The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn

The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn (Hardcover) By Nathaniel Philbrick

After reading Philbrick’s Mayflower and Sea of Glory, I picked this one up at the airport and I couldn’t wait to read about Custer, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, and all the tales that were presented. What I really enjoyed most about the book was that it is based on various eye-witness accounts, from both Indian’s and soldier’s points of view. It was unbiased, which I really like about Philbrick’s books. When it comes to the battle itself, the author places more emphasis upon Custer, yet it is clear that the purpose of the book is not just to describe the specific massacre, but to show how it was a last stand for two people, Custer’s way of life fighting Indians, and the Indians way of life on the planes. Both were coming to an end as the frontier becomes fenced in and the buffalo becomes scarce. Custer, the most renowned Indian fighter in the West, and the Indians of the Northern Plains, who after that day faced a slow decline to reservation life, ridicule, and almost cultural obliteration were presented in a vivid and engaging book.

As with all of Philbrick's books, the story and the text are smooth and readable. The reader does not have to be a history buff to enjoy this book. This book is another example of history that is not presented in school, but should be. Politics and Washington DC had a great deal to play in the events that unfolded in the Dakotas in 1870’s. The Last Stand is another memorable work that serves as a wonderful introduction into an often mythologized segment of American history. Within the first twenty pages, the reader will be gripped by a sustained eagerness to witness the detail of each character and the unfolding of an historic event in slow motion. Whether you are aboard the Far West, guarding the pack train, or cooking in a teepee, the book will take you there. I will never forget the great clouds of dust while driving hard with the cavalry to the Little Bighorn River.

Philbrick paints a convincing picture of the events that surround this historical battle. It is well researched, brilliantly written, and engulfing. After reading about the Comanche a couple months ago (Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanche, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne), the reader will add to his knowledge about planes Indians, and will get a well-drawn out picture of life at the close of the frontier period. It is a first had account, a clash of cultures that led to the end of the "Indian Wars." This book is part of the required reading for my class.

Few events in American history are more surrounded by myth than Custer's Last Stand, and the life of America's most famous Indian fighter, George Armstrong Custer. Custer's story is paired with that of his adversary, Sitting Bull. In many ways this campaign was a last stand for not only Custer at the Little Bighorn, but for the way of life for Indians, the soldier, and frontiersmen. I give it five stars.