Book cover of Welcome to Hard Times

Book description

Here is E. L. Doctorow’s debut novel, a searing allegory of frontier life that sets the stage for his subsequent classics.

Hard Times is the name of a town in the barren hills of the Dakota Territory. To this town there comes one day one of the reckless sociopaths who…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Welcome to Hard Times as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Welcome to Hard Times is a shorter novel. It is of the length of the classic western that was popular at the time that this novel came out (1960). This novel is sometimes described as an anti-western or an ironic western, as it takes a non-heroic view of people dealing with evil in a frontier town. It was made into a movie by the same title, but the movie is not well known. The novel is similar in tone to the movie McCabe and Mrs. Miller, which some people do not like because of its non-heroic or skeptical tone.…

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Book cover of War and Preservation

War and Preservation by Karen Lynne Klink,

In the throes of the Civil War, Adrien Villere joins Terry's Texas Rangers to safeguard his East Texas home and protect the reputation of his love, Lily Hart.

As war unfolds, Adrien grapples with forbidden love, ethical dilemmas, and the harsh treatment of the enslaved, culminating in a poignant realization…

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