I think this book was very descriptive and a well writen book. Its perfet for research for anything and my kids loved it. They read it for a week then they asked if there was a nether "Forces and Movement" out that they could read! Thanks, Jeremy Lacocque

The cover photograph of the markers of where Custer and his troopers fell on "Last Stand Hill" at the Little Bighorn Battlefield is a great choice because what makes the battlefield unique are all those white markers, scattered across several acres. Unlike other national parks established at battlefields, such as Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, at the Little Bighorn you get a visual sense for the battle. The largest group of markers is on Last Stand Hill, just below the monument on top of the mass grave of the troopers of the 7th Calvary.

Beyond the cover photograph the strength of R. Conrad Stein's juvenile history of "The Battle of the Little Bighorn" is how the battle is put in historical perspective. Stein's perspective is that the battle represents the only time the Indians successfully defended their homeland against white settlement. Stein relates how the search for gold in the Black Hills put the prospectors and miners on a collision course with the Lakota tribes, making war on the Great Plains inevitable. The campaign of 1876 and the Battle at Rosebud Creek set the stage for what happened to Custer at the Little Bighorn. The battle itself is sketched out in terms of the major elements and my only reservations about this book are that Stein pretty much takes it easy on Custer. It was his standard tactic to attack a village and start killing the women and children to make the braves surrender; this was what he was trying to do that day only he had grossly underestimated the size of the village he was attacking. Stein relates how Custer was considered a hero and does nothing to seriously challenge that idea in this volume.

The aftermath of the battle is covered in only a couple of paragraphs and Stein ends with the observation that whatever the two sides might think about the battle, they both agree the battlefield is a sacred site because of all those who lost their lives. This book is illustrated with not only contemporary color photographs of the battlefield, but historic photos and illustrations of the participants and the battle. Like all of the volumes in the Cornerstones of Freedom series this is an excellent place for teachers and students alike to find out more details about key events in American History that go well beyond what little can be found in your standard textbook. You should also check out "It Is A Good Die to Die: Indian Eyewitnesses Tell the Story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn."

This beautiful work reminds me of one of my favorite books of all time, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Like Anne Fadiman, Eileen Pollack has an amazing sense of structure and of the important, risky, daring questions to ask. She confronts what others might shy away from, and she makes sense of it all for us. I loved learning about the brave and almost-forgotten Catherine Weldon.

Some of the key questions raised for me by this book are: what does it mean to be an insider, or an outsider, in a particular group or in a country? Does the outsider have any possibility of understanding/aiding/participating in another culture? How do we help or harm each other? Which tragedies are preventable, and which inevitable, and why? Pollack seems to show the same courage and dedication as her subject -- Sitting Bull's great-great-granddaughter invited her to participate in ceremonies not usually open to outsiders. Her trust is well repaid by this remarkable book.

This book brings Sitting Bull alive and takes into account many of the considerations that went into the life of Sitting Bull and the Nation Building ambitions of the emerging United States. The beginning seems slow as Sitting Bull's early life is largely intertribal warfare with Crows, but once the railroad starts intruding on Indian lands it becomes much more interesting as the complexity of diplomacy and war is examined from all angles.

The best part is the end where the tension between modernity and Plains Indians creates a conflict between Sitting Bull and the Indian agent assigned to him. The by-no-means inevitable death of Sitting Bull at the hands of tribal police chiefs echoes in eery ways the handling of Pine Ridge by Dicky Wilson in the 70s when assassination was commonplace.

I have a test for any biography. If the biography is over and you feel like you know the subject then it's well written. I rank Robert Utley up with Alison Weir as one of the best historians of our time.

Robert Utley, a noted historian, has written an excellent biography on this famous Lakota titled The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull. Utley's monograph depicts Sitting Bull as an influential Lakota, true to his people and his culture. Before The Lance and the Shield, Stanley Vestal's book, Sitting Bull: Champion of the Sioux, was the premiere work. However, as Utley expresses, Vestal's work is often more literary than historical. Given today's trends in historiography, students needed a new text, one with thorough documentation and a more clear writing style. Utley has created an exceptional text that equals his previous writing successes.

Utley uses two metaphorical approaches to chronicle Sitting Bull's life--the Lance and the Shield and the Four Cardinal Virtues. Utley suggests that Sitting Bull's life can be easily viewed in two different roles, a defensive one (shield) and an offensive one (lance); careful and concise description shows how Sitting Bull continually sought to defend and protect his people, militarily and politically. The Lakotas value Four Cardinal Virtues above all others: bravery, fortitude, generosity, and wisdom. Sitting Bull personified these ideals through his dealings with family, friends, and even enemies. Because Sitting Bull lived such a virtuous life, he achieved great influential power among his people and even among other Plains nations.

Utley's bias clearly lies with the Lakota people. However, his writing style is clear and factual, so usually the reader does not get the impression of overwhelming bias toward the Native Americans, after all, we hear of their faults and shortcomings too. Utley says that this more realistic image of Sitting Bull reveals his greatness because of what he represented, the spirit of the Lakota people. (Rebecca McMurrin)

I've read this book several times, and am amazed each time. Utley is a terrific writer and historian, as he provides the reader with a complex and vivid "picture" of Sitting Bull and his times. Drawing on a variety of sources, both Indian and white, we come to understand Sitting Bull's struggle for his people through witnessing his childhood, relationships with his fellow Lakota (both Hunkpappa and other tribes), conflict with the whites, travels with Buffalo Bill (his sympathy for poor whites he encountered in the eastern cities is esp. telling), and his murder at the hands of Indian police and a paranoid Indian agent. One of the best biographies I've read.

I thought this book was wonderful. It has great illustrations, and explains the story of sitting bull very well. I think it is a great resource for teaching about indian culture.

this is a great book to use in class for a biography lesson on sitting bull. it's also a great way to explore american indian naming practices.

When I first opened this book I had no clue the boy called slow was Sitting Bull. When I realized that after reading a few pages, I thought wow! That is so neat. I learned so much about the indian culture and how they came up with their names. I like this book a lot. I'm going to keep it for my children to read when I get older.

This is an informational picture book for young students studying Sitting Bull. I would recommend the book for early elementary students learning about Plains Native Americans. The book is also well illustrated.

I really enjoyed this book. The chapter book is a great informational book with real pictures. I would recommend this book for any student interested in learning about Sitting Bull and his life achievements.

As a first grade teacher, I find this book to be a wonderful, well written, resource book for any classroom or children's library. It provides simple and accurate information in a compassionate, although protectively realistic, easily understood manner. This easy-to-read book provides the reader with an enjoyable and meaningful reading experience.

Ever wonder where the myth of the stalwart Mountie, righting wrongs and doing good, came from? After reading this book, I am pretty sure it started with the Mounties themselves. When the Canadian government created the North-West Mounted Police to maintain law and order in the largely unsettled West, the call went out for "men of good character." It's clear that James Morrow Walsh was that and more.

This book, written by a former Mountie, follows Walsh's career and Sitting Bull's in parallel tracks. It's a story of deceit and betrayal, and also of honour and decency. The bond between Walsh and Sitting Bull was never broken, and is shown under the most unlikely circumstances. At the same time, the behaviour of the much-maligned Sioux people demonstrates the full injustice of what was done to them by the governments of both the United States and Canada.

There are times when one person, or a very few people, can make a difference just by their own personal qualities. When the NWMP were the only law in the Canadian West, interpreting it as justly and fairly as they knew how, men like Walsh did just that. It's a shame the governments in Ottawa and Washington didn't make more of an effort to do so, too.

I have not read the book yet, butttt! In the synopsis, Crazy Horse is first called a Sioux, true, but he is actually a Lakota. Later he is called a Cheyenne, although the Cheyenne would love to call him one of their own, most novices know he was not.

I'm reading this novel for a history class (interesting side note: the professor is friends with Mr. Johnston) and found the novel amazingly well written. Although I find the over abundance of detail throughout the book somewhat painful, it has overall been an excellent reading experience. I don't know that I would attempt another of his novels just for the fact that the writting is somewhat tendious at times... and challenging to grasp on a whole. The story told however, is something that should be preserved accurately for future generations and Terry does this very well indeed. The scenes during the actual battle are heart wretching... enough to make even the most seasoned person feel the anguish that the indians suffered at the hands of the U.S. Calvary! Historically accurate and well written... but not something you'd want to read just for the "fun" of it... since this is anything except a "fun" topic.

This is a book that unlike most of Terry's books, started a little slow for me with the early encounters between Miles and Sitting Bull including Cedar Creek. I quickly became engrossed in the novel and the pages, as always, fell away in dramatic style until I found myself on the battlefield fleeing with Little Wolf and Dull Knife, or found myself as a soldier confronting a group of hiding Cheyennes firing piont blank. I walked this battlefield with Terry in 1996 and nobody loved their history and the people involved, both Indian and white more than Terry. He felt for the characters on both sides and makes them ever so real to the reader. Do not be fooled by the name, 'historical fiction.' This is history at its best, from the view of the people who lived, fought, and died for it. I think anyone interested should read this book and any other of Terry's books.