Customer Reviews

Crazy Horse: The Life Behind the Legend

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was disappointed in this book. I have long been fasinated by the life of Ta-Sunka Witko (Crazy Horse), and have read everything I could find on the subject. This isn't a bad book, there just is nothing new said in it. I'm not sure why Mr. Sajna felt the need to write it.

Much of the book talks about the historical time and setting of the life of Ta-Sunka Witko, but not about the man himself. In his preface, the author states he only used primary sources in writing this book. A quick scan of my bookshelf shows at least 6 books which are either sources sited in Mr. Sajna's book, or books which site those sources. While I found no particulary new information on the life of Ta-witko, I did find a lot of irrelevant speculation, and references to Lakota life, and the historical times, but no real biographical information. For example, in the chapter "Indian Boyhood" Mr. Sajna writes: "While still a boy, Crazy Horse most likely also was initiated to the real horrors of war. But how, where, or when that may have occurred is impossible to know."

The historical information presented is well researched, and appears accurate, but if I am reading a book with the subtitle "The Life behind the Legend" I want more specific information about the man himself. Perhaps a better title for this book would be "A Historical Context for the Life of Crazy Horse".

In 1942 Mari Sandoz published her biography of Crazy Horse. Some, like Stephen Oates, the famous Lincoln biographer consider it the best biography ever written. However, several scholars of American western history find fault with the fact that she often did not cite her sources, and she wrote only one version of events of which several varied accounts exist. However, it's not enough to simply avoid these to flaws in order to make a book "one of the most accurate accounts of the Oglala Chief," as this book is billed on its back cover. The author also needs to bring up some new information based on new sources. Add to this that Sanja tends to make his own definitive statements about debatable topics, and what you end up with is not of much value.

First off, I or anyone else who has ordered most of the books available on the subject [...]could have just as easily written this, ie there's nothing new here. It is based largely on secondary sources, and though Sajna lists some unpublished sources in his bibliography, I don't see where he used them. He even quoted authors like Stephen Ambrose who himself relied on secondary sources for his book Crazy Horse and Custer.

Second, Sanja while claiming to separate fact from myth, comes up with some uncorroborated ideas of his own. One in particular that stands out is his statement that"[s]peculation about Crazy Horse's sexuality also might be fueled by the fact that he did not marry until after Hump [his hunka brother] had been killed and that among his friends as a boy was Woman's Dress...a well-known winkte..."

I suppose this is the kind of "juicey tidbit" that appeals to readers of the 21st century, but it shows a huge lack of understanding of Native American culture. A close relationship between a warrior and his, what we might call, protege, was not at all unusual. And while Woman's Dress did seem to display some effeminate qualities, that is not the same as being a Winkte. A Winkte was a more or less self-proclaimed homosexual, who dressed either in womens' or mens' clothing as it suited him. However, he spent most of his time with the women doing womens' work, though he could join a war party if he chose. There are various notions of how Woman's Dress got his name (as with most American Indian names) but it is not because he wore dresses. And, need I add, that by all accounts Woman's Dress and Crazy Horse were hardly bosom buddies.

Sanja has every right (though one would question why he cares) to speculate on Crazy Horse's sexuality, but in doing so he should make sure he has something to base it on.

The fact is that it is rather pointless for anyone to claim that they have written "the most accurate account" of Crazy Horse's life. Everything we know about Crazy Horse, with the exception of his death and military records that might refer to battles he took part in, is necessarily based on oral history. Those who knew the history are long gone as are those who interviewed them and recorded it.

Readers can, however, read Sandoz, the Hinman interviews, Neihardt's interviews with Black Elk, as well as the wonderful collections of letters and eye-witness reports compiled in books like The Killing of Chief Crazy Horse and The Death of Crazy Horse, and come up with a much better idea of the "facts" than you will find in this book.

No photos exist of Crazy Horse, and little was written about him during his lifetime. He, himself, left no written record. Much of what we know about him is a collection of highly romanticized and sometimes apocryphal stories told by friends, foes, and rivals. These have been grossly exaggerated and sometimes outright made up through the years. Sajna attempts, by using only verifiable primary sources, to separate the fact from the fiction. This reflects his long career as a newspaperman. Where he can't nail down something for sure, he presents all ideas and allows the reader to draw his/her own conclusion. This scholarly attempt is to lay down the true facts of this remarkable man's life, an extremely difficult task owing to the dearth of verifiable material on the subject. An excellent, scholarly work. It is high time this man was depicted realistically, instead of romantically.

I'll be honest: I've not finished the book...but don't think I will. Author is boring me with background & never getting into subject which is supposed to be Crazy Horse. His research leaves much to be desired. It's no wonder people hate history when it's this boring.

This book is mainly about the Lakota tribe and has short segments about Crazy Horse himself. To be fair to the author, he doesn't speculate on Crazy Horse's life or romanticize events surrounding him. However by doing so, the narrative turns into a "we don't know anything about Crazy Horse except some very dull details". I am dumbfounded that very little is known about Crazy Horse, and yet he is seen as some great warrior. I guess legend is better than fact. And since Americans are ignorant of their history, a monument is being built in S. Dakota to a "great warrior" of whom we know nothing. I think it would be fair to label it an affirmative action monument.

There are some interesting passages in this book. I did learn about the introduction of whiskey trading that wreaked havoc on the indians which still continues to this day. Also, the author states that "contrary to the plains tribes being conservationists, they were intimately involved in the slaughter" of the buffalo species. That statement alone will turn liberals off to this book.

The end of this book is basically white settlers moved into indian territory, indians attacked, the army responded in retaliation. The army attacked the indians, indians retaliated; and so on. After reading 10 pages of this I had about enough. I am amazed the author looked at his manuscript and thought he had something worthwhile to offer to the public. I'm hoping this was his first and last book.

For the most part I enjoyed this book. I did however get a bit tired of the " well there is no evidence so we dont know for sure attitude. perhaps a trained historian could have done a little better. Better than Sandoz book!