Customer Reviews

Sitting Bull: The Life and Times of an American Patriot

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Robert Utley's "Sitting Bull:The Life And Times Of An American Patriot" is a splendid biography of the eminent Hunkpapa Sioux leader. Utley covers the full span of Sitting Bull's life using primarily primary(firsthand) sources and deftly manages to paint a portrait of a tangible "flesh & blood" human being. Utley, one of the greatest historians of the American West and the former chief historian of the National Park Service, treats his subject with deep sympathy and fairness but fairly explicates Sitting Bull's strengths and weaknesses and offers analysis and conclusions that are sober and well informed. The real strength of this biography is post-Little Bighorn because Sitting Bull's life became far more complicated at this point, and Utley does an admirable job of explaining the myriad complications of the Indian chief's life on the run from a vengeful U.S. Army, in sanctuary in Canada which created diplomatic pressures between the United States and Canada and Great Britain, and his capitulation(and sad realization)that his people(and all plains Indians) nomadic lifestyles had come to an end, to Sitting Bulls embrace of the Ghost Dance which ultimately led to his demise. Superb and first rate!!!!

Incidentally, the original title of this work(and the one Utley prefers) is "The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull". If one looks up the original title of this work on Amazon they will find many more reviews of this very same book(save the title). Additionally, as a companion to this fine biography the interested reader may also want to read Utley's excellent biography of George Armstrong Custer titled "Cavalier in Buckskin: George Armstrong Custer and the Western Military Frontier".