The Tom–Walker - Hardcover

Sandoz, M

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080324150X ISBN 13: 9780803241503

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 1984

Synopsis

A hold, biting novel by the author of "Old Jules (BB 100) and Crazy Horse (BB 110)", "The Tom-Walker" spans three generations in a Midwestern family. The patriarch, Milt Stone, who lost a leg fighting in Grant's army, is the Tom-Walker, circus slang for man on stilts. After the Civil War he takes his family west to the Missouri country. There he gains a reputation as a raconteur and as a passionate defender of the little man who works hard, fights the wars, and gets squeezed out by powerful interests. He lives to see his son and grandson fight in World War I and World War II, respectively, and return home from those wars, maimed like him, only to have to resume a fight just to stay alive.Crowded with living characters, "The Tom-Walker" never loses the larger view of American history. From the Gilded Age to the Atomic Age, everybody is 'trying to be either a Jay Gould or a Jesse James, out for easy money, everybody is wanting to be king of something: mines, railroads, cattle, outlaws, anything'. How people like the Stones fare is the story within this story. 'Rich and warm and extravagant and deeply rooted in what her America has been and is' - "New York Herald Tribune Weekly Book Review". 'A vigorous and thoughtful novel' - "New York Times". 'There is a good deal of America in the book, and the narrative teems with violent energy' - "New Yorker".

About this title

Review:

"Rich and warm and extravagant and deeply rooted in what her America has been and is."--New York Herald Tribune Weekly Book Review--New York Herald Tribune Weekly Book Review

"A vigorous and thoughtful novel. "--New York Times--New York Times

"There is a good deal of America in the book, and the narrative teems with violent energy."--New Yorker--New Yorker

From the Back Cover:

The patriarch, Milt Stone, who lost a leg fighting in Grant's army, is the Tom-Walker, circus slang for man on stilts. After the Civil War he takes his family west to the Missouri country. There he gains a reputation as a raconteur and as a passionate defender of the little man who works hard, fights the wars, and gets squeezed out by powerful interests. He lives to see his son and grandson fight in World War I and World War II, respectively, and return home from those wars, maimed like him, only to have to resume a fight just to stay alive.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Publication date: 1984
• ISBN 10: 080324150X
• ISBN 13: 9780803241503
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 372