From Publishers Weekly
Humanizing heroes on both sides of the conflict, O'Brien reimagines the capture and tragically suspicious death of Crazy Horse, the great Sioux war chief, while in the custody of the U.S. Army in 1877. O'Brien's (Equinox) eighth book is a sensitive drama based on the true story of the unusual friendship between Crazy Horse and Dr. Valentine McGillicuddy, a civilian surgeon contracted to serve with the army during the Indian wars on the Great Plains. McGillicuddy relates the tale as an old man, recalling the heady days on the frontier when he was still idealistic and na?ve enough to believe that his fellow Americans meant no harm to the Indians. His years as a contract surgeon, however, take him on the great campaigns to eradicate the Sioux, and McGillicuddy soon learns that not all men are noble, honorable or even trustworthy. No shrinking violet or hand-wringing moralist, he faces his greatest moral test when Crazy Horse is bayoneted in the back by a soldier, and McGillicuddy is pressured by the army to keep the famous warrior alive, because his death would spur on the Indians to renewed battle. McGillicuddy and Crazy Horse had met briefly four years earlier, in a friendly, chance encounter at a waterhole, but during the chief's final hours, the doctor and his dying patient cement their instinctive connection, with far-reaching consequences. The treachery of the army and the complicity of Crazy Horse's own allies finally convince McGillicuddy to make a startling decision. This powerful story is a thinking man's western, in which action is secondary to O'Brien's nuanced exploration of character and the tragic dimensions of a morally fraught conflict. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
YA-Based on actual events and characters, this novel is a wonderful dramatization of the final defeat of the Lakota Sioux and the death of the famous warrior, Crazy Horse. The story is told by Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy, who looks back on his experiences as a contracted surgeon for the army in the 1870s. Through Mac, the Dakota and Wyoming territories come to life. Readers learn of the Indian wars, the enmity between various segments of the Sioux nation, and the terrible treachery foisted on the Indians by the U.S. government. The real power of this story is the three dimensionality of the characters. Readers see Crazy Horse as a fierce warrior, a leader in the savage destruction of Custer and his troops, and as a worried husband when his wife falls ill. Willing to massacre troops he shrewdly leads into a trap, he also surrenders when his people are starving. While Mac also tells about the suffering of the U.S. troops during the brutal Indian wars, this book ultimately becomes a tribute to the tragedy of the Native Americans who were devoured by the growing pains of the United States. YAs should be caught up in this saga, and will come away from it with a vivid picture of this period in the country's history.
Carol DeAngelo, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
