The Battle of the Little Bighorn [Paperback]

Mari Sandoz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1978

Mari Sandoz's account of the battle in which General George Armstrong Custer staked his life—and lost—reveals on every page the author's intimate knowledge of her subject. The character of the Sioux, the personality of Custer, the mixed emotions of Custer's men, the Plains landscape—all emerge with such clarity that the reader is transported in time to that spring of 1876, when the Army of the Plains began its fateful march toward the Yellowstone. The background of the tragedy is here: the history of bad blood and broken treaties between the Sioux Nation and the United States, the underlying reason for Custer's expedition and for the convocation of Indians on the Little Bighorn that particular year. The author's analysis of Custer's motives and political ambitions sheds new light on an old mystery and will be hotly disputed by the general's admirers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Miss Sandoz has taken the theme of Custer’s last stand and given it new dimension and understanding through knowledge gained in a lifetime of research. . . . The writing is gritty and unsparing in detailing hardship and heartbreak. In this, her last book, she has written a heroic saga worthy of a place alongside Old Jules and Crazy Horse."—Library Journal

(Library Journal )

"The book is a perfect mating of subject and author. . .and is probably the best account of the battle ever written. . . . Although it is written more from the white man''s point of view than was the case in Crazy Horse, there is enough knowledgeable interpretation of the Indian outlook to give proper understanding to all that was transpiring. Buffs may disagree with some of Miss Sandoz''s interpretations and conclusions, but to white man that is the basis of the continuing lure of the battle."—New York Times Book Review

(New York Times Book Review )

From the Publisher

6 1-hour cassettes --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 191 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books; First Bison Book Printing edition (September 1, 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803291000
• ISBN-13: 978-0803291003
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #730,400 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Compact Book with Basic Facts: A Little thin On Analysis, April 23, 2002

By 

Daniel Hurley (Chesapeake, VA.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Battle of the Little Bighorn (Paperback)

A small compact book that covers the history of the Little Bighorn battle including a good representation of the Native American point of view. Lapses in my mind is the belief that Custer was seeking the Presidency with a flamboyant attack, that Benteen was telling the absolute truth that he was to go valley hunting to infinity and that the native Americans fought with command signals moving almost as troops. She does make an interesting point that due to the officers gathered at Custer Hill at the time of their death, that units may have fought as platoons instead of companies. The book is a bit naive to think that Custer did not have a workable plan and to think that it was unreasonable to assume that calvary units working together could defend agianst large numbers. Albeit in this case the numbers were very large, the terrain was against Custer and he received no support from his other wing commanders. Beechers Island and McKenzies attack aginst Dull Knife and his 1500 followers later that year indicate the possibilities.
A lot more analysis has occurred in 25 years and I would recommend a more up to date book.

11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A distorted and intellectually dishonest history, October 21, 2002

By 

Bruce Trinque (Amston, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Battle of the Little Bighorn (Paperback)

As much as I have enjoyed other Mari Sandoz books, I cannot recommend this one, a work published after her death. I have seen it claimed that her name was used, but most of the writing was done some anonymous scrube. I hope this is true, because the intellectual dishonesty in this slender volume only sullies Ms. Sandoz's reputation. To give a few examples of the distortions filling this history of the Little Big Horn battle. Sandoz (or the anonymous true author) repeatedly makes it appear that Custer's command was only a relatively small scouting force working with a much larger column led by General Terry; in fact, Custer's column was substantially larger than that accompanied by Terry. It is claimed that Major Reno did not use trumpets to signal his men in the timber in the river valley because Custer had forbidden him to use them -- a truly stupid notion since such an order would to serve only to prevent the noise of the trumpets from alerting the Indians that soldiers were in the vicinity, and by this point of the battle, Reno had been fighting the Indians for the better part of an hour. Custer is presented as trying to score a quick victory to capture the 1876 Democratic nomination for President with the groundwork already laid by his political allies; research has proven that there was no such political maneuvering underway. Conversations between participants in the battle are invented and thoughts placed in the minds of people long dead. The level of hate -- I can find no better word for it -- directed at Custer by the author of this book is extraordinary. At every possible opportunity, he is depicted in the worst possible manner. There were many decades of lies told about the American Indians, but lying about their white opponents is not justice, merely dishonesty.

Save your money on this one and buy something good by Sandoz instead, like "Cheyenne Autumn" or "Crazy Horse". Or buy a good, balanced history of the battle of the Little Big Horn.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very interesting, February 26, 2011

By 

popcorn (this "place") - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Battle of the Little Bighorn (Paperback)

People who would make Custer a posthumous pope-like figure will hate this book. Yet, they do not own history. Along with reading the pro-Custer books and the anti-Custer books and the books just based on the facts, Jack, read Mari Sandoz's "The Battle of the Little Bighorn." It'll make you wonder, and ask questions, about those who pulled the strings, about those whose strings were pulled.