the conflict that many westerns would, which makes it all the better.

[Blaze Currie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been watching "Landman," a new series starting Billy Bob Thorton. By recommendation of my mother, I read "Honor at Daybreak," which is about the Texas Oil Boom of the 1920s. Kelton is a fantastic writer of historical fiction. His books are well-researched, and "Honor at Daybreak" is no different. From details about the oil drilling process to the description of oil boom towns, one can get a feel for the time and place of the Texas Oil boom at the turn of the century.

In typical Kelton fashion, the characters are human and relatable. The heroes are common people thrust into uncommon situations caused by technological and economic forces beyond their control. What I found most profound is that in Kelton’s oil boom setting of the 1920s, we see the same archetypes and situations present in the modern-day "Landman" series.

A few of my favorite quotes/excerpts:
------
They were, in the main, men of muscle and will who bent their backs to the labor of the oilfield, asking for little except a chance, dreaming dreams that would come to reality for only a few. And though they often cursed like muleskinners and lived a rough existence in the field, they bowed their heads in reference as the minister said a final prayer for this man of their own, whose life had come down to a plain wooden box in a sandy grave far from the home of his boyhood.

They exemplified the fellowship of the oilfields, like the brotherhood Slim had known among cowboys.

“The strongest women I ever knew came in small packages.”
Choctaw observed, “So does dynamite.”

[Ward G · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one kind of under western transitions.

Texas, as they heyday of the cowboy, and long trail drives.
Changes into the booming oil industry.
California had it's gold rush Texas had black gold.

A very well rounded drama.
Believable cast of characters.
An out of work cowboy, being baptized into working oil fields.
A aging sheriff, longing for more quiet times, in his town.
As life plays out. Organized crime arrives, to try and take control of the town.

A nice rap up, ending, for many of the main characters.
Only thing that maybe kept it from the 5 star rating.
For a western era story. The action seemed to be low key or downplayed.
Some of it more implied by results. With out the telling of the fight.

Still all in all. I very good time piece, and window to that era.
Would recommend it.

[Phil Lyon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kelton deserves all his awards. Plus more.

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wildcatters in Texas.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graphic audio … dramatized

[Sequoyah Branham · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a look at the beginnings of the oil industry!
Knowing what I do about Elmer Kelton’s life I see so much of his unique look on both sides of the event.

The main character is a Cowboy come to a oilfield boom town. His cowboying job doesn’t work out and he finds himself in the oilfield.

There’s the skepticism of the cowman, the determined dreamer of the oilman, and characters of shady reputation to stir the pot!

[Jonathan Briggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I'm glad I didn't doze off and just now wake up. I'd think I'd died and gone to hell." Welcome to Texas during the oil boom of the 1920s. The town of Caprock used to be a sleepy little ranching community til it was overrun by company men and wildcatters all drinking each other's milkshake. With the development comes vice. Sheriff Dave Buckalew (rhymes with buckaroo) has been disapproving but tolerant of the bootlegging and prostitution, but crime boss Big Boy Daugherty has plans to take his operations to the next, more violent level. Buckalew is urged to call in the Rangers, but he balks at the idea coz those tough ol' boys have a tendency to shoot up the place. So his backup consists of a real Barney of a deputy, an out-of-place cowhand, a few whores and a handful of townspeople. Kelton writes solidly but safely within the boundaries of the Western genre, blazing no new trails. His good guys are good, and his bad guys are bad, and it's not real hard to tell the difference. "Honor" reads like Louis L'Amour modernized with a dash of PG-rated sex and profanity. If you like Westerns, this one's fine. And if you don't like Westerns, weeeeeellllll, you're just a big girl, aren'cha?

[Megargee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Award winning Western writer Elmer Kelton draws on his childhood memories of oil boomtowns in West Texas in this authentic novel. It is ca. 1925. Model Ts are replacing horses and oil has been discovered in the sunbaked cowtown of Caprock. The population expands exponentially as wildcatters and oil companies sink numerous wells (and dry holes). Drillers, roustabouts and tool handlers overwhelm the town. Sheriff Dave Buckalew tries to keep the peace, chaining drunks and other trouble makers to a large tree when the jail is full and treating the brothels and bootleggers with benign neglect as long as they behave themselves. But when an organized band of cutthroats come to town and start shaking down the various businesses, both licit and illicit, he has more than he can handle on his own.

[Rosemary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written with the authority of deep roots in West Texas soil, Elmer Kelton had relatives in the oil boom as well as ranchers. You can see, hear, feel and smell this story.
I have probably been to the very location of this story, but there actually is a Caprock, Texas.......but it is a good ways north and east in location and is a small cotton-gin town. The name of Underwood is in many West Texas phone books, and there is a Daugherty, Texas even farther northeast of Caprock, Texas.
Both my husband and his father are now dead, but my father-in-law and his brothers and father helped bring in the first oil for Glenn Pool in Oklahoma. My mother-in-law's sister married mister Pool's son.

[Emily Cottle · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Honor at Daybreak” was fairly entertaining, though it dragged in some places. I really liked the use of multiple narrators. These narrators interacted throughout the story, but their actual plot lines didn’t converge until the end. The ending, while satisfying, felt a little too easy; everything just fell into place for the characters. Not bad, but it didn’t keep me glued to the pages.

[Drew]

Honor at Daybreak by Elmer Kelton (1992)

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

not much of a story for me and no real characters. but I am glad I read it???????

[Kristi]

Read in paperback from Marv...good

[Carla Lovell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super corny but good clean read. I enjoyed it!