Open Range

By: Lauran Paine

Narrated by: Barrett Whitener

Now a Major Motion Picture Starring Kevin Costner

The open range men are free-grazing cattlemen, those who don't own land but drive their stock through the country to graze. Boss Spearman knows that times are changing. Local ranchers are staking claims to grazing areas and building up extensive cattle empires. Boss has no quarrel with that, but he won't be intimidated or scared off. So when Denton Baxter makes it clear, by killing one man and seriously wounding another, that he intends to drive Boss and his crew out, Boss must make a stand. But getting justice is not going to be easy. Baxter practically owns Marshall Poole, and the townsfolk have no use for free grazers. Boss' only hope is the circuit-riding judge, if he can stay alive until he arrives.

©1990 Lauran Paine (P)2003 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"[Lauran Paine is] the best in the business." (Kirkus Reviews)
"A gripping tale of human greed and the fight for survival...superbly narrated by Barrett Whitener." (Library Bookwatch)

Original novel

The screenplay for this book is similar, but some plot details are different. I expected the movie, but the Novel is just as good. The story was changed just a bit here and there. It’s a fine read, and I recommend it. The reader was excellent, and I really appreciated his voice and genuine accent.

Good as any Western I have ever read- and I have read many!

I have only read Louis L’Amour books until reading this one and I have to say Open Range is as good as any Mr. L’Amour wrote! It is a easy Five Star book!

Outstanding

This is one of my top two westerns of all time, this book and Monte Walsh. The characters are strongly drawn, the language is music, and the world of the book is so different from most westerns, it has a certain dense, gritty atmosphere that is very original. It is a literary novel. The reader is just incredible as well.

A great Western. . .

Having seen the movie with its several fine actors, I was favorably inclined before I read this little saga, but it has a power and presence of its own. OPEN RANGE has a written charm that puts it on an Elmer Kelton vein; I recommend it to those who like pragmatic dialogue and description that evokes the mental scene. Worth a read that inspires a daydream into the past West. If that doesn't work, then, there is always the movie, that is built around the fabulous Robert Duvall.

Slightly different from the movie . . .

. . . but still a great story. The reader has the voice down pat and his performance was excellent.