Woe to Live On
"In this shattering and violent coming-of-age novel, Daniel Woodrell brilliantly captures the lawless universe of war as seen through the eyes of a young secessionist. ; The time is the 1860s; the place, the border states of Kansas and Missouri. While armies clash in the East in the great battles of the Civil War, Jayhawkers and bushwhackers wage their own vicious heartland war, savaging all in their wake without conscience or pity. Where the First Kansas Irregulars ride, no one is safe. ; At sixteen, Jake Roedel joins this piratical band, and partakes in brutality excused in the name of retribution. But as friends fall and families flee, he questions his loyalties. Against a horrific backdrop--Quantrill's raid on Lawrence, Kansas--Jake puts himself in the path of his own comrades, becoming an outsider even to those who have become outlaws"--Back cover.