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The Contract Surgeon
This beautifully written historical novel from one of the West's most popular writers tells the true story of the friendship between Valentine McGillicuddy, a young doctor plucked from his prestigious medical career and newly married wife to serve in the army during the Great Sioux War, and the great chief Crazy Horse. When Crazy Horse finally agrees to surrender to the United States, mistrust and treachery on both sides foster further conflict, and he is gravely wounded. McGillicuddy declares the chief his patient and struggles through a long night to keep him alive.
Set in the sprawling Great Plains during the most tragic period in its history, this tale of bravery, justice, and love weaves a tapestry of time and events into the account of a single day--the last in the life of Crazy Horse--to reveal the secrets surrounding America's past.
Set in the sprawling Great Plains during the most tragic period in its history, this tale of bravery, justice, and love weaves a tapestry of time and events into the account of a single day--the last in the life of Crazy Horse--to reveal the secrets surrounding America's past.
224 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1999
8 people are currently reading
277 people want to read
About the author
Dan O'Brien
18 books57 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Dan O'Brien was born Daniel Hosler O'Brien in Findlay Ohio on November 23, 1947. He attended Findlay High School and graduated in 1966. He went to Michigan Technological University to play football and graduated with a BS degree in Math and Business from Findlay College in 1970 where he was the chairman of the first campus Earth Day. He earned an MA in English Literature from the University of South Dakota in 1973 where he studied under Frederick Manfred. He earned an MFA from Bowling Green University (of Ohio) in 1974, worked as a biologist and wrote for a few years before entering the PhD program at Denver University. When he won the prestigious Iowa Short Fiction in 1986 he gave up academics except for occasional short term teaching jobs. O'Brien continued to write and work as an endangered species biologist for the South Dakota Department of Game Fish and Parks and later the Peregrine Fund. In the late 1990s he began to change his small cattle ranch in South Dakota to a buffalo ranch. In 2001 he founded Wild Idea Buffalo Company and Sustainable Harvest Alliance to produce large landscape, grass fed and field harvest buffalo to supply high quality and sustainable buffalo meat to people interested in human health and the health of the American Great Plains. He now raises buffalo and lives on the Cheyenne River Ranch in western South Dakota with his wife Jill. Dan O'Brien is the winner of the Iowa Short Fiction Award, two National Endowment for the Arts Grants for fiction, A Bush Foundation Award for writing, a Spur Award, two Wrangler Awards from the National cowboy Hall of Fame, and an honorary PhD from the University of South Dakota. His books have been translated into seven foreign languages and his essays, reviews, and short stories have been published in many periodicals including, Redbook, New York Times Magazine, FYI. New York Times Book Review.
Dan O'Brien was born Daniel Hosler O'Brien in Findlay Ohio on November 23, 1947. He attended Findlay High School and graduated in 1966. He went to Michigan Technological University to play football and graduated with a BS degree in Math and Business from Findlay College in 1970 where he was the chairman of the first campus Earth Day. He earned an MA in English Literature from the University of South Dakota in 1973 where he studied under Frederick Manfred. He earned an MFA from Bowling Green University (of Ohio) in 1974, worked as a biologist and wrote for a few years before entering the PhD program at Denver University. When he won the prestigious Iowa Short Fiction in 1986 he gave up academics except for occasional short term teaching jobs. O'Brien continued to write and work as an endangered species biologist for the South Dakota Department of Game Fish and Parks and later the Peregrine Fund. In the late 1990s he began to change his small cattle ranch in South Dakota to a buffalo ranch. In 2001 he founded Wild Idea Buffalo Company and Sustainable Harvest Alliance to produce large landscape, grass fed and field harvest buffalo to supply high quality and sustainable buffalo meat to people interested in human health and the health of the American Great Plains. He now raises buffalo and lives on the Cheyenne River Ranch in western South Dakota with his wife Jill. Dan O'Brien is the winner of the Iowa Short Fiction Award, two National Endowment for the Arts Grants for fiction, A Bush Foundation Award for writing, a Spur Award, two Wrangler Awards from the National cowboy Hall of Fame, and an honorary PhD from the University of South Dakota. His books have been translated into seven foreign languages and his essays, reviews, and short stories have been published in many periodicals including, Redbook, New York Times Magazine, FYI. New York Times Book Review.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
December 5, 2023
This is one of the best Westerns I've ever read. I happened to pick it up at a library sale. I had never heard of it before, but there was a blurb on the cover by Larry McMurtry ( who wrote "Lonesome Dove," my favorite Western) : " ..(it) gives an interesting, fresh perspective on the Great Sioux war."
The story is told by Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy, or "Mac," as he is called. Training to be a surgeon in Detroit, he decides to go off on an adventure and joins a surveying expedition along the border between the US and what he calls "British America." The man from the city learns to love the great outdoors and rather than go back to a successful career as a surgeon in the city, he finds himself joining the US Army in the West as a "contract surgeon." It is 1876 and the Army is embarking on a campaign against the Sioux Indians to force them to live on the reservation. Interestingly, Mac is not with Custer and the 7th Cavalry, but with Gen. Crook's Second Cavalry. They moved north from Fort Laramie to attack the Sioux from the south, but were defeated in the Battle of the Rosebud. Days later, the same Indians destroyed Custer's column at the Little Bighorn. I think most of us know very little of Crook's part of the campaign, as it was overshadowed by Custer, finding glory in death. I did not know about "The Starvation March," as Crook pushed his men in a relentless pursuit of the Indians. Men and horses starved to death as they used up the supplies they carried with them. They did catch up with some of the Indians at Slim Buttes. In an orgy of revenge, Crook's troops slaughtered women and children as well as some warriors. I hadn't heard of that before.
The story focuses on the day that the Army brought Crazy Horse into Camp Robinson to imprison him. In his attempt at escape, the great Sioux warrior is bayoneted--and Mac is given the job to try to save his life. Much of the story is told in flashbacks from that day, which turned out to be Crazy Horse's last day of life. 5/5 stars for a beautifully told story about the West, which gives us some insight into a man who represented the untamed nature of that West, Crazy Horse, and his people, the Lakota, who resisted mightily to preserve a culture and way of life that gave them the freedom to roam the Great Plains.
The story is told by Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy, or "Mac," as he is called. Training to be a surgeon in Detroit, he decides to go off on an adventure and joins a surveying expedition along the border between the US and what he calls "British America." The man from the city learns to love the great outdoors and rather than go back to a successful career as a surgeon in the city, he finds himself joining the US Army in the West as a "contract surgeon." It is 1876 and the Army is embarking on a campaign against the Sioux Indians to force them to live on the reservation. Interestingly, Mac is not with Custer and the 7th Cavalry, but with Gen. Crook's Second Cavalry. They moved north from Fort Laramie to attack the Sioux from the south, but were defeated in the Battle of the Rosebud. Days later, the same Indians destroyed Custer's column at the Little Bighorn. I think most of us know very little of Crook's part of the campaign, as it was overshadowed by Custer, finding glory in death. I did not know about "The Starvation March," as Crook pushed his men in a relentless pursuit of the Indians. Men and horses starved to death as they used up the supplies they carried with them. They did catch up with some of the Indians at Slim Buttes. In an orgy of revenge, Crook's troops slaughtered women and children as well as some warriors. I hadn't heard of that before.
The story focuses on the day that the Army brought Crazy Horse into Camp Robinson to imprison him. In his attempt at escape, the great Sioux warrior is bayoneted--and Mac is given the job to try to save his life. Much of the story is told in flashbacks from that day, which turned out to be Crazy Horse's last day of life. 5/5 stars for a beautifully told story about the West, which gives us some insight into a man who represented the untamed nature of that West, Crazy Horse, and his people, the Lakota, who resisted mightily to preserve a culture and way of life that gave them the freedom to roam the Great Plains.
July 29, 2014
Ernest Hemingway, always uber-competitive with his fellow authors and known to often be mean to them, nevertheless lavished praise on F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. That's how I feel about Dan O'Brien's The Contract Surgeon—I don't know how anyone couldn't say that this was a great book.
You get the best books at libraries' used book sales. If you like best sellers, the library's used book sale is where they'll unload not a few of their thirty copies of The DaVinci Code or what have you. But even better than best sellers, you'll find the books that were critically acclaimed enough to get into the library but were never hyped sufficiently to make it big. I got The Contract Surgeon at a library's used book sale. (I'm astounded to this day when I look at the flyleaf and stamped there is: "Discarded by Itasca Public Library." Their loss—my gain.)
The Contract Surgeon is about a brilliant young surgeon, Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy (better known as "Mac") who is drawn from his life of privilege and decorum out to the wild world of the American West to serve as a surgeon in the U.S. Army during the Great Sioux War of 1876. O'Brien flawlessly paints the landscape and hardship of survival in the wilderness, and he also captures the violent clash of cultures between the white man and the Indians. And O'Brien has an intelligent, compassionate protagonist in Mac to help us collectively make sense of it all.
A serendipitous meeting between Mac and Crazy Horse takes place before they knew who each other was. Later they meet again when the net has finally closed around Crazy Horse and he is taken captive. The politicking, the mindless rage, the fear of the unknown, and the rare reason (supplied by Mac) is captured so beautifully in the final scenes.
In fact, the entire book is perfectly written. The writing style, the descriptions, the pacing, the character development, the insights into both the soldiers' and Indians' mind-sets. The book is just perfect. It's a literary book with the ease of a genre book. It's brilliant yet accessible.
When I first started reading it I came across some things that were so great that I underlined them with a pen (as I am wont to do as I read). Well, within a few more pages I started to realize just how beautiful this book was and that I was going to lend it to a friend—and didn't want the underling in there to lessen his reading pleasure. So I went back and with an ink eraser (if you've done it, you know it's no easy task) and painstakingly and lovingly removed the underlining. The book is that good. It deserves to be pristine.
Being about war, the book would seem to appeal to men more than women, but really the book is about America, and how we became the nation we are today. But's it about so much more. It's about two individuals, from two vastly different worlds, who manage to find a commonality in their shared humanity. It's about life itself.
This book is a can't-miss. Even Hemingway would've loved it.
You get the best books at libraries' used book sales. If you like best sellers, the library's used book sale is where they'll unload not a few of their thirty copies of The DaVinci Code or what have you. But even better than best sellers, you'll find the books that were critically acclaimed enough to get into the library but were never hyped sufficiently to make it big. I got The Contract Surgeon at a library's used book sale. (I'm astounded to this day when I look at the flyleaf and stamped there is: "Discarded by Itasca Public Library." Their loss—my gain.)
The Contract Surgeon is about a brilliant young surgeon, Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy (better known as "Mac") who is drawn from his life of privilege and decorum out to the wild world of the American West to serve as a surgeon in the U.S. Army during the Great Sioux War of 1876. O'Brien flawlessly paints the landscape and hardship of survival in the wilderness, and he also captures the violent clash of cultures between the white man and the Indians. And O'Brien has an intelligent, compassionate protagonist in Mac to help us collectively make sense of it all.
A serendipitous meeting between Mac and Crazy Horse takes place before they knew who each other was. Later they meet again when the net has finally closed around Crazy Horse and he is taken captive. The politicking, the mindless rage, the fear of the unknown, and the rare reason (supplied by Mac) is captured so beautifully in the final scenes.
In fact, the entire book is perfectly written. The writing style, the descriptions, the pacing, the character development, the insights into both the soldiers' and Indians' mind-sets. The book is just perfect. It's a literary book with the ease of a genre book. It's brilliant yet accessible.
When I first started reading it I came across some things that were so great that I underlined them with a pen (as I am wont to do as I read). Well, within a few more pages I started to realize just how beautiful this book was and that I was going to lend it to a friend—and didn't want the underling in there to lessen his reading pleasure. So I went back and with an ink eraser (if you've done it, you know it's no easy task) and painstakingly and lovingly removed the underlining. The book is that good. It deserves to be pristine.
Being about war, the book would seem to appeal to men more than women, but really the book is about America, and how we became the nation we are today. But's it about so much more. It's about two individuals, from two vastly different worlds, who manage to find a commonality in their shared humanity. It's about life itself.
This book is a can't-miss. Even Hemingway would've loved it.
June 25, 2020
https://rogueliterarysociety.com/f/th...
Cormac McCarthy has written some pretty fine western novels but Dan O’Brien is no slouch when it comes to putting pen to paper. This great novel was immensely interesting, hard to put down, and has led me to want to learn more about Crazy Horse, not to mention Valentine McGillycuddy. A totally engaging read. Historically based, this book delivers a well-rounded version of the facts leading up to the surrender and resulting conspiratorial murder of Crazy Horse by a soldier’s bayonet. The time period is very important for American history as it meant the end of a way of life for Native Americans and the near-end of our now-treasured buffalo. Dan O’Brien makes the Great Plains come alive and the Black Hills a necessary destination for those seeking to feel and know better the often-sickening history of our country. In addition to history, this novel deals with difficult relationships between whites and Indians, the effect on both, and then to top it all off adds a charming love story. Valentine McGillycuddy becomes such an endearing character study that O’Brien proceeds with a sequel titled The Indian Agent to further flesh out this interesting man.
Cormac McCarthy has written some pretty fine western novels but Dan O’Brien is no slouch when it comes to putting pen to paper. This great novel was immensely interesting, hard to put down, and has led me to want to learn more about Crazy Horse, not to mention Valentine McGillycuddy. A totally engaging read. Historically based, this book delivers a well-rounded version of the facts leading up to the surrender and resulting conspiratorial murder of Crazy Horse by a soldier’s bayonet. The time period is very important for American history as it meant the end of a way of life for Native Americans and the near-end of our now-treasured buffalo. Dan O’Brien makes the Great Plains come alive and the Black Hills a necessary destination for those seeking to feel and know better the often-sickening history of our country. In addition to history, this novel deals with difficult relationships between whites and Indians, the effect on both, and then to top it all off adds a charming love story. Valentine McGillycuddy becomes such an endearing character study that O’Brien proceeds with a sequel titled The Indian Agent to further flesh out this interesting man.
August 23, 2012
Written from the point of view (almost as if from a diary) of a doctor who attended the death of Crazy Horse and his remincing about the US Cavalry trials and tribulations of "keeping the West safe from Indians").. very informative and personal as the Doctor actually existed and did attend at the death of Crazy Horse.. an excellent read for anyone who wishes a sense of the past and of insight into the mind of a combatant....probably a good indicator of someone writing about PTSD and its' effect upon warriors...
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April 17, 2012Incredible story that lead me to want to know more about Crazy Horse and McGillycuddy. It also once again made me sad for the way in which our country has mistreated America's First People and broken treaty after treaty with them. I will pursue other books by Dan O'Brien.
May 31, 2014
I wish this book were three times as long, fleshing out events only mentioned in passing
July 21, 2012
What a wonderful book. As I read along, I was transported as if I were actually there. yum
January 3, 2021
This fictionalized memoir of the real Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy reads like, well, a memoir of a man who discovers a love for the land west of the Mississippi. A second love is his wife who is a major character in the story, and it's refreshing to see a love that is real, grows, and is always rediscovering itself. The doctor develops a friendship with Crazy Horse, the charismatic leader of the Oglala Sioux, and if you know anything of history, it is a bond that is doomed from the start. O'Brien writes of the Lakota with great knowledge and sensitivity. He breathes life not only into the characters, but into a culture that fought at the edge of a precipice. The death of Crazy Horse is very controversial with conflicting testemonies. However, O'Brien not only makes sense of that knot of people and politics, but also makes it seem as real as a sunset. It was a wonderfully written and engaging history that bloomed into a beautiful and bittersweet reality for as long as I remained within its pages.
August 7, 2024
It's been more than six months since I finished this book, and it keeps coming back to my thoughts. There are stories that captivate you to the point where what you read feels like part of your own life's memories, and that's the case with this hidden masterpiece. I still see the landscapes, the characters, and the sensations described in the pages of "The Contract Surgeon" with clarity and love...something few books have managed to make me feel.
I understand that seeing a book with few reviews on Goodreads might be off-putting, but if you're drawn to westerns and can handle a slower, more contemplative pace, don't hesitate to give it a chance.
I understand that seeing a book with few reviews on Goodreads might be off-putting, but if you're drawn to westerns and can handle a slower, more contemplative pace, don't hesitate to give it a chance.
August 3, 2009
I have never read a "Western" but picked this up at the famous WALL DRUG in the spring on my way to see the sights in South Dakota. It was a true story about the Army's Contract Surgeon, Valentine Mcgillycuddy and how he took care and tried to save Crazy Horse's life. Although there is a really good story line to the book. What was special to me as I read the book as I was going through South Dakota I could relate things I had just read to the places we were seeing! Wonderful trip with a wonderful book!!
January 4, 2020
I loved this book. Poignant, beautifully told, historically accurate. Dan O'Brien captures the essence of the struggle between the white settlers and the Native Americans for the land that is America. O'Brien offers compassionate insights into the psyche of both. The story of Valentine McGillicuddy is the true story of an incredible life. The kind of life that is no longer possible, now that all the lands have been tamed.
July 11, 2012
This fascinating tale tells the story of the doctor who tries to save his friend, Crazy Horse, after he's bayoneted by a soldier. The action takes place during that day, but ranges far over the entire Sioux War as the doctor-narrator tells how he got there and why it's an important turning point for him. It's told with grace and style. (some language)
March 15, 2016
I enjoyed the character's in this novel (not just because of McGillicuddy's first name!). It exhibited a respect for the era, the tone was intelligent, I thought the plot was accurate and engaging. It is not the standard, formula issue western novel.
O'Brien has such a good touch with the pen that I thought I was in the moment in the age. That is good writing!
O'Brien has such a good touch with the pen that I thought I was in the moment in the age. That is good writing!
December 12, 2020
Being from South Dakota, I read this book many years ago. Felt the need to revisit this time and place. Such a moving rendition of the taking of Indian land and the breaking of many treaties between the white man and the Indians. Valentine McGillycuddy needs to be remembered for his part in this.
March 23, 2009
An historical novel set during the Indian Wars tells about Valentine McGillicuddy - a contract surgeon, his wife, and his friendship with Crazy Horse.
One of my favorite books.
One of my favorite books.
October 15, 2014
A very good book...again I learned a great deal about history! This is the 2nd book I've read by Dan O'Brien...wow...he's a good author! Again, what a great way to learn!
April 9, 2021
Excellent writing. Superb retelling of history. Now I want to visit the lands and places O'Brien describes.
February 28, 2023
Beautiful prose. It is written with such care that you can feel each word. And the story is touching. Lovely piece.
October 3, 2023
I loved reading this compelling narrative of the life and death of Crazy Horse, as told by the doctor who tried to save Crazy Horse’s life after he’d been stabbed in the back by a Union private.
The author’s descriptions of the Great Plains with its rolling grass fields and herds of buffalo evoke a scene of beauty and peace in my mind. Yet the reality is that in the Indian wars of the 1860’s and onward destroyed the peace of the plains and replaced it with nearly unbelievable atrocities, genocidal warfare, immense pain, suffering, and much blood. By the mid 1880’s, never again would the massive herds of buffalo roam the prairie, nor would the Native American way of life exist. The coming of the Homestead Act, Railroads that connected east and west and north and south, barbed wire, and great plains cattle ranching was the last coffin nails for both the buffalo and the Indian tribes who relied upon the buffalo for their sustenance.
It’s a sad and tragic story, yet history is replete with such tragic stories.
While this is a writing of historical fiction, it can be regarded as more fact than fiction. It’s a slow start, but becomes entirely compelling.
The book seems a bit disjointed in the telling of the story, but the author did so purposefully, revealing more details as the narrative progresses, tying up loose ends in the process. I am tempted to read it again now that I realize the author’s intent and style, and no doubt I will. I am certain I will enjoy it more the second time around.
Any reader of American historical fiction will also enjoy this book. I recommend it for its superb descriptive writing, it’s meaningful characters, and the drama of trying to save Crazy Horse’s life.
It is so-far one of my favorites of 2023. Thank you Dan O’Brian for taking the time to write such a realistic, yet tender and eye-opening story. I particularly liked the scenes between the doctor and his wife, Fanny, and their unique and supportive relationship. Well done, sir!
James Koenig
Forest Lake, MN
The author’s descriptions of the Great Plains with its rolling grass fields and herds of buffalo evoke a scene of beauty and peace in my mind. Yet the reality is that in the Indian wars of the 1860’s and onward destroyed the peace of the plains and replaced it with nearly unbelievable atrocities, genocidal warfare, immense pain, suffering, and much blood. By the mid 1880’s, never again would the massive herds of buffalo roam the prairie, nor would the Native American way of life exist. The coming of the Homestead Act, Railroads that connected east and west and north and south, barbed wire, and great plains cattle ranching was the last coffin nails for both the buffalo and the Indian tribes who relied upon the buffalo for their sustenance.
It’s a sad and tragic story, yet history is replete with such tragic stories.
While this is a writing of historical fiction, it can be regarded as more fact than fiction. It’s a slow start, but becomes entirely compelling.
The book seems a bit disjointed in the telling of the story, but the author did so purposefully, revealing more details as the narrative progresses, tying up loose ends in the process. I am tempted to read it again now that I realize the author’s intent and style, and no doubt I will. I am certain I will enjoy it more the second time around.
Any reader of American historical fiction will also enjoy this book. I recommend it for its superb descriptive writing, it’s meaningful characters, and the drama of trying to save Crazy Horse’s life.
It is so-far one of my favorites of 2023. Thank you Dan O’Brian for taking the time to write such a realistic, yet tender and eye-opening story. I particularly liked the scenes between the doctor and his wife, Fanny, and their unique and supportive relationship. Well done, sir!
James Koenig
Forest Lake, MN
August 30, 2019
Este es el segundo libro que leo sobre la lucha entre los colonos y los indios norteamericanos y la verdad es que ninguno de los dos me atrapó. Siempre critico lo mismo (comienzo a pensar que soy yo): el libro entrega mucha información sin dar coordenadas para ubicarla dentro de la historia, me pierdo, hago esfuerzos sobrehumanos para seguirla deseando que la narración aterrice pronto. La narración sobre el médico y el indio, impecable, pero cada vez que el autor entró a la relación entre los generales y sus planes de batalla, caemos en la eterna verborrea que no logré entender mucho. Le sacaría un tercio de páginas y quizás ahí estaría mucho mejor.
May 10, 2024
A western that tells the true story of the friendship between Valentine McGillicuddy, a young doctor, and chief Crazy Horse. I really liked that the book started with a factual chronology of events before turning to the tale itself, and the story itself was well worth telling, but I didn’t feel the author got the best out of that story. It all felt a little shallow. I learned a lot about a lot, so I am happy I read it. It was a good story, but I just wish it had been a little more engagingly written.
September 1, 2017
Se trata del acontecimiento histórico, novelado, de la muerte de Caballo Loco. No está mal contado, pero carece de profundidad y emoción, a pesar de apoyarse en la nostalgia del narrador (el médico que le atendió en sus últimas horas).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 30, 2020
I really liked this book. The conflicted doctor in the midst of a changing plains country and the indians that inhabited the land. My only criticism was that the author went back and forth to different time periods. A bit confusing. It was good that the novel began with a comprehensive timeline.
Read
April 6, 2022Abandoned.
A bit too slow a go for my current mood. I have found at this time I am needing things to “happen” to keep my interest. Not much going on in this one. Giving up at page 78. For such a short book, if my interest isn’t captured by now it most likely won’t be.
A bit too slow a go for my current mood. I have found at this time I am needing things to “happen” to keep my interest. Not much going on in this one. Giving up at page 78. For such a short book, if my interest isn’t captured by now it most likely won’t be.
September 25, 2019
1 of the better Westerns l’ve ever read
December 7, 2023
Wonderful faction story based on historical facts.. So interesting
July 7, 2024
Enjoyed this history as I had visited Crazy horse and knew
A
Bit
About his history. Well written. Tried another of this author and not
So great.
A
Bit
About his history. Well written. Tried another of this author and not
So great.
January 21, 2026
This story brings to life the relationship between Crazy Horse and the surgeon who became his friend.
April 17, 2012
I really didn't need to join Goodreads to get recommendations for books I should read. I come from a long line of readers and I have done my best to pass that on to the next generation. I have parents, siblings, grandparents, children, and even further flung family that recommend books to me and, being the sort of person who wants to do what everyone else is doing, I try to read everything recommended to me. That doesn't even count the books that catch me eye at the library, or those that I see good reviews for on Goodreads, or the books being read by my groups. I never have to wonder why I have a gazillion books in my "must read this month" pile and way more than a gazillion that "I'll get to soon."
My dad recommended this book to me at Easter, telling me it's one of four or five books he'd enter a burning house to rescue. My dad is a fan of all things Native American, and so he knows a lot more of that history (including the Sioux war) than I do. When he told me that it's the story of Crazy Horse "and you know how that turned out," I didn't. Now I do. I can't compare this to a lot of other books about that time period but I don't have to be able to. My dad tells me this is one of the best. I can verify only that it is excellent.
The author obviously loves the land, all the people, and the horses, too. What I liked best is that he tells the story of a very complicated situation with actual historical figures and makes them much more realistic. Sometimes his writing has the feel of a tintype rather than a photograph, but since the narrator is of the past, that makes sense. I really enjoyed this book.
My dad recommended this book to me at Easter, telling me it's one of four or five books he'd enter a burning house to rescue. My dad is a fan of all things Native American, and so he knows a lot more of that history (including the Sioux war) than I do. When he told me that it's the story of Crazy Horse "and you know how that turned out," I didn't. Now I do. I can't compare this to a lot of other books about that time period but I don't have to be able to. My dad tells me this is one of the best. I can verify only that it is excellent.
The author obviously loves the land, all the people, and the horses, too. What I liked best is that he tells the story of a very complicated situation with actual historical figures and makes them much more realistic. Sometimes his writing has the feel of a tintype rather than a photograph, but since the narrator is of the past, that makes sense. I really enjoyed this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews