Rating:  Summary: Great Book! Review: This is a book about a boy named Jefferson Davis Bussey who fights in the Civil War. It's full of historical information but the book is also very interesting. I normally don't read war books but this one I found pretty good. Only some parts drag a little. But there are many interesting characters, including Lucy Washbourne, Noah Babbitt and many more. Definitely get this one for your library!
Rating:  Summary: Rifles for Watie Review: Jeff, a Union soldier from Kansas, decides to join the Union army after his family is bushwacked by two rebel soldiers. He joins with two other of his friends. He meets new friends in the war and loses some. While marching one day Jeff meets a young Chrokee rebel Indian girl. He falls in love with her at first sight. Later he is asked to be a spy on the Rebel side. But he becomes close to the people on the Rebel side. He has to make a hard decision, whether to stay true to the Union or join the rebels and stay with the one he loves. It is very thrilling and has a lot of action. I enjoyed this book vey much and encourage you to read it.
Rating:  Summary: Rifles For Waite Review: I read this book in the sixth grade (too many years ago) and it made an incredible impression. I have read few books in my life which made the reader feel as much a part of the story as Rifles for Waite. I came to Amazon to buy it for my son as he is a fan of Civil War stories. Excellent reading!
Rating:  Summary: A must for peolpe who love civil war novels Review: Rifles for watie is about a young man who is living in thecivil war era. The best thing about this book is it gives us a lookinto both sides of the war and is very informative about the ideas andfeelings that were going on at the time of the civil war. It is a goodbook for both young and old. I first read it in the seventh grade andas a junior in college I find my self still reading through thechapters when ever I get the chance.
Rating:  Summary: Simply a good book Review: The title says it all, its simply a good book. I'm not going to go into extreme detail here, but the book is very well written, has romance, intrigue, suspense, and I would say is a very good book for all ages to enjoy.
Rating:  Summary: Great Book! Review: Hello. This book is about a boy named Jefferson Bussey who has dreamed of enlisting in the army and when two bushwakers try and attack his father he decides to join. Through the book there is a whole bunch of adventures that Jeff must overcome including becoming a soldier on the enemy side.
Rating:  Summary: Best Book! Review: I only have a couple things to say. One, this is the best book I have ever read. I will probally read it 10 more times it is so good. Kieth describes his characters so fantasticly that it seems as if they were actual people. It is about a 16-year old named Jefferson Davis Bussey or Jeff who's family gets buswhacked. After that Jeff had had enough, wich sends him and his buddies to Fort Leavenworth to enlist in the Kansas Volunteers. First Jeff is in the Infrantry then the Calvary and then a general makes him and a comrade spies in the Confederate Army. He has to survive the war then pick, will he go back to his family or stay with his crush?
Rating:  Summary: Great Novel Review: I picked this book up in the fifth grade and it was the first whole novel I ever read. It was also the only novel that caused me to stay up all night because I could not put it down. While reading certain parts of the book I was literally shaking in anticipation. Harold Keith has (or had?) an amazing ability to make the characters live. I am now a senior in High School and have read Rifles for Watie many more times. I will always be grateful that I read it, because it gave me a love of reading that I will never lose.
Rating:  Summary: Honor on Both Sides Review: Keith presents the Civil War from a different viewpoint: that of a Kansas farm boy who joins the Union Army to protect the family farm from rebel Bushwackers across the Missouri border. Like Michael Shaara's THE KILLER ANGELS (Pulitzer Prize winner about the Battle of Gettysburg), this book presents a fair portrayal of conditions and mindsets on both sides of the Mason/Dixon line. There are no clearcut military antagonists--just men in opposing uniforms. Keith's detailed research offers a variety of reasons for enlisting with one side or another, plus the tragic case of displaced Native Americans who were caught in the political crossfire of a nation undergoing rebirth. Sixteen-year-old Jeff (Jefferson Davis Bussey, if you please) serves his country first in the Infantry then in the Cavalry. While on a dangerous scouting expedition (Spy mission), he is tricked into enlisting with Col. Watie's Mounted Cherokee Rifles. Poor Jeff endures more than the normal risks of battle though: he falls for a Rebel gal--part Indian too. Befriended by kind and generous Southerners, he experiences increasing guilt as he grows to respect his erstwhile enemies. He develops true bonds with the common soldiers who become his new messmates. Yet Jeff privately realizes that time is relentlessly drawing him to the brink of a fateful decision: when he must choose which ideal (Union or division) to champion. Whichever way he goes, he will be branded a traitor by former friends--either his sweetheart or his family! How can the youth maintain his honor, especially when his heart is set on his sleeve? Even worse: he knows a dangerous secret about a sadistic Union officer who might well shoot or stab him during battle--just to assure his silence. Toward the end of the war the 7-shot Spencer Repeating Rifles were phasing out the older, one-shot Springfield rifles, but if both sides possess these new weapons of destruction, will the war be strung out even longer? Can Jeff prove his loyalty by ferreting out the identity of the traitor who is selling repeating rifles to the South? Excellent details of the dilemma of the border states and the regrettable suffering endured by many Indians, who were tragically divided in their loyalties--just like countless white border families. This is a very good read (based on research for a Master's Thesis), but too long and detailed to appeal to most high school students. The plot and supense eventually capture the reader's imagination.
Rating:  Summary: the most exciting historical fiction depicting the Civil War Review: This book, which I read during middle school, was an awesome read! It was one of the few books that left me spellbound to read more about the coming scenes and twists of plot. I especially loved how Mr. Harold Keith incorporated the thrills of chivalrous adventure (beginning with the boy's attempt to stop marauders from harrassing his family) to an act of human virtue that ultimately won a fiesty young belle's heart! Becoming absorbed in the unravelling events of this book was definitely time well spent! Furthermore, I was increasingly fascinated by Keith's extensive research before the creation of this novel and how he formed the characters out of actual personal letters from Union and Confederate Soldiers.
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