The Good Old Boys and The Smiling Country

Reviews

Praise for Elmer Kelton:

“One of the best of a new breed of Western writers who have driven the genre into new territory.” —The New York Times

“Kelton is a genuine craftsman with an ear for dialogue and, more importantly, an understanding of the human heart.” —Booklist

“The Smiling Country is a superb Kelton—a warm, nonviolent tale with captivating characters, a sweet love story, the flavor of a better time that has sadly passed.” —Rocky Mountain News

“You can never go wrong if you…pick up a title by Elmer Kelton. In…The Smiling Country, the guarantee is as good as gold. . . . Kelton’s characters jump off the page, they are so real. This is another fine title from the man named the Greatest Western Writer of All Time in a 1995 survey by the Western Writers of America.” —American Cowboy

About the Author

Elmer Kelton (1926-2009) was the 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 were 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.

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