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Education of a Wandering Man--A Memoir by Louis L'Amour, published by Bantam Books, 1989.
One would expect that a memoir by an author as legendary as Louis L’Amour would be instructive and Education of a Wandering Man does not disappoint. We learn how a young man, born in Jamestown, North Dakota, whose primary skill was boxing, leaves high school and sets out on his own to explore the world. He carries nothing except the clothes on his back and what books he can find along the way as he rides freight trains and sails the high seas. His goal, besides earning a living, is educating himself through a rigorous reading program, sometimes reading a hundred books a year. L’Amour kept lists of the books he read on his travels and his low-key commentary on his favorite books is enlightening. In later years, when he could afford it, he built his own library, which, at the time of his death in 1988, contained 17,000 books.
After service with the United States Army in World War II in the European Theatre, L’Amour returned to America onboard the U.S.S. Boise and settled down to become a writer. He concentrated on short stories, and sold over a hundred before writing novels about the American frontier. Being a descendant of pioneer stock, it’s a subject that resonated in his blood. (His great-grandfather was killed and scalped by Sioux warriors.) As a young wanderer, he set out to educate himself about the history of the West by visiting the scenes of legendary gunfights, outlaw hideouts, mining camps, pioneer trails, cliff dwellings, Indian reservations, and interviewing any old-timers willing to “educate” him.
L’Amour, a highly disciplined man, keeps to his theme of “education” throughout his memoir, leaving the reader hungry for tidbits about his personal life and his encounters in the world of writers. But the reader must remember that this is a story about the journey of discovery. We can be grateful that L’Amour achieved his objective. In doing so, he left a huge legacy that will never be forgotten.
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