Sandhills Boy: The Winding Trail of a Texas Writer
Writing with a perpetual wink, the most beloved western writer alive recounts his own story of growing up in Depression-era west Texas, the son of a hardworking cowboy who could "squeeze a nickel until the Indian rode the buffalo." It was evident early that young Elmer made a poor cowboy, prompting an inferiority complex noticeable even in this memoir. What results is a book more about the people who surrounded the nearly egoless Kelton--many of whom would eventually be transformed into characters in his fiction--from the ranches of Texas to a relatively peaceful stint in WWII Europe, where he met his Austrian bride, to his work as an agricultural journalist. He spends no more than a handful of pages glossing over his celebrated writing career, noting merely that he was grateful to have had a chance to hone his craft before the pulps died out and that he never did really know if his father approved. Although not terribly revealing, this rambling, anecdotal memoir will still be of interest to fans of traditional western fiction.Ian ChipmanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved