Product Description

On the sparkling morning of June 25, 1876, 611  men of the United States 7th Cavalry rode toward the  banks of the Little Bighorn in the Montana  Territory, where 3,000 Indians stood waiting for battle.  The lives of two great warriors would soon be  forever linked throughout history: Crazy Horse, leader  of the Oglala Sioux, and General George Armstrong  Custer. Both were men of aggression and supreme  courage. Both became leaders in their societies at  very early ages; both were stripped of power, in  disgrace, and worked to earn back the respect of  their people. And to both of them, the unspoiled  grandeur of the Great Plains of North America was an  irresistible challenge. Their parallel lives would  pave the way, in a manner unknown to either, for  an inevitable clash between two nations fighting  for possession of the open  prairie.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55331 in Books
• Published on: 1996-05-01
• Released on: 1996-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Military historian Ambrose examines the connections between the Indian chief and the cavalry officer who fought at Little Bighorn.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Movingly told and well written . . . a fine  contribution, one that will be read with pleasure and  admiration by general reader, student and scholar  alike. Ambrose has breathed new life into the  familiar facts."--Library  Journal

"An epic and accurate retelling  of one of our country's most tragic  periods."--Baltimore Sun

Review
"Movingly told and well written . . . a fine  contribution, one that will be read with pleasure and  admiration by general reader, student and scholar  alike. Ambrose has breathed new life into the  familiar facts."--Library  Journal

"An epic and accurate retelling  of one of our country's most tragic  periods."--Baltimore Sun

Customer Reviews

Perhaps the Best Ambrose Offers before Lewis & Clark
Very well written account of Crazy Horse and the "crazy" attitudes of the US Government (big surprise---some things never change). Ambrose gives a detailed account of how each man came to be iconic---warts and all. Very well written---a page turner. I must admit, while I admire Ambrose and his significant contributions to the D-Day Museum, the accusations of plagiarism have kept me from reviewing his books---once these accusations appeared, I removed his books from my list---satisfied that the ones already read were enough.
All that to say, when my son, who graduated from college last year asked me what historical books I valued---this one made the list.

Thorughly Researched and Filled With Obscure But Interesting Facts
I recently re-read this book, having previously read it about 6 years ago. I was led to re-visit this historical piece after reading a biography of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall, himself a Lakota Sioux: "Crazy Horse, The Journey of Crazy Horse, a Lakota History". Ambrose's book is very thoroughly researched and written. He puts forth historical fact and well considered hypotheses. He shatters the larger than life, heroic personality we've been fed about Custer and reveals him to be a self-absorbed, irresponsible, undisciplined, despot but an military genius except in his understanding and knowledge about Native American Indians. Perhaps only in the Post Civil War years and the great movement to conquer the Western Plains and destroy the Native American Indian would such a personality have existed.

I think the book is weighted more heavily on Custer than on Crazy Horse, but that may well be because of the scarcity of first hand or written accounts of Carzy Horse's life. For his entire life, Crazy Horse refused to interact with whites. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to delve deeply into the history of how the west was "won" and the military actions that made it possible.

Good, Easy Read
Very good book that is true to the Ambrose style of writing - very easy and enjoyable to read. Ambrose has the luxury of having 130+ years of research and writing to reference yet the story, as told, is not mired in minute, inconsequential fact. Ambrose provides his opinion (in the final chapters he includes a short analysis/AAR of the battle at the Little Big Horn) in many instances yet it's not distracting nor does it detract from the telling of history - as a historian, that is what Ambrose was paid to do. His description doesn't glorify either Crazy Horse or Custer without balancing his portrayal with measured criticism.

As an ancillary benefit, this book describes the events surrounding Custer's activities in Kansas prior to his march to Montana. As a Kansas native, I found that to be extremely interesting.