Louis L'Amour, born on March 22, 1908, in North Dakota, lived a life that sounded like one of his own novels. Before he ever wrote a book, he had already been a cattle skinner, a lumberjack, a fruit picker, a professional boxer, and a sailor who traveled to ports across the world. He dropped out of school at fifteen, but he never stopped learning. He read constantly and educated himself through public libraries wherever he traveled. When he began writing Western novels, he brought his real experiences into every page. His characters were tough, honest people who faced danger with determination. His most popular series followed the Sackett family across multiple generations of American frontier life. L'Amour sold over 330 million copies of his books, making him one of the best-selling authors in history. He wrote 89 novels, 14 short story collections, and two works of nonfiction. The U.S. Congress awarded him the Congressional Gold Medal in 1983. He said every story he wrote was based on something that had really happened, even if he changed names and places. His motto was simple: "There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning."