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Easterns and Westerns
In his only collection of short fiction, Glendon Swarthout, author of The Shootist, Where the Boys Are , and Bless the Beasts and the Children , reveals in microcosm the heroic and gritty themes that characterized both his novels and films. Stories such as "Mulligans" and "A Glass of Blessings" explore the seedy underbelly of human desire, while "A Horse for Mrs. Custer" quietly celebrates the dedication of men and women who act above and beyond their capabilities during war and upheaval. Although these stories were written over a span of three decades, their themes of generational conflict, hypocrisy, loss, sacrifice, love, and war remain fresh and startling. Alternately funny and uncomfortable, Swarthout captures the postwar tensions of twentieth-century Americans. This collection reveals the versatility, range, and skill of one of America's great storytellers. Easterns and Westerns includes one unpublished novella and thirteen stories, some of which have appeared in national magazines such as Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, and the Saturday Evening Post. One of these, "A Glass of Blessings," was an O'Henry Prize Short Story in 1960. Another, "A Horse for Mrs. Custer," became a 1956 Western film for Columbia Pictures, 7th Cavalry, starring Randolph Scott and Barbara Hale. A third story, "Mulligans," was made into a multiple prize-winning at film festivals short comedy film by his son, Miles, which aired numerous times on the Women's Entertainment cable channel (WE) in 2000-1.
- GenresWesterns
220 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2001
About the author
Glendon Swarthout
51 books100 followersGlendon Fred Swarthout was an American writer. Some of his best known novels were made into films of the same title, Where the Boys Are, The Shootist and They Came To Cordura.
Also wrote under Glendon Fred Swarthout. Twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glendon_...
Also wrote under Glendon Fred Swarthout. Twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glendon_...
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 22, 2019
One of America's great writers
Review of Kindle edition
Publication date: August 20, 2012
Publisher: Michigan State University Press
Language: English
ASIN: B0090RI5TC
If you are looking for westerns in the Louis L'Amour or even the Donald Hamilton vein, look elsewhere. Most of these are very fine stories by an excellent writer, but they are not the usual westerns. My personal opinion is that Swarthout was too commercially successful, particularly in selling his stories and novels to Hollywood, for academia and others who decide what is and isn't great literature. Sometime in the 1970's the Pulitzer committee had gotten down to nominees Deliverance by James Dickey and one of Mr. Swarthout's novels. I think it was, They Came to Cordura. The committee gave no award that year, saying that there was no novel worthy of it. Mr. Swarthout was nominated another year but of course did not win. Read these and discover great literature for yourself. The heck with the intelligentsia and the academics.
I downloaded this book via Kindle Unlimited.
Review of Kindle edition
Publication date: August 20, 2012
Publisher: Michigan State University Press
Language: English
ASIN: B0090RI5TC
If you are looking for westerns in the Louis L'Amour or even the Donald Hamilton vein, look elsewhere. Most of these are very fine stories by an excellent writer, but they are not the usual westerns. My personal opinion is that Swarthout was too commercially successful, particularly in selling his stories and novels to Hollywood, for academia and others who decide what is and isn't great literature. Sometime in the 1970's the Pulitzer committee had gotten down to nominees Deliverance by James Dickey and one of Mr. Swarthout's novels. I think it was, They Came to Cordura. The committee gave no award that year, saying that there was no novel worthy of it. Mr. Swarthout was nominated another year but of course did not win. Read these and discover great literature for yourself. The heck with the intelligentsia and the academics.
I downloaded this book via Kindle Unlimited.
June 19, 2014
Easterns & Westerns is best-selling novelist Glendon Swarthout's very last book and only short story collection.
It includes 13 stories and one unpublished novella, some of which have appeared earlier in national magazines like Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, and the Saturday Evening Post. one of these, "A Glass of Blessings," was an O'Henry Prize short story for 1960. Another, "A Horse For Mrs. Custer," became a 1956 Western film for Columbia Pictures -- 7th Cavalry, starring Randolph Scott and Barbara Hale. A 3rd story, Mulligans!, has been made into a hit short comedy film by the author's son and editor of this volume, Miles Swarthout. Mulligans! stars Tippi Hedren and Marsha Rodd and has played in 40 film festivals around the world and aired numerous times on the Women's Entertainment channel (WE) cable TV channel. But 6 of these short stories have never appeared before in print.
This collection also includes a brief autobiography Glendon wrote, and his short speech to the Western Writers of America upon receiving their Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1991. The author's son, Miles, has written an Afterword covering his father's literary career and placing these stories in the context of Glendon's novels, including the short stories which prefigured two of his most famous novels -- Where The Boys Are and Bless the Beasts & Children.
Glendon Swarthout had the widest literary range of any American author of his generation, writing 16 novels, which ranged from dramas to comedies to romances and mysteries, and another 6 novellas for teenagers with his wife, Kathryn. Many of his novels became international bestsellers and book club selections, reprinted in paperback editions innumerable times. You will find them still in bookstores and libraries all over the world.
Dr. Swarthout's stories have also proven to be quite filmic, as exemplified by the two stories in this volume that have already been filmed. Dip into these varied tales, from dramas to tragedies to laugh-out-loud comedies, about everybody from teenagers in a bloody mess with a bull buffalo on their high school graduation night,to college kids on summer vacation, to middle-aged baseball players in spring training, to aging golf widows on a midnight bender and decide for yourself just how good a storyteller Glendon was, with an amazing range of literary styles and subjects. You're in for a treat, enjoying a fine sampling of fiction by one of the 20th century's very best storytellers.
More information on the writing Swarthouts and descriptions
of their adult novels and YA novellas, plus movie trailers of
the 9 films made from their stories as well as screenplays (originals and adaptations), are posted on their literary website -- www.glendonswarthout.com
Book Reviews --
"The posthumous Easterns and Westerns includes a novella and 13 stories by Glendon Swarthout, author of 16 novels including The Shootist and Where The Boys Are. His darkly humorous "Death To Everybody Over Thirty" tracks a student's guilt and indignation when he returns home for the funeral of a friend killed in Viet Nam. The O'Henry Prize-winning "A Glass of Blessings" finds a group of spoiled college kids drinking their way through Europe on a cruise ship. Spanning more than 30 years, this collection is an excellent introduction to Swarthout, highlighting his remarkable versatility."
Publishers Weekly
"A collection of the only short fiction Glendon Swarthout ever wrote, Easterns and Westerns, illustrates the heroic and gritty themes that characterize Swarthout's longer fiction. My personal favorite is "A Horse For Mrs. Custer," in which the reader sees the disarray of the Seventh Cavalry after the massacre at the Little Big Horn through the eyes of a young officer new to the regiment.
It reveals the division between those who believed Custer to be a hero and those who saw him as a fool and a butcher. It also paints a portrait of a Captain who should have been leading I Troop at the battle but did not.
'On the one hand, he must have hated Custer for sending him away and denying him the chance a soldier seldom has, the chance to die a hero. That part of him must have blamed the General for the disaster, despised him as much as did young Alvin Thadius and many of the recruits. On the other hand, the instinct to survive which is strong in any man must have made him grateful to his commander for having spared his life.'
Each of Swarthout's stories, both those about the East and
those set in the West, are equally stunning in theme and plot.
A wonderful collection, sure to appeal to both Western fans
and general readers."
Doris R. Meredith, the Globe-News, Amarillo, Texas.
It includes 13 stories and one unpublished novella, some of which have appeared earlier in national magazines like Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, and the Saturday Evening Post. one of these, "A Glass of Blessings," was an O'Henry Prize short story for 1960. Another, "A Horse For Mrs. Custer," became a 1956 Western film for Columbia Pictures -- 7th Cavalry, starring Randolph Scott and Barbara Hale. A 3rd story, Mulligans!, has been made into a hit short comedy film by the author's son and editor of this volume, Miles Swarthout. Mulligans! stars Tippi Hedren and Marsha Rodd and has played in 40 film festivals around the world and aired numerous times on the Women's Entertainment channel (WE) cable TV channel. But 6 of these short stories have never appeared before in print.
This collection also includes a brief autobiography Glendon wrote, and his short speech to the Western Writers of America upon receiving their Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1991. The author's son, Miles, has written an Afterword covering his father's literary career and placing these stories in the context of Glendon's novels, including the short stories which prefigured two of his most famous novels -- Where The Boys Are and Bless the Beasts & Children.
Glendon Swarthout had the widest literary range of any American author of his generation, writing 16 novels, which ranged from dramas to comedies to romances and mysteries, and another 6 novellas for teenagers with his wife, Kathryn. Many of his novels became international bestsellers and book club selections, reprinted in paperback editions innumerable times. You will find them still in bookstores and libraries all over the world.
Dr. Swarthout's stories have also proven to be quite filmic, as exemplified by the two stories in this volume that have already been filmed. Dip into these varied tales, from dramas to tragedies to laugh-out-loud comedies, about everybody from teenagers in a bloody mess with a bull buffalo on their high school graduation night,to college kids on summer vacation, to middle-aged baseball players in spring training, to aging golf widows on a midnight bender and decide for yourself just how good a storyteller Glendon was, with an amazing range of literary styles and subjects. You're in for a treat, enjoying a fine sampling of fiction by one of the 20th century's very best storytellers.
More information on the writing Swarthouts and descriptions
of their adult novels and YA novellas, plus movie trailers of
the 9 films made from their stories as well as screenplays (originals and adaptations), are posted on their literary website -- www.glendonswarthout.com
Book Reviews --
"The posthumous Easterns and Westerns includes a novella and 13 stories by Glendon Swarthout, author of 16 novels including The Shootist and Where The Boys Are. His darkly humorous "Death To Everybody Over Thirty" tracks a student's guilt and indignation when he returns home for the funeral of a friend killed in Viet Nam. The O'Henry Prize-winning "A Glass of Blessings" finds a group of spoiled college kids drinking their way through Europe on a cruise ship. Spanning more than 30 years, this collection is an excellent introduction to Swarthout, highlighting his remarkable versatility."
Publishers Weekly
"A collection of the only short fiction Glendon Swarthout ever wrote, Easterns and Westerns, illustrates the heroic and gritty themes that characterize Swarthout's longer fiction. My personal favorite is "A Horse For Mrs. Custer," in which the reader sees the disarray of the Seventh Cavalry after the massacre at the Little Big Horn through the eyes of a young officer new to the regiment.
It reveals the division between those who believed Custer to be a hero and those who saw him as a fool and a butcher. It also paints a portrait of a Captain who should have been leading I Troop at the battle but did not.
'On the one hand, he must have hated Custer for sending him away and denying him the chance a soldier seldom has, the chance to die a hero. That part of him must have blamed the General for the disaster, despised him as much as did young Alvin Thadius and many of the recruits. On the other hand, the instinct to survive which is strong in any man must have made him grateful to his commander for having spared his life.'
Each of Swarthout's stories, both those about the East and
those set in the West, are equally stunning in theme and plot.
A wonderful collection, sure to appeal to both Western fans
and general readers."
Doris R. Meredith, the Globe-News, Amarillo, Texas.
December 28, 2019
Considering the author's novels, these smaller, often unpublished stories are a lopsided collection. Swarthout's son offers some biographical information and analysis at the end, but it doesn't give much weight to anything. Maybe Swarthout wouldn't approve. A few stories are interesting, and one about an aging baseball player and his wife is sharp with entertaining dialogue. There are fewer Westerns than Easterns, as well. Stick with the author's bolder works. One thing to consider, Swarthout spent most of his life in Michigan and Arizona, so the two contrasting environments, as they appear in his writing, are colorful.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews