Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Fine Communications (1992), Hardcover, 428 pages
Description
Biography & Autobiography. History. Multi-Cultural. Nonfiction. HTML: Crazy Horse was the legendary military leader of the Oglala Sioux whose personal power and social nonconformity contributed to his reputation as being "strange." Crazy Horse fought in many battles, including the famous Battle of the Little Bighorn, and held out tirelessly against the US government's efforts to confine the Native Americans to reservations. Eventually, in the spring of 1877, he surrendered to military forces and ended up meeting a violent death. Now, nearly a century and a half later, Crazy Horse continues to hold a special place in the hearts and minds of people. Author Mari Sandoz offers a powerful evocation of the indigenous people of this long-ago world, of the life of Crazy Horse, and of the man's enduring spirit..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member MerryMary
Mari knew many of the characters in this story when she was a small child. In her narrative she has captured the cadence and style of a Native American storyteller. Beautifully written, and absorbing.
LibraryThing member amelish
I'm probably not the target audience for this book. What IS the target audience anyway? My guess is that Sandoz did not actually write with any one reader in mind, choosing to focus instead on relating the life of Crazy Horse with as much authenticity as possible--authenticity as distinct from but
Whatever, this story is awesome!
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without detriment to accuracy. Hence the tone of an oral history, and idiosyncrasies of language that are meant to reflect the Lakota way of speaking.Whatever, this story is awesome!
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LibraryThing member allisonpollack
Summary: Crazy Horse was a military leader who was considered "strange" but also fought in many famous battles, including the battle at the Little Bighorn. He set out against the government and their efforts to confine Indians on reservations. While he surrendered peacefully, he was met with a
Personal connection: I did not have a lot of background knowledge, but this book made me interested in finding out more information.
Class use: Teach students about the history of Native American culture.
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violent and untimely death.Personal connection: I did not have a lot of background knowledge, but this book made me interested in finding out more information.
Class use: Teach students about the history of Native American culture.
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LibraryThing member thosgpetri
The native Americans were screwed time and again by the European intruders on there lands. This book, like so many other histories, clearly illustrates how this came to be. Treaty after treaty was ignored as Europeans pushed westward,
LibraryThing member BornAnalog
I picked this book up in the NPS bookstore at the Badlands National Park visitor center, which had (as of 2023) a relatively small but very well curated selection. When I bought the book I expected it to be a biography but it is actually a lot closer to what we would today describe as historical
Of course, it was only outside of her time in terms of expectations of white readers. A fascinating perspective is provided by the foreword contributed by noted Native American activist and author, Vine Deloria Jr. He admits that he panned the book when it first came out; while finding it informative, he was resentful of the attempt by a white woman to tell the story from the Indian perspective and even to attempt to write in a way that mimicked--as he saw it then--in an "Indian" style. When he came back to it years later, after many years doing his own research, it was like reading a different book. In her depiction not just of major events but the day-to-day lives of Native Americans, she "captured nuances that only a few would know and understand," a fact he attributed not simply to her research, or the fact that she had grown up in close proximity to the Siioux, many of whom had been alive during these events (a reminder how relatively recent all this "history" is, especially when measured on the time scale of human settlement in the Americas) but her deep understanding of the region itself.
For that reason, anyone expecting a simple narrative of "good Indians and evil Whites" will be disappointed. Sandoz is extremely attentive to the infighting and politicking among the various tribes and factions. Some of this was historical and geographical and almost ritualistic in nature. But it was also the result of the very typical divide-and-conquer strategy of colonialist powers everywhere. The final couple of chapters that detail the cloud of lies and deceit that swirled around the encampments around Fort Robinson in the days before Crazy Horse's death as whites and various Indian factions maneuvered for advantage is captured in nuanced if depressing detail.
I've read a lot of books about the Plains Wars and I can't remember being as immersed and moved by one since William Vollman's The Dying Grass. If you have any interest in this period and place, this book is a must-have. As Deloria notes, it is a book for "the careful reader who savors the well-written word who can see in this book history as biography and biography as history."
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fiction. That is not, of course, to denigrate it in any way; like the best historical fiction it is deeply and thoroughly researched but adds to the research a level of wisdom and insight that allows an author to inhabit the story and create plausible connective tissue to fill in the gaps and bridge the inconsistencies in historical accounts. I mention this because I agree with other reviewers who have mentioned that if this book was published today it would probably garner a much broader audience. It isn't just that Sandoz unapologetically takes the side of Native Americans that ensured the book was largely ignored when it was first published. It is also her style, her willingness to fully commit to a style of storytelling that was outside of her time but is perhaps much closer to her own. Of course, it was only outside of her time in terms of expectations of white readers. A fascinating perspective is provided by the foreword contributed by noted Native American activist and author, Vine Deloria Jr. He admits that he panned the book when it first came out; while finding it informative, he was resentful of the attempt by a white woman to tell the story from the Indian perspective and even to attempt to write in a way that mimicked--as he saw it then--in an "Indian" style. When he came back to it years later, after many years doing his own research, it was like reading a different book. In her depiction not just of major events but the day-to-day lives of Native Americans, she "captured nuances that only a few would know and understand," a fact he attributed not simply to her research, or the fact that she had grown up in close proximity to the Siioux, many of whom had been alive during these events (a reminder how relatively recent all this "history" is, especially when measured on the time scale of human settlement in the Americas) but her deep understanding of the region itself.
For that reason, anyone expecting a simple narrative of "good Indians and evil Whites" will be disappointed. Sandoz is extremely attentive to the infighting and politicking among the various tribes and factions. Some of this was historical and geographical and almost ritualistic in nature. But it was also the result of the very typical divide-and-conquer strategy of colonialist powers everywhere. The final couple of chapters that detail the cloud of lies and deceit that swirled around the encampments around Fort Robinson in the days before Crazy Horse's death as whites and various Indian factions maneuvered for advantage is captured in nuanced if depressing detail.
I've read a lot of books about the Plains Wars and I can't remember being as immersed and moved by one since William Vollman's The Dying Grass. If you have any interest in this period and place, this book is a must-have. As Deloria notes, it is a book for "the careful reader who savors the well-written word who can see in this book history as biography and biography as history."
Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Language
Original publication date
1942
Physical description
428 p.; 8.4 inches
ISBN
1567311709 / 9781567311709