Greasy Grass: A Story of the Little Bighorn - Softcover

Boggs, Johnny D.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1504787994 ISBN 13: 9781504787994

Publisher: Blackstone Pub, 2018

Synopsis

Johnny D. Boggs turns the battlefield itself into a character in this historical retelling of Custer's Last Stand, when George Custer led most of his command to annihilation at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in southern Montana in 1876.

More than forty first-person narratives are used -- Indian and white, military and civilian, men and women -- to paint a panorama of the battle itself.

Boggs brings the events and personalities of the Battle of the Little Bighorn to life in a series of first-hand accounts.

About this title

About the Author:

Johnny D. Boggs has worked cattle, been bucked off horses (breaking two ribs last time), shot rapids in a canoe, hiked across mountains and deserts, traipsed around ghost towns, and spent hours poring over microfilm in library archives -- all in the name of finding a good story. He has won six Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America and a Western Heritage Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum and has been called by Booklist magazine ''among the best Western writers at work today.'' He also writes for numerous magazines, including True West, Wild West, Boys' Life, and Western Art & Architecture, speaks and lectures often, studies old Western and film noir movies, and finds time to coach Little League. A native of South Carolina and former newspaper journalist, he lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his wife and son.

Review:

"Boggs gives voice to all classes of soldier and Sioux, to the desperation of Custer's command, and the determination of their foe."

-- "Historical Novels Review"

"Boggs writes from the heart, almost as if he is channeling each person."

-- "News-Gazette (Champaign, Illinois) "

"Most of us are familiar with the Battle of the Little Big Horn...Do we need another retelling? Listeners to Boggs' version will give a resounding yes. A group of nine narrators inhabits the forty-seven characters, and their memorable performances immerse listeners in compelling first-person accounts from both the army's and Native Americans' points of view...The evenhanded examination of what went right and wrong on both sides and the haunting voices that tell their own tales make this engrossing western-set novel an example of historical fiction at its best."

-- "Booklist (starred audio review)"

"Boggs adds yet another perspective to this famous Old West fight...[and] he carries it off beautifully...The highlight is Boggs' portrayals of Captain Frederick Benteen and Major Marcus Reno and their surviving cavalrymen...This novel contains no new historical scholarship, but it does effectively paint a grim, gory, and realistic image of Indian warfare, period racism, and the political scapegoating that usually occurs after a military disaster."

-- "Publishers Weekly"

"Approaches [the Battle of the Little Bighorn] as a mosaic, using some forty-seven points of view, from the famous, such as Crazy Horse and Custer's wife, Libbie, to such minor characters as an army trumpeter and a brash Indian teen trying to count coup...An almost unbearably intense narrative...this is an enthralling book."

-- "Booklist (starred review)"

About this edition

• Publisher: Blackstone Pub
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1504787994
• ISBN 13: 9781504787994
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256