Read Online Hell West and Crooked Imprint Tom Cole 9780207166921 Books

Product details Series Imprint Paperback 292 pages Publisher HarperCollins; Reprint edition (June 1, 1994) Language English ISBN-10 0207166927

Hell West and Crooked Imprint Tom Cole 9780207166921 Books Reviews

• I own this book, and other Tom Cole books in soft cover form and love all of them, having read each of them many times. I finally decided I needed to add "Hell West and Crooked" to my library. My only disappointment is that has not made his other books available for the .
  
  Tom Cole was a very good and entertaining writer who lived a life of adventure in the Australian outback. In "Hell West and Crooked" he tells the story of his immigration to Australia at a young age, where he begins a life as a cattle drover. With time, he broke horses, managed cattle stations and became a buffalo hunter. Within the book, he also tells stories of the exploration of Australia along with more notable events in the early 20th century. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the Australian outback and the lifestyle of cattlemen before today's technology.
• This is a memoir, not a work of fiction, and traces the early life of Tom Cole, a 'new chum' who arrived in Australia at 17 and made a life for himself as a drover and horsebreaker. You will find a huge amount of information about horses, droving, buffalo hunting, and generally surviving in the bush. Interspersed with this amazing backdrop of Australia in that era you will also find some baudy stories, a bit of language and a few glimpses into the character of Tom Cole himself. Mostly though, you will find a loving depiction of that bygone Australia.
  
  I can't say this was a page turner, but it did explain a lot about how we Australians see ourselves, and why we liked Crocodile Dundee so much. Well worth reading.
• Very interesting read. Having seen little of Australia I was overwhelmed by the travel distances as described in the book, and on horseback! There are lots of very humorous parts as well, ie... "the animal committed suicide by stepping into the path of my bullet."
• A wonderful tale told by a real story teller. I was reminded of a much earlier time in my life when life was not as complicated as it is today but nevertheless was full of hardship and hard work.It brought to mind a time when friends played a huge part in our lives and even though I think that now it is somewhat diminished, the spirit oh Australian mate ship is alive and well. The tale emphasised the fact that a man's word and handshake was his bond to which he would do his utmost to uphold. I remember these man and indeed have met quite a few of them and whilst on the outside they were hard as nails, on the inside they would do anything for you, particularly should you be experiencing hard ship yourself.
  Donald Ferguson
• Hell West and Crooked derives it's title from an Australian stockman's term to describe cattle and livestock scattered far and wide all over the Outback countryside.
  
  This book is part biography, part adventure, and part history. Tom Cole was the real deal, a son of the great Australian Outback, and a keen observer of what it was like to live in the Northern Territory of Australia in the 1920's and 1930's. It is an easy and entertaining journal of this young man's life in those wild times. He was a stockmen, horse breaker, consummate horseman, buffalo hunter, and crocodile hunter long before Mick Dundee.
  
  Tom Cole's writing style vividly presents what it was like to live on the frontier of a still sparsely populated land even today.
• a VERY GOOD READ OF OLD DAYS Australia
• Well written, very interesting book about the settling of Australia, told by a guy who was there and tried it all. Evidently he kept a journal of his exploits and so takes us along on his adventures.
• Being 1/2 Australian, I really found this book entertaining. It is NOT fiction; some of things described in this book envolved my own Mother and her pearling fleet in Darwin. Those were the days!