Book Description
This is Volume I (chapters 1-15) of WE THE PEOPLE. Crafted from the ground up to be a "brief" U.S. History text (rather than a condensed version of a larger text), WE THE PEOPLE tells the story of America through five recurring, interwoven themes: (1) the role of interacting cultures in the development of the American nation; (2) the social/cultural environment's interaction with political forces; (3) the evolution of a national identity; (4) changing cultural values; and (5) individuals' attempts to impose order on physical place and chronological time. Frequent quotations from individuals at all levels of society make this text well-rounded in its presentation of social and cultural history. In addition, each chapter opens with a story that features a longer quotation that illuminates the topics, events, and themes explicated in that chapter. WE THE PEOPLE is available in the following split options: WE THE PEOPLE, Complete, First Edition (Chapters 1-30), ISBN: 0534593550; WE THE PEOPLE, Volume I to 1877 (Chapters 1-15), ISBN: 0534593569; WE THE PEOPLE, Volume II, Since 1865 (Chapters 15-3), ISBN: 0534593577.
Book Description
White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent
from 1876 to 1912
Customer Reviews:
Scramble for Africa.......2007-05-27
Thomas Pakenham's Scramble for africa is a very good book on a fascinating subject. Colonizing africabegan well before the book's opening 1876 conference hosted by Belgium's King Leopold II, but after this event, according to the book, the "scramble" was on. European nations, primarily Great Britain and France, but also Belgium, Germany, and even Italy, sought territorial gains. This is imperialism at its nadir.
The author implies a hodge-podge, willy-nilly scramble for land that resulted in Europe dominating Africa within a quarter century from the book's 1876 opening. David Livingston, Pierre Brazza, Lord Salisbury, and others based political and professional legacies on what happened in Africa. Great Britain found a way to emerge as the leading colonizer, so one could state they "won" the scramble.
But Pakenham covers nearly every aspect of the European domination of the dark continent. The book is fast-paced and well written. The reader will not be disappointed.
The Dark Continent's Darkest Chapter.......2007-01-04
It would be an understatement to write that Thomas Pakenham embraced an ambitious project in crafting a comprehensive, single-volume history of the European colonization of Africa over the course of some four decades a century ago. Few authors could have succeeded after having bitten off so much. Fewer still could have made it accessible to the layman and an immensely enjoyable read at that. Pakenham is the rare talent able to pull off such a feat.
The story Pakenham tells involves countless actors, but at the center of the great conquest from beginning to end is the Belgian King Leopold, whose imperial actions, clothed in the righteous language of development and humanitarianism, did more than anyone else to spur on the exploration and exploitation of Africa. As Pakenham describes him, "Leopold was a Coburg millionaire, a constitutional monarch malgre lui, a throwback from the age of absolutism, with the brain of a Wall Street financier and the hide of an African rhinoceros." From his ostentatious palace at Laeken, Leopold kept a close eye on developments in the exploration of Africa and saw in it his great opportunity to make a fortune, all in the name of the "3 Cs": Christianity, Commerce, and Civilization.
The "3 Cs" served as the foundation for most European imperialist of the time - Henry Stanley, his rival Pierre Brazza, Sir George Goldie, Frederick Lugard and others. A twenty-first century cynic could argue that the European intervention in Africa was motivated by capitalist greed, pure and simple. But Pakenham argues that a genuine desire to help the continent develop through the guiding light of Christianity was a central and perhaps the most important motivating factor in the decision to engage in African adventures by key elements in London, Paris and elsewhere. That said, commerce provided the extra pull that made large-scale action inevitable. After the early reports from Livingstone, himself a genuine and sincere Christian humanitarian, Africa captured the fascination of Europe with the potential of untold riches in this last unexplored frontier on earth. Indeed, the early years of "the Scramble" resembled a stock market bubble as investors rushed in motivated primarily by the fear of losing out by dithering on the sidelines.
One of the more surprising aspects of European colonialism in Africa, especially the British in the early years of the Scramble, is how much they conquered with such little direct government investment. London frequently leveraged private enterprise to do the heavy lifting on the ground and direct foreign investment to develop the local infrastructure. Companies were given charters by London and had the exclusive right to make their fortunes under the protective flag of the British Empire. The most notable examples were Sir George Goldie's Royal Niger Company that exploited the trade in modern day Nigeria and Cecil Rhodes' various enterprises mining diamonds and gold in the republics of South Africa.
The difficult part about Pakenham's "Scramble" is that there are so many actors over so many decades operating on so many fronts that it is a challenge to keep everything straight - Isandlwana, Adowa, Majuba, Khartoum, Fashoda, Omdurman, etc. But Pakenham's prose is so engaging that the reader becomes absorbed and presses on.
In sum, "The Scramble for Africa" is a delightful read and a great overview of an unprecedented exercise in foreign domination and exploitation, the legacy of which we very much live with today. Much of the material is presented at a high level. For instance, Pakenham has also authored an authoritative 500-page history of the Boer War, an event that is covered in "The Scramble" in a mere 25-page chapter late in the book. So those with an interest in specific episodes of African colonialism will be better served with more focused works, but no other book will piece all the parts together so well.
Superior popular history.......2006-07-13
A beautifully written account of the partition of Africa by European imperialism. Though the emphasis is definitely on the British Empire and the author is rather vague on the economic factors involved, this remains an excellent narrative history with many lessons for the present.
None better - Excellent Account.......2006-05-03
I have read much about Africa. As for the colonial period, this book pulls it all together. The author does an excellent job of covering a wide span of history, including military campaigns, political strategy and intrigue and a host of contributing factors to provide a detail review of how colonialism occured and what drove it across the face of Africa. I would love to see another installment by Pakenhan of the subsequent period, addressing the drive for independence and its resulting successes and unfortunate failures.
Thorough but also entertaining and stimulating.......2006-01-21
Really a remarkable book in that it covers so much goings-on, countries, kingdoms, people, etc but does so in an enjoyable way. Very thorough and explicit in details and a great reference book- and also is a joy to read. Sometimes, I admit, the chapters can jump from subject to subject but I think this is more due to the scope of the work and not the author's fault. It covers so much information that I couldn't imagine trying to organize such a book. Also, satisifying, the work is honest and not as 'politically correct' as most modern books written about the colonialism in Africa. It tells the good, the bad, and the ugly of both the European elements and native elements in the tragic tale. It also fascinatingly details the politics in Europe and American with regard to the 'scramble'. Highly recommended.
Book Description
Salvage is the third part of The Coast of Utopia, Tom Stoppard's long-awaited and monumental trilogy that explores a group of friends who came of age under the Tsarist autocracy of Nicholas I, and for whom the term intelligentsia was coined. Among them are the anarchist Michael Bakunin, who was to challenge Marx for the soul of the masses; Ivan Turgenev, author of some of the most enduring works in Russian literature; the brilliant, erratic young critic Vissarion Belinsky; and Alexander Herzen, a nobleman's son and the first self-proclaimed socialist in Russia, who becomes the main focus of this drama of politics, love, loss, and betrayal. In The Coast of Utopia, Stoppard presents an inspired examination of the struggle between romantic anarchy, utopian idealism, and practical reformation.
Customer Reviews:
Herzen's struggle brought to life.......2003-08-31
Tom Stoppard is arguably the single finest playwright of his generation, and the Coast of Utopia trilogy is a massive undertaking that in the hands of a less skilled author could have gone awry and badly. Stoppard though manages to make what could be a painfully pedantic history lesson into a moving portrayal of love, ideology, loss, and change.
The mess of Alexander Herzen's life, and those of his closest friends and family, is tragic in a really monumental scope. There are no clear places to lay blame, nor clear winners or losers, instead the entire piece is pervaded with a sense of futility (and I don't mean this negatively), Herzen trying vainly to convince his associates that the blood being spilled is of no use, and trying to mend the broken relationships surrounding him.
The history is neither dominate or secondary to the characterization here, rather Stoppard manages to make the historical events we know (or may not know) part and parcel of the volatile and fascinating lives of some of Russias greatest citizens.
Book Description
Shipwreck is the second part of The Coast of Utopia, Tom Stoppard's long-awaited and monumental trilogy that explores a group of friends who came of age under the Tsarist autocracy of Nicholas I, and for whom the term intelligentsia was coined. Among them are the anarchist Michael Bakunin, who was to challenge Marx for the soul of the masses; Ivan Turgenev, author of some of the most enduring works in Russian literature; the brilliant, erratic young critic Vissarion Belinsky; and Alexander Herzen, a nobleman's son and the first self-proclaimed socialist in Russia, who becomes the main focus of this drama of politics, love, loss, and betrayal. In The Coast of Utopia, Stoppard presents an inspired examination of the struggle between romantic anarchy, utopian idealism, and practical reformation.
Customer Reviews:
Lives cut tragically short, and painful losses all around.......2003-08-31
Tom Stoppard is arguably the single finest playwright of his generation, and the Coast of Utopia trilogy is a massive undertaking that in the hands of a less skilled author could have gone awry and badly. Stoppard though manages to make what could be a painfully pedantic history lesson into a moving portrayal of love, ideology, loss, and change.
Shipwreck is decidedly the most tragic of the three, the loss of innocence and the tragically young deaths of several characters are heart breaking, as is the way Stoppard deals the blow to the reader or audience. Vissarion Belinsky in particular lends a spark to the entire piece, and his desperation at finding the answer he has spent his life searching for is one of the most heart wrenching things I have ever read.
The history is neither dominate or secondary to the characterization here, rather Stoppard manages to make the historical events we know (or may not know) part and parcel of the volatile and fascinating lives of some of Russias greatest citizens.
Amazon.com
On June 25, 1876, Gen. George Armstrong Custer and some 200 cavalrymen under his command blundered into a coulee along the banks of Montana's Little Bighorn River. They never came out; several thousand Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapaho warriors saw to that. The name and the event of the Little Bighorn have subsequently entered into American mythology, reverberating throughout the nation's history. Custer's famous demise has yielded thousands of books, and Son of the Morning Star is exceptional among them: part anthropological study of Plains Indian life, part military history, and part character study of the principal actors in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Evan Connell's work presents the first truly balanced account of Custer's career.
Book Description
Custer's Last Stand is among the most enduring events in American history--more than one hundred years after the fact, books continue to be written and people continue to argue about even the most basic details surrounding the Little Bighorn. Evan S. Connell, whom Joyce Carol Oates has described as "one of our most interesting and intelligent American writers," wrote what continues to be the most reliable--and compulsively readable--account of the subject. Connell makes good use of his meticulous research and novelist's eye for the story and detail to re-vreate the heroism, foolishness, and savagery of this crucial chapter in the history of the West.
Customer Reviews:
A Fantastic Read.......2007-06-22
Evan S. Connell doesn't care about preconceptions about what happened at Little Big Horn. Instead he weaves a narrative that explores and explodes every myth and legend surrounding the battle and everything leading up to it. The writing is absorbing and magnificent, and Mr. Connell takes his time to explore the lives of not only the leading participants, Custer and Sitting Bull, Gall and Sherman, but digs down in the dirt of the geography and even the lives of what most would consider secondary characters. He even lays down a fascinating side story about the fate of Custer's horse.
One of the best books I've ever read.......2007-05-22
I didn't find this book hard to follow at all. Even when I was sleepy I knew what I was reading about. It is the characters in this book and the back drop that brings this story alive. Connell does a great job of bringing unknown and well known characters to life and giving them more than just a name and place of death. What a story this is when you add up all the sum parts. And, I was able to get a bigger picture than just the death of Custard from reading this great book.
History with the eye of the fiction author.......2007-05-16
This is not a traditional history book and it seems that those who object seem to do so primarally on those grounds. There is no question that this book does not read or even flow as a typical history which in my view is a tribute to the creative author and a a risk taking publisher both of whom deserve high praise.
It is the reader rather than a historian who benefit from this treatment. The myriad of detail adds color and depth to the men's characters in a way that no regular history book has ever done. Yes the detail slows the narative and yes the author is all over the place, retrospection, current event, future writing all withing a page or two and yet somehow the whole thing holds together and the information is assimilated in a lasting and meaningful way.
The reasonings are so logical and fresh given the years and speculation and outright lies that they shine from the page. One example - why was Custer not scalped. Reasons given over the years run from Indian admiration for his courage to contempt. The author's take, Custer's hair was cut short for the campain, he was also going bald. In short his scalp was so unatractive as a trophy, that no one bothered.
The author engages in speculation and unlike regular historians, he readily admits when he is doing so. For example he openly shared his puzzlement as to why certain versions of Custer's death are rejected by one generation only to be viewed as the most credible by furture generations.
All and all this is a wonderful read and anyone with an interest in this history would benefit even if some of the facts shared conflict with previous ideas.
Custer remains an inegma but this book comes as close as we are ever likely to get to understanding him and the men who served with him.
Politics disguised as history.......2007-01-23
A morose and spiritless rendition of the plains Indian Wars, told from the perspective of a late 20th Century San Francisco mentality that sees nothing good in America, past or present. Contains a total of four or five pages worth of vivid and memorable prose - the "funnel of a tornado" image is unforgettable - nearly half of which is repeated on the jacket blurbs and photo captions. The bulk of the book consists of endless excerpts from hundreds of primary sources, most of which are not cited. (The bibliography is the most rewarding aspect of the book.) Clearly a fan of the Kurosawa-Rashomon school of epistemology, Connell repeatedly wastes the reader's time with hypothetical scenarios concerning facts and events of little importance, only to inform the reader in the end that we can't know for certain, and anyway it doesn't really matter. One assumes that had Connell been born a 19th Century Sioux, he would have spent his time castigating the tribe for having stolen the lands of whatever tribes claimed it before them. The one thing Connell is certain of, it seems, is that anything, even the savage inter-tribal warfare that went on for tens of millennia before the "wasichus" came on the scene, was preferable to the way of life that replaced it. This reviewer guesses that more than a few Native Americans past and present would take issue with such a conclusion, but what do they know.
huge disappointment........2006-10-21
i have had this book in my library for a long time and very much looked forward to reading it. a book that got rave reviews by critics, an outstanding novelist (evan s connell) writing about the legendary downfall of custer at little bighorn, how could i go wrong with this one. well, i guess that there is no such thing as a sure thing, because i found this book way too long & way too tedious. the author digresses all throughout the book, dropping the narrative and taking off on dull useless sidetracks that should never have been included. dozens and dozens of characters are introduced that you will never rememeber (and will never need to remember). strange and poor organization make this book a real dud. too bad.
Book Description
On the morning of June 25, 1876, soldiers of the elite U.S. Seventh Cavalry led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer attacked a large Indian encampment on the banks of the Little Bighorn River. By day's end, Custer and more than two hundred of his men lay dead. It was a shocking defeat--or magnificent victory, depending on your point of view--and more than a century later it is still the object of controversy, debate, and fascination.
What really happened on that fateful day? Now, thanks to the work of Herman J. Viola, Curator Emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution, we are much closer to answering that question. Dr. Viola, a leader in the preservation of Native American culture and history, has collected here dozens of dramatic, never-before-published accounts by Indians who participated in the battle--accounts that have been handed down to the present day, often secretly and accompanied by oaths of silence, from one generation to the next. These remarkable eyewitness recollections provide a direct link to that day's events; together they constitute an unprecedented oral history of the battle from the Native American point of view and the most comprehensive eyewitness description of Little Bighorn we have ever had.
Here are the dramatic stories of the Cheyenne and Lakota warriors who rode into battle against Custer, the yellow-haired Son of the Morning Star, an adversary whose valor they admired--but who became a mortal enemy after breaking his peace-pipe oath, a scene described vividly in these pages. Here in their own words are the stories of the Crow scouts, allies of Custer, who advised against attacking Sitting Bull's village on the Little Bighorn. Here are tales of valor told by the Arikara scouts who fought side by side with Custer's men against the Lakota and Cheyenne; although the Great Father in Washington rewarded their heroism with silence, it is celebrated to this day in tribal stories and songs that come to us from beyond the grave with hair-raising immediacy and power.
Lavishly illustrated with more than two hundred maps, photographs, reproductions, and drawings, this remarkable book also includes:
An account of the battle, including startling descriptions of Custer's conduct, collected from the Crow scouts by the famed photographer Edward S. Curtis in 1908. Curtis never published this report--President Theodore Roosevelt advised him not to--and it remained a secret until his ninety-year-old son recently gave the material to the Smithsonian.
New archaeological evidence from the battlefield that casts fresh light on the Seventh Cavalry's movements, along with discoveries from the site of Sitting Bull's village--including the complete skeleton of a cavalry horse with its rider's well-
preserved saddlebags and personal items.
A series of illustrations made soon after the battle by Red Horse, a remarkable tableau that is reproduced here in its entirety for the first time.
Three letters written by Lieutenant William Van Wyck Reily just days before he died at Little Bighorn that provide key and potentially controversial insights into the conduct of the cavalry under Custer's command.
In short, this landmark book takes us much closer to knowing what really happened on that June day in 1876 when Custer died and a legend was born.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting, but. . ........2007-01-18
I wished I had known (should have read the reviews!) that this is a coffee table attempt to deal with an extremely complicated subject. The pretty pictures and artwork were fine, but the book claims to have important historical information from the Crow scouts. When I read (reread and reread) the accounts, I was no closer to understanding what happened. Indeed, one descendant of the Crow scouts admitted that the versions of the events told to him by the scouts were not the same.
The book's strength is in its modern work at the site. The articles about what items were found at both sites with metal detectors (a whole horse!) was fascinating and worth the purchase price. For instance, that bullets with the same rifling were found all over the Custer battle site is fascinating. I hope more metal detector search can be done.
The best book I've ever read!!.......2004-05-01
This book is so ground-breaking and thorough and clever that I'll read it again as soon as I get time. The narratives and recollections of native Americans combined with the most up-to-date scholarship make this book a small masterpiece. Our view of the battle was so slanted and biased, generally without intention, because of an overemphasis on the records of European participants, etc. This book gives another view, and thus B-A-L-A-N-C-E.!!
A major work........2001-05-28
In general I'm not really big on modern history (my notion of "modern" being everything after 1200 BC!), but Viola's book "Little Bighorn Remembered," featured as it was as the "untold Indian story of Custer's last stand," intrigued me. I have to admit to having had to take a second run at it before I really got into the subject. It isn't that the work is poorly written; it isn't. I think that the up front and in your face brutality of the 19th Century US government in dealing with the Native American population was just hard to deal with for me. It`s not that I am myself Native American; I just have a strong sense of fairness and fairness had no part in it. When I finally did settle into the material, however, it read rapidly. In fact it probably classifies highly with some of those I-couldn't-put-it-down novels over which people burn the midnight oil. (In my case I should have been getting a quick nap between patients while I was on-call for the OR on a night shift).
The first two chapters of the book concern the antecedents leading up to the Indian confrontation with Custer and the 7th Cavalry. These included Custer's own pre-dawn attack on a sleeping Cheyenne village under the leadership of Chief Black Kettle on the Washita River in 1868 and an earlier similar attack on Plains Tribes camping at Sand Creek in 1864. In both instances dozens of men, women, and children were hunted down and shot and their bodies butchered. In the 1868 attack even the Cheyenne pony herd, some 900 animals, was also killed, severely crippling the people's ability to pursue their traditional lifestyle. The narrative of these two chapters is filled with unfulfilled promises and broken treaties with Native Americans in the furtherance of US territorial expansion during the 19th Century. Certainly anyone familiar with the attitudes of Europeans toward technologically less advanced populations world wide in areas they wished to exploit will recognize the pattern.
The remainder of the book is divided into chapters each dealing with various perspectives on the battle of the Little Bighorn. Here is where the book rises above others on the subject, for Viola makes use of very diverse sources in his effort to thoroughly and fairly cover the subject .
Included are the oral histories passed on by the Indian participants, stories from the Cheyenne and the Dakota on one side and from the Crow and Arikara scouts with Custer on the other. Probably the most interesting part of this material is the fact that not all Plains Indians felt the same about the coming of the army into the area. In fact the imperialism of the US government was actually superimposed upon on-going events among traditional enemies within the community of local people. The long standing enmity of certain groups actually facilitated the ultimate defeat of the Plains Indians. Even allies weren't necessarily of one mind and still are not. A popular saying among the modern Cheyenne is that "The Sioux got the glory, the Crows got the land, but the Cheyennes did the fighting(p. 27)."
Also among the narratives are notes left by Edward S. Curtis who undertook the mission of creating a photographic preservation of Native American Indian lifestyles before they disappeared. During the pursuit of this work Curtis took the opportunity of covering the battle site in the company of three of Custer's Crow scouts. From information about events provided by these individuals he came to the conclusion that the battle had not proceeded as recorded thirty years previously. His intent to publish his conclusions in his project was discouraged by President Theodore Roosevelt, primarily because the latter was concerned that pro-Custer factions would ruin Curtis. The information was preserved and given over to the National Museum of American History by his son Harold just prior to Harold's death at the age of 95 in 1988.
Among the "documents" preserving the Battle at Little Bighorn are the Indian drawings of the event of which Viola includes illustrations of many. Though simple line drawings they give every bit as clear an image of the violence and carnage of the battle field as do the photo images of the Civil War. Included are drawings by the Dakota, Red Horse, and some etched drawings by an unknown artists on flattened metal from trade kettles. Also presented, many for the first time, are some of the victory memorabilia collected from the battlefield and preserved by family members of the Indian participants through the generations.
A fire across the battlefield in 1983 made an archaeological examination of the site possible and almost imperative. Application of modern techniques to the charting, recovery and analysis of the material remains on the site by professionals and trained volunteers in the decade between 1985 and 1995 have allowed a reinterpretation of what occurred and an external verification of the stories of various participants. (For a more in-depth account of which see my review of "They Died With Custer : Soldiers' Bones from the Battle of the Little Bighorn.")
Among the most amazing reports of the battle and its events is that of the contribution of suicide to the death toll. Apparently the notion of torture at the hands of Indian combatants, fostered in part by the tradition of post mortem mutilation of enemy bodies (to prevent their full enjoyment of the afterlife) produced a "save the last bullet for yourself" mentality that led to a far higher mortality than might have occurred. One Indian witness reported having seen a man "murder" a compatriot and than shoot himself. Apparently he was not the only individual to have seen this puzzling behavior either.
Probably the most arresting facets of Viola's book, and certainly the ones I found most enjoyable, were the many rotogravure/tintype portraits of the various American Indian personalities involved in the drama of the Plains. The faces are filled with dignity, composure, and intelligence. It leaves the viewer with a sense of compassion and loss. One wonders what the country might have been like had the two worlds learned to coexist more peacefully and to learn from one another.
Crow accounts are valuable.......2000-03-04
I found this book to be fascinating pictorially and in its presentation of Indian viewpoints of Little Bighorn.
Some other reviewers have criticized Herman Viola's inclusion of the accounts of Custer's Crow scouts, as if Viola is somehow doing a disservice to scholarship. However, I don't think he is necessarily presenting these accounts as gospel. Viola acknowledges the inconsistencies between witnesses' stories, but he gives the Crow a chance to speak for themselves, which seems like a good thing to me.
Perhaps by publishing these little-known testimonies, Viola will encourage other Indian sources to share their knowledge of Little Bighorn while that knowledge still exists.
A Pretty book but flawed.......2000-02-19
Read without knowledge of the other Indian based accounts available; this is an interesting book. There are other books available also which are based on Indian accounts and seem more coherent. This book is pretty and interesting but adds very little to a serious student of the event. Some of the vignettes are interesting when compared with other indian accounts and blended with them. The story of Custer sitting around at Weir point while Reno's battalion was being routed is not well placed in time or detail. In short, the book is a quick and easy read. It is an interesting contrast to the "old" accounts of the Little Big Horn saga. In light of other recent works on the subject; it is a lightweight.
Book 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.
Customer Reviews:
A new perspective.......2007-08-23
I have been a big fan of Ambrose and have read most of his books. I grew up in Montana and was aware of "Custer's Battlefield". The name was changed from Custer's Last Stand to the Battle of the Bighorn. Very appropriate.
Ambrose opened my eyes to the policy of the government as it related to the "Indian Wars". He does a great job in positioning both Custer and Crazy Horse throughout their lives and how they were destined to meet in SE Montana.
This book helps me understand how the Native Americans were treated and mistreated during the opening of the west.
If you are a history fan, I encourage you to read Stephen Ambose's works. His details allow you to put yourself in the shoes of an observer to history. Check out Undaunted Courage if you want to see the world through the eyes of Lewis and Clark.
Great introduction to 2 somewhat parallel lives.......2007-06-10
I went into this book primariliy interested in crazy horse, yet by about half way through i was captivated with custer. Many of Mr. Ambrose's detractors say he stretches the facts. This could easily be true, i am in no way an expert on either crazy horse nor custer. Yet when i walk away from this book i dont remember many facts but more so feel as though i have a sense of who these two individuals were and how they operated in their respective worlds. If i was writing a dissertation on the topic i probably wouldnt cite this as a source, at the same time i think this is a great introduction book to crazy horse, custer, and the indian wars. Overall its a captiviating and fun read, enjoy!
Crazy Horse and Custer.......2007-01-09
Excellent book-goes into depth about both of their lives and the parallels between them.
Death in Battle - Death in Peace.......2006-08-30
They are books like those written by Stephen Ambrose which keep the flame of my interest in reading of times and events of long ago burning. Some have accused Ambrose of taking too many liberties with the facts. To those I would say, Bah Humbug! This book is well written and worthy of the readers time, unless, of course, you are a "fact-checker", in which case the original sources, to the extent they even exist, might be more to your liking. For Orginary Joe's, like me, Mr. Ambrose has provided a good deal of reading entertainment and information. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to be transported in time and place to the high plains during the Indian Wars.
Interesting.......2006-08-04
Great study of two complex personalities. I never realized what a mysterious figure Crazy Horse was, and his integral role at the Little Big Horn. Ambrose, as usual, does phenomenal research and his gift of prose make this book a pleasure.
Customer Reviews:
Recounts the manifold hardships the troops and their officers endured.......2005-11-13
Edited and annotated by Charles M. Robinson (history instructor at South Texas Community College and a fellow of the Texas State Historical Association), The Diaries Of John Gregory Bourke: Volume Two: July 29, 1876-April 7, 1878 is the next published installment of the personal journals of John Gregory Bourke who served as cavalry lieutenant in Arizona from 1872 up to the evening before his death in 1896. A noted ethnologist who wrote extensive descriptions of Native American tribal life and customs that he observed first hand, he illustrated his diaries with both sketches and photographs. This second published volume opens as General Crook prepares for the expedition that would lead to his infamous and devastating Horse Meat March. The diary faithfully recounts the manifold hardships the troops and their officers endured. The diary then continues with the story of the Powder River Expedition and culminates in Bourke's eyewitness description of Colonel Ranald MacKenzie's destruction of the main Cheyenne camp in what become known as the Dull Knife Fight. With the main hostile chiefs either surrendering or forced into exile in Canada, field operations came to a close and Bourke finishes this second volume of his memoirs with a retrospective of his service in Tucson, Arizona. Enhanced for the modern reader with extensive annotations and a biographical appendix on Indians, civilians, and military personnel named in the diaries, this outstanding series continues to be a seminal and strongly recommended contribution to American Frontier History and Native American Studies reference collections and supplementary reading lists.
Book Description
A 2-volume survey, complete with artist biographie s and interpretive essays, of one of the most important and oldest collections of American paintings in the U.S.
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- Finance in a Nutshell: A no-nonsense companion to the tools and techniques of finance
- The Empress of India: A Professor Moriarty Novel
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American History in a Box (Volume II)
The HarperCollins College Outline Constitution of the United States (Harpercollins College Outline Series)
Democracy in California: Politics and Government in the Golden State
Voices of Freedom: A Documentary History, Volume 1
