Imperial Kelly
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Yellowstone Kelly has dealt with Indians, Zulus, hapless Brits, and Mormons. Now the intrepid scout meets his greatest challenge: Theodore Roosevelt.
Nowadays US Army Major Luther “Yellowstone” Kelly isn’t the young lively man he once was. He’s cantankerous, stubborn, and his nagging illnesses are exacerbated by the slightest provocation. Still, Kelly is called back into action by his most irritating boss yet: a young assistant secretary of the navy by the name of Theodore “Teethadore” Roosevelt. The future president needs a crew of toughs to join his Rough Riders outfit, and he correctly reckons that Kelly has an inside track on some of the nastiest ones. Kelly enlists a rascally crew, including his friends Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and helps Roosevelt win the Spanish-American War. Next an impressive piece of jade leads him over the Pacific, before he’s summoned to observe the outbreak of the Boer War. While sailing to southern Africa, he runs into Winston Churchill in Mozambique . . . and on Kelly stumbles into other areas of the history books. Whether he’s being chased by Boers or Igorote tribesmen, Kelly always maintains his trademark cynicism and resourcefulness, somehow finding a way to always land on his feet—even if Teethadore is determined to take credit for it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This burlesque rewrite of American history stars roguish Maj. Luther ``Yellowstone'' Kelly, hero of dime novelist Ned Buntline. Here Kelly (last seen in Kelly Blue ) tries desperately to duck the orders of that dangerous, childish superpatriot, Thoedore Roosevelt (``Teethadore''), who's spoiling for war. Old Injun fighter Kelly, now 50 and goutish, is still searching for ``a decent seegar and a warm, willing woman.'' T. R., as assistant secretary of the Navy, taps Kelly to recruit Rough Riders, ruffians to be officered by Ivy Leaguers. Among Kelly's enlistees are Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. In Cuba, the Kid leads T. R.'s horse up San Juan Hill after the Riders refuse to follow Teddy into battle. Remaining episodes become thinner and thinner as Kelly escapes ambushes by Boers in South Africa and by Igorote tribesmen in the Philippines. He and his latest flame, Lucretia, survive a shipwreck during a typhoon and, as the book ends, the two seem intent on settling down on a California farm. Bowen is indebted to Mark Twain for his backwoods style and for his hero's cynicism toward civilization, politics and war. But, to misquote Twain, anyone looking for a realistic plot should be shot.
