The Rebels: Sons of Texas

Sons of Texas #3

by Elmer Kelton

It is the mid 1830s and a growing flow of American pioneers into Mexican Texas has sown the seeds of revolution. In the midst of the turmoil are the Lewis brothers - Andrew, Michael, and James - scions of Mordecai Lewis, who crossed the Sabine River into Texas a decade past.

Now the news along the Texas frontier is of a young general, a self-styled "Napoleon of the West," named Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who wants to stamp out any gringo talk of independence from Mexico and oust the American interlopers from Texas.

Standing in opposition to Santa Anna is the former governor of Tennessee and veteran of Andrew Jackson's Indian battles, Sam Houston, who is gathering a volunteer army to meet the Mexican forces.

Against the heroic, bloody backdrop of the Texas War of Independence--the battles of Gonzalez, San Antonio de Bexar, Goliad, the Alamo and San Jacinto--the Lewis men and their families join such rebels as Jim Bowie, James Fannin, Ben Milam, Juan Seguin, James Butler Bonham, William Barret Travis, and David Crockett, in wresting Texas from Mexican rule.

Genres: Westerns, Historical Fiction, Fiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Elmer Kelton (1926-2009) was award-winning author of more than forty novels, including The Time It Never Rained, Other Men’s Horses, Texas Standoff and Hard Trail to Follow. He grew up on a ranch near Crane, Texas, and earned a journalism degree from the University of Texas. His first novel, Hot Iron, was published in 1956. Among his awards have been seven Spurs from Western Writers of America and four Western Heritage awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. His novel The Good Old Boys was made into a television film starring Tommy Lee Jones. In addition to his novels, Kelton worked as an agricultural journalist for 42 years. He served in the infantry in World War II. He died in 2009.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/elmerk...

Reviews

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historical fiction telling the tale of a family in pre-Revolution Texas as they struggle to get settled. The story melds into the Texas Revolution wwith brief discussion of the battles of the Alamo, Goliad, and San Jacinto. Kelton does aa good job of documenting Texas history through this novel.

[Kawthar Rawashdeh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A m a z i n g ! I read 120 pages a day! I was sad it ended, hopefully will get the third book in the series.

[SuJo · Rating 5 out of 5]

love Elmer Kelton

[Eliece · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a lifelong Texan, I enjoyed reading this book, but I have a nitpicky complaint about the cover picture. I suppose the terrain shown is what many non-Texans think all of Texas looks like. You would actually be hard pressed to find those kinds of rocks in our state. I realize that cowboy movies have instilled this in people's minds. I grew up in Nacogdoches; I lived in Austin for several years; and now reside in Brazoria County which is about 30 minutes from the San Jacinto battlefield where Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna. It's also just a little over an hour from San Felipe. The majority of this book takes place in and around these places. I guarantee that you will only see pine trees, huge live oaks, rolling hills, winding rivers, flat plains and meandering bayous. In order to see rocks like the ones on the cover, I drove 900 miles from my home in Alvin, TX to spend many summer vacations at Ghost Ranch near Abiquiu, NM. There are canyons in Big Bend in far west Texas and also near the Oklahoma border in the Panhandle, but the action portrayed in this book doesn't go anywhere near those places. I haven't yet read the first book in the series "Sons of Texas", but am thinking that maybe it took place farther west than this one does. Still, that is no reason for such an egregious picture on this cover.

[Henry McLaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion as a voracious reader across several genres, Elmer Kelton is one of the best writers I've read. He is definitely the best writer in the Western genre.
This novel is the story of the Lewis family, their neighbors, their friends, their enemies. The primary element of the story world is the Texas war for independence from Mexico.
The book its stunning in the way it brings that long ago time period and the events that happened to vivid life on the page.
The reader experiences the vagaries of weather and survival. The economic and political situation is almost tactile in its presentations.
The characters are flawed and heroic which helps the reader connect to them as people, people we care about and root for. The historical characters like Travis, Bowie, Crockett, Houston, Fanin, Santa Anna, and a host of others come to life as three dimensional people, not cut-outs to stick into the story.
The book is throughly researched. Kelton brings that information to life.
If you want to learn about Texas in the 1830s, read this book. You will not be disappointed.

[M. O'Gannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Rebels – Western Novel in the Sons of Texas Series – Published 1990 - **** - The Lewis family continues their struggle to become established in Steven Austin’s Texas. This book arcs to and through the Texas rebellion against Mexico. As usual, Kelton is a master at setting the mood and time period. The reader is immersed in the daily hardships of frontier life - I grew hungry reading the sections on scarcity of food. The Lewis family is extended with more cousins making the move to Texas. The multiple view points of the narrator can sometimes be difficult to adjust to as the reader moves from one setting to the next. I need to go back and read the first in the series – Sons of Texas. I have found this series to be more enjoyable than The Texas Ranger series.

[Ryan Canady · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It's historical fiction, and you can tell the author did his research to get the historical facts correct, then wove a story around that to produce something that feels like it was very likely.

[K. K. Brannies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Texas tradition lives on

Great read very authentic and captivating. Typical Elmer Kelton with authentic description of the Texas landscape and its inhabitants of that era.

[Carrie L. Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Texas history story!

I love Texas and Mr. Kelton is a fantastic historian and story teller like no other!
I cannot wait to read more Elmer Melton books!

[J]

gift for CRW

[Art · Rating 3 out of 5]

More Elmer!

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just finished this final book in the saga: Sons of Texas. All 3 books are about the Lewis family from father Mordecai to his sons Michael who is much like his father, and the other brothers Andrew, James, and sister Annie. All of them are strong characters who have trials and tribulations all the way up to and and including the climax at the Alamo and the battle for the liberation of Texas from Mexico. The family orginates in Tennessee and gradually one by one they leave for the proomise of land and riches in Texas. Along the way in all three books you were learn to love the friends and allies they meet, and learn to strongly hate some of their enemies such as the despicable Blackwoods who also orginated in TN. Much like the famous Sackett's that Lamour penned the books are strong and rich in heritage and history. If you haven't ever read a western in your life this is the series for you to cut your teeth on and in the end you might just become a fan of the genre. Kelton knows history and knows how to develop a story in addition to his strong main characters. You find yourself deeply interested in the fate of the Lewis family and you can feel the pain and trials they face as they literally come of age before your eyes. Well done Mr. Kelton I cherish your novels and space them as I know you are no longer with us, but you have left us a legacy of great books many of them spur award winners for us to enjoy for many years to come.

[Rosemary · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, Elmer Kelton gives a much better picture of what really happened at the seige of the Alamo. (He researches actual diaries and letters, etc.) Until this book I was not aware that there were two battles of the Alamo. The Americans won the first one.
"Mexico had remanned its abandoned garrisons. It seemed only a matter of time until the soldiers marched across the land to establish once and for all the supremacy of Mexico over these immigrant Texans. Santa Anna had made it clear in Zacatecas and Coahulla (deep into Mexico): All who opposed him, in even a minor way, would be crushed beneath the boots of his army. He took no prisoners and granted no mercy. No longer was he the liberal savior of the nation. He was its emperor, and he ruled by blood and fire."

[Mark Luongo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy these Elmer Kelton novels very much and this one was apropos to what I was recently doing with my class, the Texas Revolution of 1836. I believe there is another one written about the Lewis family, the main characters of this book. Kelton does such a great job you can almost "taste" the prairie dust!

[Julie Sparks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This trilogy of books is fantastic. They make me so proud to be a Texan. We have a lot to be grateful to Stephen F. Austin. He spent a good deal of his adult life working as a statesman with Mexico on behalf of his settlers. I can't wait to read the last book in this trilogy

[Michael Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and very quick read. A lot like Louis LAmour's Sacketts. I liked it alot.

[Donna Herrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

historical fiction is my favorite genre. you can get a better sense of life and relationships with fiction than with non fiction. i loved learning about the events leading to the alamo massacre.

[Cinnamon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent historical novel about Texas's independence.

[Megargee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third and final volume in Kelton's Sons of Texas trilogy.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

See Texas Vendetta for comments.