Synopsis
A poignant narration treats the battle with Custer from the Indians' point of view, showing how the "victory" of the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes was merely a last hurrah for a landless people stripped of their rights. National ad/promo. Tour.
Reviews
In his first nonfiction work, noted Native American novelist Welch (The Indian Lawyer, 1990, etc.) stretches the boundaries of history. With the research assistance of Stekler, Welch offers a sweeping history of the American West based on work the pair did for their 1992 PBS documentary, The Last Stand. Though centered on the Battle of the Little Big Horn, in which warriors led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeated Custer's 7th Cavalry, the volume actually chronicles white/Indian contact and conflict from the voyage of Lewis and Clark in 1804 to the present--from the viewpoint of the Indians. Welch begins by describing the 1869 massacre of a band of his own Blackfeet people and his efforts to locate the forgotten site of the carnage. He then moves on to the story of Custer, a Civil War hero who was demoted following the war and sent to fight Indians on the Western frontier. His conduct at the Washita Massacre, during which he and his men wiped out Black Kettle's peaceful Cheyenne, called his abilities into question and demonstrated the character and leadership flaws that would help bring about his death eight years later. Brash, cavalier, and supremely confident, Custer embodied America's larger self-image. His death, in the worst military disaster of the Indian Wars, thus assumed mythic proportions, aided by a relentless publicity campaign by his widow. Welch traces the fates of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull following the famous battle and uses accounts of such other engagements as Sand Creek and the Fetterman Massacre to help put Little Big Horn in historical perspective. A late chapter personalizes the text, as Welch tells the story of his mother and his early desire to become a writer. An excellent Native version of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: a sad tale that, despite momentary triumphs like Little Big Horn, could not but end tragically for the Indians. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Novelist Welch (Fools Crow) and documentary filmmaker Stekler collaborate on what is to date the best reconstruction of the Little Big Horn campaign from a Native American perspective. Eschewing melodrama and making sophisticated use of oral testimony and recently developed archeological evidence, the authors present an inevitable clash of cultures brought about by white greed. They describe the success of Sitting Bull's call in 1876 for one last big hunt and one last big fight before the Plains Indians' way of life was to disappear forever, along with the buffalo that sustained it. Welch and Stekler highlight the initial overconfidence and ultimate panic of Custer's troops, whose commander made every possible mistake on June 25 against enemies with nothing more to lose. A major literary and historical contribution to a complex subject. Illustrations. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Novelist/poet Welch has produced a compelling history of the Indian wars of the northern Plains with insights from his firsthand experience with tribal life.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Perhaps the need for yet another examination of Custer's defeat at the Little Big Horn isn't great. Nevertheless, Welch and his coauthor provide an interesting perspective and offer some intriguing views of unresolved questions. As a Blackfoot Indian, Welch gives a Native American--but not a Lakota's--view of the Great Sioux War. While sympathetic to their struggle for survival, he also recognizes that the Lakota were aggressive and acquisitive and had driven other tribes from the lands they claimed as their own. In recounting Custer's fatal campaign, the authors make excellent use of the pioneering time-motion study of John Gray. They conclude that Crazy Horse probably arrived too late to be a major factor in fighting against either Reno or Custer. This is not a groundbreaking book, but it is both interesting and well written. Those afflicted with Custer mania will find it a useful addition to their font of knowledge, and even the general reader should find it enjoyable and informative. Jay Freeman
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