Guns of the Palmetto Plains (Cracker Western) - Hardcover

Tonyan, Rick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1561640611 ISBN 13: 9781561640614

Publisher: Pineapple Press, 1994

Synopsis

Cracker Westerns are rip-roarin, action-packed, can't-put-'em-down tales set in the frontier days of Florida. They are full of adventure, real heroes, and vivid, authentic details that bring Florida's history to life.

Tree Hooker will take on anything—man, animal, or force of nature—that stands in the way of his cattle drives during the Civil War. He's a Confederate soldier trying to save his country from starvation. Assigned to lead a group of tough, sun-baked cow hunters, he sets out to supply the South with beef from the herds on Florida's plains. Plenty of others also want those herds. There are the Yankees, led by men like Major Dan Greenley. He's tired of the war and knows that it will end quickly once the Confederacy runs out of food. Greenley is new to Florida and still believes in fighting by the rules of civilized warfare. But he's also a fast learner. He soon realizes that there is no such thing as civilized warfare in the palmetto scrub. A few people try to keep their humanity despite being surrounded by the horrors of war. Doris Brava is one of those. A young widow surviving on her own in Yankee-occupied St. Augustine, she finds hope and love in an unlikely place—Greenley's arms. But hope and love can't shield Doris from the savagery that rules on the palmetto plains.

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About this title

About the Author:

Rick Tonyan learned to ride and use a whip about the same time he learned to walk. A graduate of the University of Florida and a veteran of the U.S. Navy, he spent 17 years as a reporter for the Orlando Sentinel before turning to fiction.

Review:

Guns of the Palmetto Plains plunges the reader into the last agonizing years of the Civil War. Cattle from the Florida plains are needed to save a desperate South from starvation. But quicksand and snake-filled swamps, Yankee raiders, and vicious outlaws block the trails between Florida and the rest of the Confederacy. Men like Tree Hooker, tough as alligator hid and quick with gun, knife, or whip, take on the job of driving the herds. Then there are men like Union Major Dan Greenley who set the palmetto plains ablaze to stop the cattle drives. And there are women like Doris Brava, whose St. Augustine home is Greenley's haven from the hell of war. She is ready to die for a lover who should be her enemy. But, before anyone can put aside hatreds bred by years of conflict, everyone must reckon with the Brockton clan, renegades who are happy to sell their gunslinging to either the North or South and see the war as only a good excuse for murder -- or worse! -- Midwest Book Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Pineapple Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 1561640611
• ISBN 13: 9781561640614
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 405