Crazy Horse and Custer

A very interesting read

Ambrose has a flare for writing about History. The book was a pleassure to read, and it gave the intimate details of the life of two men (Custer and Crazy Horse). Both warriors had more in common than imaginable. As a historical refernce, it covers both the naidir of the Native American experience and the trials and tribulations of westward expansion. Although critics accuse Ambrose of copying other authors' works; I still say it's worth reading.

This is simply the best history book I have read in years. If you like American history you will like this book. If you like history and have visited Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument in South Dakota, you will probably love this book. If you like Native American history and/or happen to be a Civil War buff, you will treasure this book and not want it to end.Stephen Ambrose was a marvelous historian. He told real life stories with the skill of a master fiction writer. His characters are gripping, quixotic and often of enviable character. This was the case with Crazy Horse and Custer.If you want to learn about what it was like to live as a Native American on the high plains in the 19th century, this book is for you. If you want to know what it was like to be a U.S. soldier during or after the Civil War, this book is for you. If you want to read a story about valor, integrity, dignity, tragedy and pain, this book is for you. The story of "how the West was won" is sad and heartbreaking at times. But so is life, and so is much of the history of history of the United States. Life, like history, can also be extremely exciting and adventursome. In this book, Ambrose brings both Crazy Horse and Custer back to life so that we may live their adventures with them as they make history.Ambrose is exceptionally fair in his analysisof both men. He is partial to both the Native Americans and the U.S. soldiers who often brutalized them. He paints a picture that is, by all accounts, historically accurate and incredibly interesting. Ambrose makes it possible to see the good and bad in both Crazy Horse and Custer. He shows their strengths and weaknesses, allowing readere to draw their own conclusions about the nature of their conflict.There are few historians who have the talent to research and write with equally admirable skill. Ambrose has done both in this wonderful book. If you are interested in American history, read this. If not, read it anyway. It may inspire within you a new interest in history. It did for me. It may also inspire you to visit a part of the U.S. so beautifully described in this book. Reading this book is like taking a trip to South Dakota or Wyoming, or even into the inside of a Tee Pee or onto the field of a Civil War battle. You will feel surrounded by countless thousands of wild buffalo. You will feel as if you were in the middle of fight on the plains of Colorado. Once you begin this trip, you may not ever want it to end.

I enjoyed Ambrose's approach of following the lives of natural leaders in different cultures. It was interesting the see how each culture, Americans in the late 1800s and American Indians, picked their leaders. The research is thicker on Custer, due to the vastly more complete written record. The history of Crazy Horse is based more on oral history of events long since passed. Pay no attention to reviewers that say this is not "the historical book on Custer." A book does not have to be a 1200 page tome to be a great book. Ambrose makes history vibrant and meaningful, a trait lost on most academic historians.

Crazy Horse and George Custer were leaders. They led by example, they led by acclamation, and they led driven by a desire to shape the future of their people. They lived their lives in parallel until the fateful day when they met on the grassy hills of the Little Big Horn. A meeting that was a significant historical mark in the final closing chapter of the free Indian nations in what is now the territory of the United States. Steven Ambrose offers again one of his masterful historical tales in a compelling read. George Custer's legend is well earned. He was a larger than life individual. Crazy Horse most likely wanted to raise a family, but the events of his day precluded a peaceful life. Ambrose captures the spirit and style of their lives while retelling the history. Forget watching the fanciful movies. This book is another creation that only Steven Ambrose could create - a history book that is as compelling a read as the best action thriller novel. ENJOY!

Stephen E. Ambrose really brings history to life in this book about Custer, Crazy Horse, and the culture of plains indians and American expansionism. Ambrose is able to elquantly put down on to paper both sides of the story without becoming bogged down in what is so popularly reffered to as politically correct revisionist history. After reading this book I really feel as though I have a much better understanding of both the indian side of the story which is to preserve their way of life as well as the unstoppable expansion into the west. Anyway no matter who's side you take Custer's or Crazy Horse's it's a great book and was fun to read.