Customer Reviews

Custer's Luck

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Fiction, indeed: George Armstrong Custer wins at the Little Bighorn and becomes such a hero that he is later nominated for the presidency of the United States. Skimin explores the possibilities of this scenario, and it's up to the reader to decide if it makes any difference when an alternative personage resides in the Oval Office. If you know just the barest of facts about Custer, you'll find this book interesting. If you've done your homework and read "Crazy Horse and Custer" by Stephen Ambrose, you'll find the work intriguing. At the very least, it's stimulating food for historical thought.

Unfortunately, the editing and/or proofreading job on the publication leaves a lot to be desired. When I started counting the number of times "it's" was mistakenly employed instead of "its" -- 17 -- I knew the styling was getting in the way of my enjoyment of the story. I also saw at least 11 spelling or grammatical errors; mis- or non-uses of dashes, hyphens, quotes, and question marks became too numerous to make note of. It's surprising that a commercial publisher can let that much slip by these days. For the reputation of the author, I sincerely hope the glitches are corrected if this title goes to paperback or to an additional printing.

I thoroughly enjoyed this "what if" story of a successful Custer who seemed to be ahead of his time, and yet suffered from the same character defects as more recent leaders. While the details surrounding some of the lesser characters was a little tedious, it was a quick,interesting, and fun read. In the final analysis, Custer could not escape the Little Big Horn and, as with JFK, the promise of a great leader was not realized. Don't miss this book if you enjoy alternative history and Custer mythology.

I have been reading alternative histories on and off since MacKinlay Kantor wrote "If the South Had Won the Civil War" several decades ago. The two key factors in any alternative history are (1) what happens differently to alter the flow of history and (2) what significant chances result from that alteration. Such stories are usually flawed because the first part becomes convoluted beyond belief, but that is certainly not the case with "Custer's Luck," written by Robert Skimin with researcher William E. Moody. The pivotal moment is, of course, the Battle of the Little Big Horn, and the authors have George Armstrong Custer discover the true size of the Indian camp he is about to attack. So instead of continuing with his suicidal charge he reunites his elements of the 7th Calvary with those under Reno and Benteen. With a unified command Custer is able to compel Sitting Bull to surrender by employing his standard tactic, threatening the women and children. Therefore, instead of the newspapers being full of the massacre of Custer's troops on nation's Centennial, "Long Hair" is credited with a great victory. All of this is certainly plausible.

Equally reasonable is the idea that Custer would then have been tapped to run for President in 1880. The main thrust of "Custer's Luck" is therefore going to be what happens to the destiny of America with Custer in the White House. If you have a reasonable grasp of American history--and there is no reason to be reading these types of books if you do not--then half the fun is recognizing where and when the authors are lifting ideas and events. This goes from such relatively minor things as the court-martial of a black West Point cadet to Custer insisting the U.S. cannot afford to be Isolationist, the political philosophy that was the flaw in American diplomacy throughout the 20th century. Ultimately, "Custer's Luck" wants to have the United States try to begin that century the way it ended it, as the preeminent military and political power on the planet. Consequently, Custer fast-forwards the nation in terms of developing a strong navy, building the Panama Canal, provoking a war with Spain over Cuba, and even supporting women's suffrage.

The main sub-plot of the novel focuses on Red Elk, a young Sioux Warrior who vows over the dead body of his pregnant wife that he will kill "Long Hair." Red Elk is a fictional character, originally created in Skimin's "The River and the Horsemen: A Novel of the Little Big Horn." Given that previous novel along with the fact Moody is the editor of "The Journal of the Little Bighorn Associates," it is not surprising that several of those who died with Custer--his brothers Tom and Boston, Myles Keogh, Mark Kellogg and William Cooke--are prominent throughout the novel. Even Frederick Benteen, never a Custer supporter, becomes a Congressman bent on derailing his former commander's ambitions. There are also some soap opera elements; at one point Custer even ends up in the arms of Lillie Langtry. But even before we get to Skimin's final postscript comment "Any comparison to Camelot is in the mind of the reader," it is clear that John F. Kennedy is the major model for the Custer Administration and its theme of "The New American Empire." After all, Custer puts brother Tom in a Cabinet post while his brother Boston is elected a Congressman, Libbie wants to fix up the White House and Custer has the government supporting the fine arts.

I am perfectly willing to grant that many of the things Custer does in this novel could have been done at that time. I will even agree that a national hero such as Custer would have been after winning the Battle of the Little Bighorn could be swept to the Presidency (although Custer's narrow victory in the election does not ring true to me, even if the man was a Democrat). What I find hard to believe is that a President Custer would have been so visionary. When he works out diplomatic solutions to get both Geronimo and Sitting Bull back to their reservations, it is clear that Skimin and Moody are offering us a different Custer than the egotistical daredevil of history's current judgment. Then again, this only underscores that the character is ultimately only a device that allows the authors to shape their alternative America, so there is a logic to their alterations. However, the ending of "Custer's Luck" conveniently frees Skimin from having to finish what he has started. The significant changes that should be at the heart of this alternative history are therefore secondary to the parade of historical figures Custer and his cohorts encounter in the novel. To say the least, I find this to be an unsatisfactory way of concluding this story, essentially negating much of the momentum Skimin and Moody had in creating their alternate America.

This book, which tells the story of a successful Battle of Little Bighorn, is painstakingly well researched. Obviously, researcher Bill Moody did his job; all the "players" of the Gilded Age fall into their obvious roles. The comparisons to JFK don't stop at the brothers in the government or the youthful (unfaithful) President and his pretty wife, though Skimin claims that the book is not intended to be compared to "Camelot."

The problem is that either Skimin is a terrible writer or his editors had it in for him. The book is riddled with grammatical and stylistic errors, especially "it's" for "its." At first it's just annoying, but after awhile the errors really detract from the enjoyment of the story.

...and I hate to say that, because I was really, REALLY looking forward to reading this book! Alternate histories fascinate me (as they do many readers) and although I'm happy to say that the author appears to have a good grasp of Custer as a personality and doesn't paint him as a heartless, Indian-hating, glory-grabbing brute (which is refreshing!), his style is extremely dry. The research is sound, but it's more like reading a history textbook than a novel. So, if you're looking for a teeth-rattling page-turner, I'm afraid this isn't it. "Marching to Valhalla" is a much better bet!

Since I'm the author, it's my 16th published book, and I wouldn't let it hit the streets unless I considered it up to my high standards, I simply couldn't rate it lower, folks. Besides Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Publisher's Weekly, and numerous other publications have accorded the story high accolades. Custer, if you know much about him, could have done little different as president than as portrayed. And "what-ifs" are a great deal of fun, not only to write, but to read...particularly if the author has done deep homework. My 1999 "The River and the Horsemen" the real novel of the Little Bighorn, is a critically acclaimed prequel to this book. Enjoy!!!