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

I've read most of the recent books on Custer and the Little Bighorn; if you want a really good overview, this and Stephen Ambrose's magnificent "Parallel Lives" will do perfectly. And if you only want one book, this is the best I've read on the famous battle--some excellent coverage of some of Custer's officers, the Sioux & others, and the aftermath. Philbrick's writing is clear, informative, and evocative.

Two nights ago, due mostly to a casual interest in the folklore surrounding Custer's Last Stand, I attended a reading at a local bookstore by Mr. Nathaniel Philbrick regarding his just released work "The Last Stand". I hadn't read any of his earlier works and I'm not even a casual historian. I purchased his book that night mainly out of curiosity. This morning I began reading his account of the events and personalities that intersected at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Within the first 20 pages I was gripped by a sustained eagerness to witness the lush detail of the introduction of each character and the unfolding of an historic event in exquisite slow motion. Pausing only for food and other necessities I devoured this book cover to cover. Having just finished the book I can say I found it satisfying on every level. I certainly agree with other early reviews that Mr. Philbrick's account is painstakingly researched and goes to great length to be even-handed in how it treats both individuals and events. Inevitably, more time is spent focused on General Custer, Major Reno, Captain Benteen and the many other military and occasionally political figures among the "whites", but my sense is that this imbalance stems mainly from the more abundant information (interviews, journal entries, letters home, etc) that exists to flesh out that perspective. In the end Sitting Bull comes off the best overall but that seems to be a reasonable conclusion based on the accumulation of available evidence rather than the result of propagandizing. No character is painted as entirely good or evil and each portrait seems realistic. The addition of innumerable lesser characters adds richness and insight into each facet of the work. Here is a story with which I was already sufficiently familiar that I knew every main character, knew the political and cultural dynamic, knew the geography and basic time line and, of course, knew how the story ended. Nevertheless, I found "The Last Stand" to be a spellbinding account made vivid not by fictionalizing or flowery prose but by letting the reader watch as what often seem to be minor events and trivial interpersonal relationships culminate in a deadly drama. I never had the impression that these elements were being artificially juxtaposed in such as way as to force them to hold special meaning. Rather, by the end I felt as though I had gotten to know how the strengths and weaknesses of each main character played a role in how the events unfolded. Mr. Philbrick invites conjecture as to how different personalities might have changed the events, prevented the battle or changed the outcome but he is remarkably restrained in indulging such conjecture himself. I know that other early reviewers, as well as the author himself, have made a point to draw parallels between Sitting Bull and General Custer as charismatic leaders, how this in a way was each man's "last stand" and all that. I don't dispute it, I just didn't care ab

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. In many ways the American myth is wrapped up in the Custer story. Nathaniel Philbeck takes great pains to accurately tell the story of Custer's last campaign within the context of the historical and social mlleu of the day. Custer's story is paired with that of his advesary, Sitting Bull. Philbeck notes that in many ways this campaign was a last stand for not only Custer at the Little Bighorn, but for the way of life for both Native Americans and Frontiersmen. Sitting Bull is pictured as trying to find a way to maintain the ways of his people in a changing cultural context. Philbeck paints a convincing picture of both men and of the events that surround this segment of their lives. It is well researched, brilliantly written, and engrossing. As combined reading with Stephen Ambrose's Custer and Crazy Horse, the reader can get a well drawn out picture of life at the close of the frontier period and the clash of cultures that led to the "Indian Wars" This is a must read for any student of frontier history

Nathaniel Philbrick is normally associated with nautical history, so it might be something of a surprise that in "The Last Stand" he has chronicled the Battle of the Little Bighorn, a military event that took place about as far from the ocean as you can get. But, it might be remembered that a large part of his "Mayflower" book was focused on the violent relations between the Pilgrims and Indians and on the slightly later King Phillip's War. Here in "The Last Stand", the author has returned to the subject of white-Indian relations and has created a vivid, engaging book. Philbrick's "The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn" quite naturally invites comparison with 2008's "A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn" by James Donovan, about the same subject. Although both volumes present lengthy, quite comprehensive narratives, they do differ significantly. Donovan's book takes a more straightforward approach, while Philbrick's is more consciously "literary" in style, filled with numerous colorful incidents almost cinematic in impact. Additionally, Philbrick's "The Last Stand" devotes somewhat more attention to the Indian side of the story than does Donovan's volume. Which book is "better"? The answer to that undoubtedly depends on the reader and his/her needs and expectations. Philbrick's volume is perhaps the more suited for random browsing or reading a chapter at a time, while Donovan's is probably better suited for focused, prolonged study. I personally enjoyed both Philbrick's and Donovan's volumes. Both books are representative of a much more balanced, even-handed approach to the Little Bighorn battle than had been characteristic of the past. Originally, accounts tended to overly laud Custer and his soldiers as peerless representatives of Civilization, done to death by a savage, scarcely human foe. By the latter part of the Twentieth century, however, it had become commonplace to reverse roles, depicting Custer and his men as mindless murderers and the Indians as peaceful, innocent victims. We now seem to have finally reached a point, as demonstrated in both Philbrick's "The Last Stand" and also Donovan's "A Terrible Glory", where the participants on both sides can be depicted as three-dimensional, realistic blends of virtue and flaw, neither demons nor angels. Any serious student of the Little Bighorn battle - I count myself among them - can find elements in Philbrick's book (as in Donovan's) with which to disagree. The events are complex enough and the evidence sufficiently murky that this is inevitable. I cannot say that I learned anything wholly new here, but then again I've been studying the Little Bighorn battle for more than 40 years. An intelligent general reader, previously uninformed about the details, can come away from "The Last Stand" with a good understanding of the events and the people involved on both sides. If that reader should wish to proceed further with studying t

Nathaniel Philbrick has delivered a wonderfully fresh look at yet another iconic piece of American history. The historian has made his career in such endeavors and his approach is refreshing and enlivening. By telling as many sides of the conflict as he could unearth, Philbrick avoids the pitfalls of taking sides in his story-telling, and the reader ends up with a clear sense of the humanity, the strengths and the weaknesses of all the major players. About one fourth of the book is devoted to documentation for those who are drawn to further research or might perhaps take issue with the author's conclusions. I was content to simply read the tale of soldiers and warriors locked in a conflict much bigger than their small world, and doomed to outcomes that couldn't be fathomed in the moment. Who won and who lost, then and later, is still subject to debate, and the contribution of writers like Philbrick is to help us understand that history doesn't end.

Much has been said about the Battle of Little Bighorn. George Armstrong Custer has been portrayed as both an arrogant imbecile and a national hero. Sitting Bull has been portrayed as a murderous villain and a cultural icon of steadfastness. Nathaniel Philbrick, as he did in his wondrous MAYFLOWER, digs deep into the heart of the legend. Custer and Sitting Bull were both men--human beings with faults and virtues, men who both appeared to desire peace, on the eve of the Battle--and yet, neither many any great overtures for it. Why? What drove these two men into what can only be described as a massacre? And what really happened at Little Bighorn that day? Obviously, to the latter question, there is only conjecture, though Philbrick unbiasedly presents the various eye-witness accounts. When it comes to the battle itself, he 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, the most renowned Indian fighter in the West; and the Native Americans of the Northern Plains, who after that day faced a slow decline to reservation life, ridicule, and almost cultural obliteration. Philbrick's prose is smooth and readable; you don't have to be a history buff to enjoy this book. You just have to love a good story, and have an appreciation for what makes mankind both so great and so terrible. THE LAST STAND is another memorable work by Nathaniel Philbrick, and serves as a wonderful introduction into an oft-mythologized segment of American history.