Seize the Sky

Terry C. Johnston was a great writer and I own and have read his "Son of the Plains" series, including SEIZE THE SKY which deals with Custer's legendary last stand at the Little Big Horn in southeastern Montana. Johnston lived in Billings and knew the Little Big Horn and the surrounding country. His descriptions of it are lyrical. He was, however, much better at historical fiction than history. He pre-supposes a romance between a beautiful Cheyenne woman and Custer. In so doing, he suggests that Custer's wife, Libby, was frigid. The proof he advanced was that she and George had no children. This moves the plot of the novel along nicely and Custer ends up in the arms of the beautiful Cheyenne woman who provides him with a son. This is great fiction, but it ignores Dr. Lawrence Frost's research demonstrating that Custer had been treated for an STD while still a cadet at West Point. The pathology of this disease is that the symptoms vanish leaving the victim under the impression that he's been cured. Instead, he's been rendered sterile. This is why Autie and Libby never had any children. By all accounts, the Custers had a warm, loving relationship and it's unlikely that Custer had any children at all. This deflates the romance Johnston liked to weave into his elegant plots, but that's the way it was. SEIZE THE SKY is a great novel, but it's not good history as has been noted already. I like good historical novels and I gave SEIZE THE SKY four stars. It's a great read even if it isn't reliable history. And nobody described the West more vividly than Terry C. Johnston. If you like romance, action, historical settings and first-class writing, you'll love SEIZE THE SKY. If you're looking for reliable history, look elsewhere.

"Seize The Sky" is another Terry C. Johnston masterpiece! I read this book alongside the Official Little Bighorn Battlefield National Park Handbook. "Seize the Sky" was historically accurate to the letter. Mr. Johnston vividly portrayed the personalities of George Armstrong Custer, his commanders and scouts as well as the Sioux and Cheyenne leaders Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse and their warriors. After Mr. Johnston introduced me to General Custer, it became obvious why he led his 7th Cavalry into history on that fateful June day in 1876. Mr. Johnston's writing is magnificently vivid. He puts you on the battlefield; the sights, the sounds, the smells amid the oppressive heat of that summer day. My skin crawled when he described the soldiers of L Company in the tall grass of Calhoun Hill. Those panic stricken moments when their Springfield carbines jammed and they frantically tried to pry the empty casings from the rifle's superheated chambers with screaming death and mutilation only seconds away. No one can put you there better than Terry C. Johnston! Forget the textbooks. "Seize the Sky" should be required reading in any American history classroom.