Bendigo Shafter (Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures) - A Novel

This was an excellent book and one that really grabbed your attention & kept it all the way through the book.
I really like Bendigo as he was a very ordinary, but thoughtful, wise and caring individual. It was a great book!!!!!
I will read it many times over as I do many of Louis L'Amour's books.

Love Louis! His books are like putting on a comfortable pair of boots. Enjoyable reading. This is the second time I've read Bendigo and it was just as good this time. I still want to be like him when I grow up.

When he is eighteen years old, the title character and a handful of other travellers in a waggon train stop along the trail on their journey westward and create a town. The novel tells the story of both Bendigo and the town as they mature.

I first read this novel when I was sixteen and it immediately became a favourite. It is a well-crafted story that contains action, some romance, and insight into what makes a town and what makes a man. When I first read this, I gained quite some insight and perspective on life. I re-read it every few years and as I age and gain different experiences, different parts of the novel stand out and I learn something new with each reading.

One last thing that makes this (and other L’amour novels) great is that he wrote about places he knew and that shows in his vivid, detailed, and poetic descriptions of the setting.

I highly recommend this book. It is a fantastic western, but also a great novel.

When he is eighteen years old, the title character and a handful of other travellers in a waggon train stop along the trail on their journey westward and create a town. The novel tells the story of both Bendigo and the town as they mature.

I first read this novel when I was sixteen and it immediately became a favourite. It is a well-crafted story that contains action, some romance, and insight into what makes a town and what makes a man. When I first read this, I gained quite some insight and perspective on life. I re-read it every few years and as I age and gain different experiences, different parts of the novel stand out and I learn something new with each reading.

One last thing that makes this (and other L’amour novels) great is that he wrote about places he knew and that shows in his vivid, detailed, and poetic descriptions of the setting.

I highly recommend this book. It is a fantastic western, but also a great novel.

I read Bendigo Shafter and enjoyed it because it was so different from L'Amour's other books. But unfortunately the publisher's deadlines were strict on him, as always, so there were a few holes in it, as in a couple of bad guys that just up and disappeared, etc. I do have to say that I took that other reviewer's advice and tried out Kirby Jonas, "The New Louis L'Amour," and it was great. It's obvious he has more time on his hands to make sure he ties up the loose ends. Bendigo Shafter was a very enjoyable book, but I'm leaning toward the authenticty of Kirby Jonas.

If Louis L'Amour had stuck with just writing "westerns" and not gone into writing "sagas" I believe he would have gotten even larger in the publishing business. These "sagas" expound too largely and blatantly his personal opinions on subjects which, if he had more subtlely written about, definitely would have made him more easier to read and accept. Bendigo Shafter is bigger than life, and one might have suspected how this book would be written by reading L'Amour's preface and dedication: "To the hard-shelled men who built with nerve and hand that which the soft-bellied latecomers call the 'western myth'. If you really want "true" westerns then you need to read Luke Short or William MacLeod Raine or for romances of the west, Zane Grey. Louis L'Amour may have covered every bit of ground on which he sat his novels, but his opinions too often got in the way of good prose and good story telling.

This is another good story by Louis Lamour. I enjoyed how he developed his characters. I really enjoyed the characters of t historical Indians. I wished he would have extended the story a little to develop Ben later in his life , maybe his political environment.

For those of you familiar with Louis L'Amour, you'll find this book a fun and adventurous read - as most of his are. It doesn't stray from L'Amour's style or his normal writing, which ofcourse is what makes this a great read.

I recommend this book for anyone interested in learning about the old West, who like adventure and romance.

I just finished Bendigo Shafter for probably the fourth time and felt compelled to tell everyone what a great book it is. The characters are so real they are like friends, and Louis L'Amour wrote a great classic with this one. If you like Bendigo Shafter, you will also like Kirby Jonas's LEGEND OF THE TUMBLEWEED. They call Kirby Jonas the New Louis L'Amour, and I think the two of them could conquer the western novel world!

The book was very good.The characters sounded so lifelike. I thought that it would drag but it didn't.There is no doubt that it is a good book.The book was based on an old western tale.Bendigo Shafter is the main character.It was a good book.

Ben Shafter is one of the best characters in literature, in my opinion. His story is fascinating, engaging and believable for those who love westerns and those who have just become interested in the genre. If you aren't left wishing you had a large plot of land, a wood cabin built by your own two hands and small group of people to share it with, you missed the point of the book! Buy it, enjoy it, and go take a long walk through the woods or mountains and imagine what it must have been like to travel west into unknown territory.