Best Selling Books by Walter D. Edmonds

Dygartsbush, New York, in the year 1778—smoke rising from lonely cabins, but not the fragrant smoke of cookfires, welcoming the men home from clearing, forest and trail. It was the bitter smoke of charred logs, smoldering in heaps which that morning had been the homes of the settlers—perhaps also the unspeakable smoke of burning flesh, for more than one hundred perished in the flames after his scalp was safely tucked in a raider’s belt. Few men were taken as captives—the women and old children plodded the long trail back to the villages of the Senecas. This is their story, told by the author of Drums Along the Mohawk. It is a story out of New York State History, in which the tales of Walter Edmonds are always steeped. It is a story of Indians—real Indians who are impersonally cruel, simple and friendly, wise, brutal, sly, kind, proud, self-effacing, laughter-loving. It is a story of a woman’s steadfastness in the face of not only mortal danger but of the loss of all that had given her pride and confidence in living.

These are the memoirs, told in a series of vignettes, of the well-known author''s childhood, spent between a big house on West 11th Street, New York and a thousand-acre summer place in the foothills of the Adirondacks. What emerges is a portrait of an overbearing father and a dutiful son.

A Newbery Medal Winner In 1756, New York State was still a British colony, and the French and the Indians were constant threats to Edward and his family. When his father was called away to watch for a raid from the north, only Edward was left to protect Mama and little Trudy. His father had shown him how to use the huge matchlock gun, an old Spanish gun that was twice as long as he was, but would Edward be able to handle it if trouble actually came? This classic, first published in 1941, has an updated, kid-friendly format that includes the original black-and-white illustrations.

The bestselling novel behind John Ford’s acclaimed film starring Claudette Colbert, Henry Fonda, and Edna May Oliver. When newlyweds Gilbert and Lana Martin settle in the Mohawk Valley in 1776, they work tirelessly against the elements to build a new life. But even as they clear land and till soil to establish their farm, the shots of the Revolutionary War become a rallying cry for both the loyalists and the patriots. Soon, Gil and Lana see their neighbors choose sides against each other—as British and Iroquois forces storm the valley, targeting anyone who supports the revolution. Originally published in 1936, this classic novel was a bestseller for two years—second only to Gone with the Wind—and was adapted into a motion picture in 1939. Now, some three-quarters of a century later, Drums Along the Mohawk stands as a brilliant account of the majesty of the New York frontier, the timeless rhythms that shape a marriage, and the battles of a revolution that would change the world. Foreword by Diana Gabaldon Vintage Movie Classics spotlights classic films that have stood the test of time, now rediscovered through the publication of the novels on which they were based.

Edmund Wilson felt this collection of twenty-four stories, originally published in 1934, contains some of Walter Edmonds'' best work. The Atlantic Monthly wrote that "Upstate New York has provided Edmonds with an inexhaustible store of characters one would like to know." A number of the stories were award-winning and appeared in such collections as Best Stories of 1929 and The O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories. "Black Wolf," The End of the Towpath," Death of Red Peril"—these and ochers faithfully depict an era and region for which Edmonds became chief literary spokesman. Episodic and anecdotal, they catch in various ways something of the nuances of real life as it was in the days when the Erie Canal offered a passage west for many travelers and settlers and a livelihood for many more.

Tom Dolan is an impoverished youth who lives in upstate New York with his mother and two sisters. Set in the early part of this century, the story concerns young Tom''s fascination with Bert Breen''s barn, a huge structure that looms on the landscape, long ago deserted and uninhabited, and the mystery of Bert Breen''s ''''treasure," a large sum of money rumored to have been buried on the barn grounds. Tom gets the idea into his head that he would like to buy the barn some day and move it down to his own family''s land, some seven miles away. The story builds to an exciting conclusion with the reconstruction of the entire barn and a sudden and unexpected answer to young Tom''s dreams.

They Fought With What They Had, first published in 1951, is the authoritative account of the U.S. Army Air Forces in the Philippines and on Java (Indonesia) in late 1941 and 1942. Unprepared for the Japanese onslaught, American forces had to fight with what little they had in terms of functioning aircraft, adequate munitions and replacement parts, and limited manpower. In the face of these overwhelming odds, however, a valiant effort was made to resist the Japanese invaders, which served to buy time for the fresh troops and new equipment that would soon flow into the region. Author Walter Edmonds does a masterful job of incorporating army reports and hundreds of interviews conducted with the combatants into this comprehensive, highly readable account of U.S. Army Air Forces in the south Pacific at the start of World War II. Illustrated with maps. Author Walter Edmonds (1903-1998) was best known for his historical novels including Drums Along the Mohawk, published in 1936.

This is a children''s story about the field mice who yearly leave the meadow to go house for the winter. This year Smalleata falls in love with Raffles, a house mouse, and an ultimately approved and celebrated mixed-marriage follows.