Declare Epithetical Books Rifles for Watie
| Title | : | Rifles for Watie |
| Author | : | Harold Keith |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 352 pages |
| Published | : | September 25th 1987 by HarperTeen (first published 1957) |
| Categories | : | Historical. Historical Fiction. Young Adult. Fiction. Military History. Civil War |
Harold Keith
Paperback | Pages: 352 pages Rating: 3.91 | 9556 Users | 480 Reviews
Commentary Conducive To Books Rifles for Watie
Jeff Bussey walked briskly up the rutted wagon road toward Fort Leavenworth on his way to join the Union volunteers. It was 1861 in Linn County, Kansas, and Jeff was elated at the prospect of fighting for the North at last. In the Indian country south of Kansas there was dread in the air; and the name, Stand Watie, was on every tongue. A hero to the rebel, a devil to the Union man, Stand Watie led the Cherokee Indian Nation fearlessly and successfully on savage raids behind the Union lines. Jeff came to know the Watie men only too well. He was probably the only soldier in the West to see the Civil War from both sides and live to tell about it. Amid the roar of cannon and the swish of flying grape, Jeff learned what it meant to fight in battle. He learned how it felt never to have enough to eat, to forage for his food or starve. He saw the green fields of Kansas and Okla-homa laid waste by Watie's raiding parties, homes gutted, precious corn deliberately uprooted. He marched endlessly across parched, hot land, through mud and slashing rain, always hungry, always dirty and dog-tired. And, Jeff, plain-spoken and honest, made friends and enemies. The friends were strong men like Noah Babbitt, the itinerant printer who once walked from Topeka to Galveston to see the magnolias in bloom; boys like Jimmy Lear, too young to carry a gun but old enough to give up his life at Cane Hill; ugly, big-eared Heifer, who made the best sourdough biscuits in the Choctaw country; and beautiful Lucy Washbourne, rebel to the marrow and proud of it. The enemies were men of another breed - hard-bitten Captain Clardy for one, a cruel officer with hatred for Jeff in his eyes and a dark secret on his soul. This is a rich and sweeping novel-rich in its panorama of history; in its details so clear that the reader never doubts for a moment that he is there; in its dozens of different people, each one fully realized and wholly recognizable. It is a story of a lesser -- known part of the Civil War, the Western campaign, a part different in its issues and its problems, and fought with a different savagery. Inexorably it moves to a dramatic climax, evoking a brilliant picture of a war and the men of both sides who fought in it.Details Books Toward Rifles for Watie
| Original Title: | Rifles for Watie |
| ISBN: | 006447030X (ISBN13: 9780064470308) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | Kansas(United States) Oklahoma(United States) |
| Literary Awards: | Newbery Medal (1958), Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee (1959) |
Rating Epithetical Books Rifles for Watie
Ratings: 3.91 From 9556 Users | 480 ReviewsAppraise Epithetical Books Rifles for Watie
There are few reasons why I wanted to read this book. One, it was highly recommended to me by my sister. Two, is historical fiction (about the civil war). And three, it is based in the mid-west which is mostly ignored during the civil war, except when they mention "Bloody Kansas" for one paragraph in the textbooks. It was a bit long and it took me a while to read but it was well worth it. Hoping to prove himself and defend his home Jeff leaves to enlist as a soldier in the Union Army. He hasThis was a really good story, very entertaining, and I will not lie, I enjoyed most of it. But it was very negatively biased against the confederates. Also, there was an over-dramatic, over-descriptive and unnecessary romance.
CleanlinessChildren's Bad WordsMild Obscenities - 50 Incidents: corn, by jack, shut up, jeepers, darn, darned, dad-gummed, cripes, shucks, stupid, shoot, dang, gosh, gallinippers, heck, h*ll (once)Name Calling - 21 Incidents: chronic croakers, Free State scum, n*ggers (three times), dom (dumb), big lout, fool, Yankee swine, Yankee liar, foot-sloggers, Buttermilk Rangers, crazy dumb, cowardly swine, stupid, bugger, gray devils, bl**dy-minded shikepokesScatological Terms - 7 Incidents: bl**dy (as
I recalled once reading Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith when I was a kid probably over my summer vacation. I believed I had enjoyed the experience, so I decided to have another go at it now and hope the historical novel written for teens still holds up. I am happy to report Rifles for Watie still turns my crank. The author Keith had a wonderful knack for turning descriptive phrases of the landscape, battle scenes, and soldiers' camp life. His protagonist of Jeff Bussey from Linn County, Kansas,
Newbery Winner 1958This is an exceptionally well written novel. It is the story of a 16-year-old farmer's boy who joins the Union Army after his family survives a brush with Missourian Bushwackers. In preparing for this novel Harold Keith had done an enormous amount of research and even interviewed veterans of the Civil War in the 1940s. In an effortless style he weaves into the narrative a tremendous amount of historical detail. The story is also very realistic in its depictions of the
Okay, that was cool. :) Might review it further later.
Good story, but long-winded. I think someone who has an interest in historical fiction would find this story more engaging than I did. I did find it interesting to learn about portions of the Civil War that I didn't even learn about it AP US History class. I'm almost embarrassed to admit I didn't even know the war extended into Kansas. "Weer's Union army didn't stay long in the Cherokee nation. The weather continued hot, the grass burned to a crisp, and the supply train from Kansas was long
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