Klasický western Jak se dobýval Divoký západ i jeho slavnou filmovou podobu znají ve světě všichni milovníci dobrodružství, romantiky a historie. Na pozadí historie dobývání amerického středozápadu líčí román osudy rodiny Prescottů a Rawlingsů, potomků newyorských farmářů, kteří se na počátku devatenáctého století rozhodli vydat po řece Ohio do neosídlených končin. Průběh tohoto novodobého stěhování je zachycen v několika etapách - od prvních vyprav do divočiny po řekách, přes období hřmících stád bizonů a divokých rudých nájezdníků a putování v pověstnych vozech krytych plachtami, zlaté horečky a občanské války až k okamžiku, kdy se objevila železnice a divočinu přeťaly ocelové rovnoběžky. A konečně příchodem zákona na konci století byla historie „klasického“ Divokého západu dovršena.

Classic, had never read this one. Going to watch the movie now. ( )

The western expansion of the United States took place over many years but in How The West Was Won, author Louis L’Amour simplifies the story by choosing to describe the growth of one family. Through the Prescott family he is able to cover the era of the mountain man, the early settlers that pushed down the Ohio River, the California Gold Rush and, after the Civil War, the building of the railroad that made the west accessible to everyone and the army’s final solution to the Plains Indian.

In typical Louis L’Amour style, his men are bigger than life and his women are strong and true. The Prescott family bred restless people and each generation seemed to turn West to seek new land. They travelled by raft down the raging Ohio, or by wagon train across the plains. They were smart enough to see that California had more to offer than gold, they put down roots and helped develop the land.

Louis L’Amour excels at action and this book has lots of that. He is not one to develop his characters much beyond identifying who is a hero and who is a villain, but this was a simple, fun page-turner delivered in his straight forward style. Although his books stray from the actual historical facts, he certainly helps to develop and nurture the myth of the American West. ( )

Nowhere near as good as any of his other writings. ( )

Product Description They came by river and by wagon train, braving the endless distances of the Great Plains and the icy passes of the Sierra Nevada. They were men like Linus Rawlings, a restless survivor of Indian country who�d headed east to see the ocean but left his heart—and his home—in the West. They were women like Lilith Prescott, a smart, spirited beauty who fled her family and fell for a gambling man in the midst of a frontier gold boom. These pioneering men and women sowed the seeds of a nation with their courage—and with their blood. Here is the story of how their paths would meet amid the epic struggle against fierce enemies and nature’s cruelty, to win for all time the rich and untamed West. From the Publisher Louis L'Amour's great epic of human courage and endurance, his brave saga of the men and women who pushed relentlessly forward--despite the uncertainties of nature, the wrath of savage enemies, countless dangers and cruel death--to win the wide, shining lands of the rich and untamed West! ( )