Customer Reviews

Turn the Stars Upside Down: The Last Days and Tragic Death of Crazy Horse (Plainsmen)

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Terry has again transported us back in time to the the last days of the powerful Ogalala warrior who finally came in to the Red Cloud agency to fight the white man no more. This book goes into detail to the conspiring factions of the Sioux leaders and the local U.S. Army commanders in bringing down the famous warrior. Terry paints the story with sights and sounds of the the capture and tragic death of Crazy Horse. The author can instill life into his characters with great passion that lets the reader have great empathy with the situations that they must go through. If you want to get hooked on history of the Old West, I recommend this book and the thirty some other books he has written. Good bye Terry. I was proud to have known and rode with you.

I have been a fan of Terry C. Johnston since his first novel "Carry The Wind," and was greatly distressed at his passing. The historical novel has lost a genius and I have lost a friend. We shall never get to follow Seamus Donegan to the end of the projected Plainsmen series, and that is a great loss for lovers of the genre. That said, I was a bit disappointed that Terry went out on a down note, as I feel "Turn The Stars Upside Down" was not up to his usual standards. But even middling Johnston is superior to almost anything else out there. This novel of Crazy Horse's last days could have used a more critical editor to lop out the repitition that creeps in the pages, as well as sharpening the dialogue a bit. I love the way Terry comes to his own conclusions on the events described in the novel. Terry was never one to back down from his opinions, and his meticulous research backs him up.He delves farther into the Lakota politics and intrigues than any previous author, and lets us see the tragedy of the whole Indian Wars and its effect on the Indians as well as whites. When he makes the connection of the Crazy Horse story to Shakespearean tragedy, you better believe he proves his point. I have personal letters from him and can vouch that he will state his opinion and back it up vehemently! So while this was a good Johnston book, if you want to read an excellent novel on the subject, try Dan O'Brien's "Contract Surgeon." With the passing of the western historical novel's literary giant, we Johnston devotees must now go back through our libraries and reread his previous novels, wondering what might have been had this giant of a man lived on to complete his vision.