Friday, August 23, 2013

CUSTER'S LAST BATTLE: RED HAWK'S ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE OF THE LITTLE BIGHORN





What an enlightening and entertaining addition to any young person’s library!  This recent edition of Custer’s Last Battle: Red Hawk’s Account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn holds the nearest account of what actually happened as we’re apt to find.  As the author states, “...the account is fiction, but told in the manner of the published accounts of Indian people who had taken part in the battle.”

Also included in this edition is a Foreword by Joe Medicine Crow, the former Crow tribal historian whose grandfather was one of Custer’s own scouts.  He wrote the Foreword when he was 98 years old so he had the opportunity to meet many survivors of the Custer battle.  He spoke directly with the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Sioux, and Crowe scouts who were at the battle.  History has never been so authentic, so alive!

In addition, for the first time the “illustrations are in glorious digitalized color, scanned from the original artwork housed among the collections in the South Dakota Art Museum.”  They are amazing, full and double page art work in brilliant hues.

Those who read this book will never again think of Custer’s battle in the sanitized retelling that we often hear.  Custer’s Last Battle is an estimable work, one that will be passed from one generation to the next.  Don’t miss it!

- Gail Cooke

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