“The Rebels: Sons of Texas” by Elmer Kelton

“The Rebels” by Elmer Kelton
1990, A Forge Book
ISBN: 978-0-7653-1526-7

I’ve become a huge fan of Elmer Kelton. Step back into the 1830’s and he will tell you a story of the Lewis family as they meet up in Texas. Years earlier Michael and Andrew left Tennessee for Texas. Times were hard. Stephen Austin had brokered a deal with Mexico for American settlers to come to Texas to live.

It had been 15 years since the brothers had built up their farms and in “The Rebels: Sons of Texas” more family from Tennessee were traveling west to join them. Frank, their cousin, his wife Hope and their children brought a wagon and in the other wagon Andrew and Michael’s brother James and their sister Annie.

Their lives were difficult. Times were fraught with tension as Mexico became concerned with the number of American settlers in Texas. Living in a foreign country with hardly any rights gnawed at the settlers and eventually it became war. This is where they cried, “Remember the Alamo”.

Elmer Kelton showed me the history of the state of Texas in a way I just hadn’t seen it before. He brings the life and times into such a clear focus that you can’t help but gain a better understanding of what people were like in those days.

This is the third in the trilogy of The Sons of Texas. Click on the titles of the first book, "The Sons of Texas" and the second book, "The Raiders: Sons of Texas" to see the reviews I wrote for those books. It would be so cool if Elmer would write more about the Lewis family. I feel I've come to know them.

“The Raiders: Sons of Texas” by Elmer Kelton

“The Raiders” by Elmer Kelton
1989, A Forge Book
ISBN: 0-765-31525-4

I am a huge fan of Western stories by Elmber Kelton. “The Raiders” is the second in a trilogy called, “Sons of Texas”. I’ve got the 3rd book, “The Rebels” sitting at my side, ready to go and past due at the library. I am considering just letting the fines accumulate so I can finish it up.

Andrew and Michael Lewis came from Tennessee to Texas. “The Raiders” takes place 10 years after they arrived in Texas. Michael has married Marie, but he’s got his father’s wanderlust in his veins. There are times as he gazes off to the west and the urge to travel is upon him. Andrew is concerned for Marie and Mordecai, their son, when his brother leaves, especially now that Marie is pregnant again. Michael does not appreciate Andrew’s concern and is forever telling him to mind his own business.

What Marie and Michael figure is that Andrew needs his own wife. But going out to find a wife in the early days of Americans in Texas is hard.

There are many adventures. Dangerous situations that come to show the truer natures of the people involved in these stories.

Elmer Kelton’s stories have a different sort of rhythm than a romance or a mystery. These stories are not rushed. There’s a really natural flow. This stuff really happened to people, our ancestors from all parts of the world, as they settled the land of Texas.