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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spectacular Historical Fiction, June 26, 2004
This review is from: Rifles for Watie (Paperback)
I first read this delightful novel in 1968 or 1969. It continues to be one of my favorite books. Historian and former OU sports information director Harold Keith actually makes history "fun" for teenagers with this award-winning tale, as RIFLES FOR WAITIE gives readers a full account of the brutal Civil War campaign in the Indian Territories of the frontier. At the heart of Keith's story is young Jeff Bussey, who joins a regiment of Kansas volunteers as a 16-year-old, idealistic adventure seeker. Jeff's idealism is short-lived once he confronts the horrors and barbarism of war; it is replaced by disillusionment, bitterness, fear. Although written in the Fifties, Keith cuts no corners in portraying the brutality of the Civil War in Oklahoma Territory; the reader can smell the smoke, hear the deafening roar of cannon, feel the bullets whistle past. And as young Jeff matures. . .becomes a battle-hardened survivor. . .he is sent on an assignment behind enemy lines--only to discover the men he is fighting are just like him: cold, tired, hungry, and ready to go home. Wonderfully written and flawlessly paced, RIFLES FOR WAITIE is an absorbing read. Highly recommended for teenagers or history buffs wanting to learn more about the Civil War in Oklahoma.
--D. Mikels
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A terrific civil war tale of finding your true self., November 18, 1999
By A Customer
Jeff, a 16 year-old Kansas farmer, is drawn into the Civil War when a group of Bushwackers attacks his farm. Along the way and path of war, he picks up new friends, good values, and many challenges. We liked this book because it really showed what the Civil War was all about (besides slavary) from a first hand detailed view.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not as good as I remembered -- but ..., December 15, 2005
I actually went back and re-read "Rifles for Watie" several months ago, more than 40 years after I had first encountered it. (It won the 1958 Newberry Award for children's literature and was a hot item in my elementary school library.) In reading the book as an adult, I was disappointed in the episodic construction of Harold Keith's narrative. He makes some big leaps as he jumps along through the Civil War; in some cases, several months pass between one chapter and the next. This weakens the development of the characters, in particular the youthful focus of the book, Jeff Bussey. At the end of the novel, despite his four years of experience as a combat soldier, spy, and lover, there is little sense that this teenager matures or changes. Even without war, and even sequestered in college, most kids do a fair amount of growing up between ages 18 and 22. At the end of a terrible war, Jeff seems to be as callow and even innocent as he was in his recruit days.
This failing, however, probably won't matter to the young audience for whom Keith was writing back in the 1950s. The book reflects the sensibilities of that era, especially in the equal regard in which Keith holds the supporters of both the Union and the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis Bussey, a Union soldier (named by his father after a respected Mexican War comrade from Mississippi!), learns to like and respect his Confederate adversaries, and he falls in love with a Rebel girl. The only real villain in the story is a Union officer. Even in the 21st century, younger readers (ages 8-14) will likely identify with Jeff and his perspective on the events of the 1860s. They also will enjoy Keith's colorful description of battles and soldiering, as well as the more sober scenes of the war's cruelty and destruction.
When "Rifles for Watie" was first published, it revealed to many Americans, including a lot of Civil War scholars, that the conflict had been irrepressible west of the Mississippi as well as in the East. Keith doesn't really deal with all the causes and ramifications of the war in the Indian Territory, and a search of the amazon.com website reveals many more recent scholarly books about the subject. But for readers young and old, "Rifles for Watie" still can be a painless introduction to the topic -- for all of that episodic narrative, it's still a Good Read.
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