A ROAD WE DO NOT KNOW: A Novel of Custer at Little Bighorn [Hardcover]

Frederick J. Chiaventone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 11, 1996

Based on 20 years' research, this novel recounts the events of 25th July 1876 in the valley of the Little Bighorn, when Custer led his 7th Cavalry Regiment on an attack against the Sioux. The author makes use of contemporary press reports, army documents, diaries, letters and reminiscences.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Everybody knows how this story ends, but in his first novel Chiaventone still provides a thrilling and scalp-raising ride with Custer and the 7th Cavalry down into the valley of the Little Bighorn River in 1876. Despite the emphatic warnings of his experienced Indian and civilian scouts, Custer never believed that his 600 cavalrymen would ride head-on into 5000 Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapahoe waiting eagerly to fight Yellow Hair and his soldiers. Custer expected to face no more than 800 warriors, and was sure that the Indians would scatter when attacked by the 7th Cavalry. He couldn't have been more wrong. Lieutenant Charles Varnum opens the story here, in the early morning hours of June 25th as he and his scouts come across the first signs of a huge Indian village laying somewhere ahead in the darkness. As events develop that morning, Custer, who is depicted by Chiaventone as never hesitant, makes fateful decisions that will be immortalized for 120 years. After dividing his force with the hapless Major Reno and the embittered Captain Benteen, Custer foolishly leads five companies of cavalrymen into a maelstrom of blood, bullets, arrows and war clubs?a horrific battle that can have only one outcome. Through the eyes of troopers, sergeants, officers and Indian warriors, Chiaventone takes the reader on to the battlefield, dismounted, choking on dust and gunsmoke, frantically shooting and dodging tomahawks, desperate to survive. Though fiction, this vigorous account is bolstered by fact and makes an excellent companion to Edwin P. Hoyt's novel The Last Stand, and Evan S. Connell's nonfiction Son of the Morning Star.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Chiaventone's gritty and authentic account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn essentially deglamorizes the myth of Custer's last stand and seeks to humanize both the primary and the secondary participants in this legendary drama. Utilizing original letters, diaries, and transcripts as well as contemporary historical research and analysis, the author painstakingly pieces together the fateful events of July 25, 1876, without glorifying either the combat or the combatants. Subordinating the characters of Custer, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse to the grim reality of the conflict itself, the tautly rendered narrative immerses the reader in the actual experience of the battle rather than in the personalities of the principal antagonists. A stunning retelling of an overly familiar military debacle and a superb piece of historical fiction. Margaret Flanagan

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (September 11, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684830566
• ISBN-13: 978-0684830568
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,426,405 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A novel that makes real people out of the participants., September 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A ROAD WE DO NOT KNOW: A Novel of Custer at Little Bighorn (Hardcover)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found the footnotes to be very helpful. There were so very many more people involved besides Custer, Sitting Bull, etc. The Native Americans were families doing what families do - enjoying their day, grinding corn, cooking. They became "real," not just Lakota people. The "ordinary" soldiers also became real. I compare this book to "The Killer Angels" for "fleshing out" the participants. Again, these were real people. I believe that Mr. Chiaventone did an excellent job of creating dialog that is believable based on the situation and the times. I have recommended this book to many people and it is one that I intend to read again.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for any person interested in this battle, May 24, 2000

By 

Robert Doyle "Robbie D" (Ireland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A ROAD WE DO NOT KNOW: A Novel of Custer at Little Bighorn (Hardcover)

Although fictional, this book is so uncannaly accurate in its attention to detail on the know facts and the characters that fought on that day, the reader does believe that they are finally uncovering the truth behind Custer's final moments. It is a thrilling read, both for a Custer buff or for a fan of Western/Military novels. The combatants on June 25th 1876, up to now one dimensional history book figures, become 'real'. The book should form the basis for a movie script, which would finally see the film studios complete an accurate portrail of America's most compelling battle.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Killer Angels" on the Little Bighorn., June 19, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A ROAD WE DO NOT KNOW: A Novel of Custer at Little Bighorn (Hardcover)

After reading the reviews here, I agree totally with the comparisons of Frederick Chiaventone's "A Road We Do Not Know" to Shaara's "The Killer Angels." This book is that good!

Chiaventone's wonderful dramatization is simply the best fictional account of the Little Bighorn that I have ever read. The reader is taken from moment Custer's scouts spot the hostile village's pony herd in the pre-dawn darkness of June 25, 1876 to the burying of the torn, mutilated remains of 265 American soldiers on June 27. In between the men and events of that battle are brought vividly to life with terrific historical detail and well-thought out conjecture. Chiaventone goes into the thought processes of the commanders, both white and Indian, and the emotions of the average soldier or warrior. It is refreshing to see Lakota and Cheyenne leaders portrayed as able tacticians, and not just inspirational leaders without any thought of how to engage the enemy. Chiaventone shows Gall and Crazy Horse outthinking the 7th Cavalry as well as outfighting and outnumbering them.

It is also refreshing to see Chiaventone trying to rehabilitate the military reputation of General Custer. Over that last fifteen years, many historians (Utley, Hutton, Wert, Barnett ect.) have tried to tear down the current popular image of Custer as a blustering, racist, glory-hunting fool, and some novelists, such as Chiaventone and Michael Blake, have followed suit. In "A Road We Do Not Know", George A. Custer is shown as a very capable and experienced commander. (You don't become a brevet major general at the age of 25 for being an idiot!) Is he portrayed as Errol Flynn? No! But he is also not portrayed as a one dimensional, cardboard villain like on "Dr. Quinn." However, Custer's image is so intertwined with our national guilt over the treatment of the Indian that I don't think his reputation will ever fully be rehabilitated, but I do take my hat off to Chiaventone for trying.

It's a shame that Simon and Schuster really did not support this book when they published it, it deserves a far bigger following. It also deserves to be ranked with "The Killer Angels" as one of the finest pieces of historical fiction on the subject of men in combat.