The Tom-Walker

A hold, biting novel by the author of Old Jules and Crazy Horse, The Tom-Walker spans three generations in a Midwestern family.

The patriarch, Milt Stone, who lost a leg fighting in Grant's army, is the Tom-Walker, circus slang for man on stilts. After the Civil War he takes his family west to the Missouri country. There he gains a reputation as a raconteur and as a passionate defender of the little man who works hard, fights the wars, and gets squeezed out by powerful interests. He lives ...