As much as I have enjoyed other Mari Sandoz books, I cannot recommend this one, a work published after her death. I have seen it claimed that her name was used, but most of the writing was done some anonymous scrube. I hope this is true, because the intellectual dishonesty in this slender volume only sullies Ms. Sandoz's reputation. To give a few examples of the distortions filling this history of the Little Big Horn battle. Sandoz (or the anonymous true author) repeatedly makes it appear that Custer's command was only a relatively small scouting force working with a much larger column led by General Terry; in fact, Custer's column was substantially larger than that accompanied by Terry. It is claimed that Major Reno did not use trumpets to signal his men in the timber in the river valley because Custer had forbidden him to use them -- a truly stupid notion since such an order would to serve only to prevent the noise of the trumpets from alerting the Indians that soldiers were in the vicinity, and by this point of the battle, Reno had been fighting the Indians for the better part of an hour. Custer is presented as trying to score a quick victory to capture the 1876 Democratic nomination for President with the groundwork already laid by his political allies; research has proven that there was no such political maneuvering underway. Conversations between participants in the battle are invented and thoughts placed in the minds of people long dead. The level of hate -- I can find no better word for it -- directed at Custer by the author of this book is extraordinary. At every possible opportunity, he is depicted in the worst possible manner. There were many decades of lies told about the American Indians, but lying about their white opponents is not justice, merely dishonesty.

Save your money on this one and buy something good by Sandoz instead, like "Cheyenne Autumn" or "Crazy Horse". Or buy a good, balanced history of the battle of the Little Big Horn.

A small compact book that covers the history of the Little Bighorn battle including a good representation of the Native American point of view. Lapses in my mind is the belief that Custer was seeking the Presidency with a flamboyant attack, that Benteen was telling the absolute truth that he was to go valley hunting to infinity and that the native Americans fought with command signals moving almost as troops. She does make an interesting point that due to the officers gathered at Custer Hill at the time of their death, that units may have fought as platoons instead of companies. The book is a bit naive to think that Custer did not have a workable plan and to think that it was unreasonable to assume that calvary units working together could defend agianst large numbers. Albeit in this case the numbers were very large, the terrain was against Custer and he received no support from his other wing commanders. Beechers Island and McKenzies attack aginst Dull Knife and his 1500 followers later that year indicate the possibilities.
A lot more analysis has occurred in 25 years and I would recommend a more up to date book.

Mari Sandoz vividly re-tells the Battle of Little Bighorn. A must for all history buffs.