Most Popular Books by Jack Schaefer

Rediscover the golden age of the Western with this collection of four unforgettable novels of honor, adventure, and violence set against the magnificent landscapes of the American frontier The heroic exploits and violent struggles of the Old West come alive once more through this one-of-a-kind collection of four thrilling novels. Edited by Ron Hansen, this deluxe hardcover edition shows that the 1940s and 1950s was a golden age for the Western novel. In the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Ox-Bow Incident, Walter van Tilburg Clark explores the thin line between civilization and barbarism through the story of a lynch mob that targets three innocent men, exposing a dark authoritarian impulse at work the American frontier. Set in Wyoming in 1889, a time when ranchers and cattle companies waged war with each other, Jack Schaefer''s iconic Shane deploys many of the genre''s most essential elements, brilliantly filtered through a boy''s perceptions. Alan Le May''s The Searchers, the basis for John Ford''s cinematic masterpiece starring John Wayne, follows the dogged quest of two men to rescue a young girl taken prisoner by Comanche warriors. And Oakley Hall''s Warlock, a novel that anticipates the later books of Cormac McCarthy and Larry McMurtry, casts the battle for control of a southwestern outpost as a bloody saga pitting a marauding gang of cowboys and rustlers against the town''s defenders, led by the legendary gunslinger Clay Blaisedell. All four novels were memorably adapted for the screen, and their gripping stories--told with brisk narrative energy, psychological depth, and laconic humor--have contributed unforgettably to the Western''s enduring legacy in American culture.

This work is the first complete translation of the Morning and Evening Altar Recitations, 玄門早晚壇功課經 (Xuanmen zaowan tan gongke jing) also known as "The Gongke". The Gongke is the collection of liturgical scriptures recited at the altar at every Quanzhen Daoist Temple. These recitations occur in the early morning and in the evening, and can be as simple as a sole chanter or as complicated as the entire body of resident monks and nuns. There can be a simple accompaniment of a wooden fish bell, or the ornate accompaniment of the Daoist orchestra. Whether simple or complex, at the heart of these performances is the text itself. The corpus of texts is a fascinating journey through Daoist doctrine and practice. Prayers of purification, hagiographies of special deities, prayers of commitment, cosmology, meditation, theory, and much more all converge in this collection. It can be said that this is a pocket sized or mini Daoist Canon. Josh and Jack set about translating this as a response to a deep need to connect to the tradition and the most common practices as experienced in daily life at the temples. As Daoism continues to take root in the West, it is becoming more mature in its presence. The relationship to lineages in China is becoming the new norm. As such, there is a need to align with those practices that describe traditional lineage Daoism. The Gongke, and its recitation, is one such defining text. By having access to the translation and the original Chinese and pinyin pronunciation (all provided in this book), the English speaking person can now engage and understand this practice and the textual depth and meaning within.

Ce court roman (1946), considéré comme le modèle absolu du "western" en littérature, traduit en une trentaine de langues, n''avait fait l''objet en français que d''une adaptation " pour la jeunesse " (en 1953, au moment où sortait sur les écrans l''Homme des vallées perdues, le film tiré du livre). L''action - décrite à travers le regard d''un gamin - a la force et la netteté d''une épure. Un cavalier inconnu fait halte l''espace d''un saison (l''été de 1889) dans une ferme du Wyoming. Il est le seul homme du coin à ne pas porter de revolver, et cela se remarque. Sommé de prendre parti dans la sale guerre qui oppose petits fermiers et gros éleveurs, il paraît d''abord vouloir éluder l''affrontement et n''est pas loin de passer pour un lâche... jusqu''à ce que poussé, poussé dans ses retranchements, il se décide enfin à montrer au monde qu''il sait aussi se servir d''une arme. Une balle, une seule, lui suffira. Tout le livre, d''un exemplaire dépouillement, est à l''image de cette conclusion : rien n''est jamais dit, mais la force de suggestion est telle qu''on est soi-même comme empêché de respirer au long de ces pages où plane une indicible menace. Aucun mot plus haut que l''autre, et pourtant un récit d''un romanisme absolu. "Inoubliable!" avait clamé le critique du Chicago Tribune à la sortie du roman, avant que la glose universitaire ne s''empare de cette œuvre aussi lisse qu''un caillou (l''une des plus commentées de la littérature de l''Ouest) et n''en fasse ce qu''elle était de toute façon destinée à devenir: un classique.

Classic stories of the old West, this collection includes Shane, Cooter James, The Coup of Long Lance, That Mark Horse, Jacob, and Harvey Kendall.