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Ridgeline
‘An exciting, vividly-imagined reconstruction of an extraordinary moment in the history of the American West’ Ian McGuire, bestselling author of THE NORTH WATER and INCREDIBLE BODIES
‘A highly compelling page turner; you won’t be able to put it down’ Philipp Meyer, author of THE SON and AMERICAN RUST
The thrilling, long-awaited return of the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The RevenantIn 1866, with the country barely recovered from the Civil War, new war breaks out on the western frontier – a clash of cultures between a young, ambitious nation and the Native tribes who have lived on the land for centuries. Colonel Henry Carrington arrives in Wyoming’s Powder River Valley to lead the US Army in defending the opening of a new road for gold miners and settlers. Carrington intends to build a fort in the middle of critical hunting grounds, the home of the Lakota. Red Cloud, one of the Lakota’s most respected chiefs, and Crazy Horse, a young but visionary warrior, understand full well the implications of this invasion. For the Lakota, the stakes are their home, their culture, their lives.
Throughout this taut saga – based on real people and events – Michael Punke brings the same immersive, vivid storytelling and historical insight that made his breakthrough debut so memorable. As Ridgeline builds to its epic conclusion, it grapples with essential questions of conquest and justice that still echo today.
‘A highly compelling page turner; you won’t be able to put it down’ Philipp Meyer, author of THE SON and AMERICAN RUST
The thrilling, long-awaited return of the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The RevenantIn 1866, with the country barely recovered from the Civil War, new war breaks out on the western frontier – a clash of cultures between a young, ambitious nation and the Native tribes who have lived on the land for centuries. Colonel Henry Carrington arrives in Wyoming’s Powder River Valley to lead the US Army in defending the opening of a new road for gold miners and settlers. Carrington intends to build a fort in the middle of critical hunting grounds, the home of the Lakota. Red Cloud, one of the Lakota’s most respected chiefs, and Crazy Horse, a young but visionary warrior, understand full well the implications of this invasion. For the Lakota, the stakes are their home, their culture, their lives.
Throughout this taut saga – based on real people and events – Michael Punke brings the same immersive, vivid storytelling and historical insight that made his breakthrough debut so memorable. As Ridgeline builds to its epic conclusion, it grapples with essential questions of conquest and justice that still echo today.
382 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2021
596 people are currently reading
8770 people want to read
About the author
Michael Punke
7 books631 followersMichael Punke is a writer, novelist, professor, policy analyst, policy consultant, attorney and currently the Deputy United States Trade Representative and US Ambassador to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. He is best known for writing The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge (2002), which was adapted into film as The Revenant (2015), directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, with a screenplay by Iñárritu and Mark L. Smith, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 493 reviews
November 27, 2022
“They had advanced another two hundred yards beyond the boulder field when it started. From Captain Fetterman’s position atop his horse, he was the first to understand. He heard the war cries and scattered rifle shots and his eye perceived the sensation of movement everywhere, as if the barren land was erupting. Of all the thoughts that flooded over him, two resonated most clearly. Most immediately, it was the sheer numbers that shocked him. Fetterman had been in enough fights to have a good feel for estimating the strength of his foes’ forces. In his time on the prairie, he had never seen an Indian gathering of more than a hundred warriors. This force reminded Fetterman of the great battles of the Civil War, when the Rebels threw thousands of soldiers into battle…Even as this first shock sunk in, Captain Fetterman became aware of something else, something ultimately more terrifying… Hundreds of mounted warriors already were racing to cut them off from the south – from behind…”
- Michael Punke, Ridgeline
Michael Punke’s Ridgeline is a book that should have worked for me. I was expecting it to work for me. It is a novelization of the 1866 Fetterman Fight, in which a detachment of eighty United States soldiers were lured into an ambush by a pan-Indian coalition of Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors. Though this is somewhat an obscure topic – the battle being far less than a world-historical event – it just happens to be one that I am fascinated in, and one I love to discuss (this being one of the many reasons people don’t invite me to parties).
Often when I buy a book it ends up languishing on my shelf. This was one that I tore into right away.
As far as Old West tales go, Punke chose a good one. The Fetterman Fight pitted a disorganized, over-extended, and arrogant military on the one side, against a resolute coalition of tribes – some former enemies – coming together for a single purpose on the other. The setting is Fort Phil Kearny, a military outpost on the far edge of the frontier, located in present-day Wyoming. Within this fort is a group of bickering officers – most veterans of the Civil War – who cannot decide among themselves the best way to deal with a very new enemy. Instead of coming together, they cleave into competing cliques like schoolboys, enacting their own version of an episode of Degrassi High. Meanwhile, outside their walls, resistance is coalescing around Indian leaders such as Red Cloud and Crazy Horse, resulting in new tactics and techniques.
All this culminates in a brief, bloody battle on a naked ridge, shortly before Christmas.
Having such high hopes and expectations, it came as quite a shock when I realized that Ridgeline was not very good. Indeed, though it gives me no pleasure to say it, I thought it came perilously close to simply being bad. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate it – there is nothing offensive about it – but that’s about as positive as I can get.
Admittedly, this is a subject to which I am close. This is an odd flex, but I know just about everything concerning the Fetterman Fight. I’ve visited the battlefield on at least four occasions, read all the secondary sources, pored over the maps, and have studied the primary sources (both Indian and white), including the testimony from the congressional inquiry.
Knowing so much about the history, I made a conscious effort not to be overly sensitive to Punke’s dramatic changes. Honestly, though, I was rather pleased with his presentation. Much of Ridgeline is thoughtfully revisionist, especially with regard to the character of Captain William Judd Fetterman, the commander of the unlucky men who found themselves in the maw of an ingenious trap.
The standard – and mostly fabricated – wisdom about the battle is that Fetterman was a boastful idiot who proclaimed that he could “ride through the whole Sioux nation” with only eighty men. Generations of western historians have therefore enjoyed Fetterman’s comeuppance, served with a side of irony, since Fetterman led exactly that number of men on December 21, 1866. The reality, though, is that Fetterman was a decorated Union officer with an impeccable service record who never – at least according to contemporary sources – uttered any such boasts. Punke’s Fetterman is presented as the competent, tactically sound officer that the evidence says he was.
Though I had some minor issues history-wise, most of Punke’s alterations are defensible. For instance, he elides some real-life characters for the sake of simplicity, while he has to construct the Indian preparations for the battle whole cloth, as there is no documentation as to who devised the ultimately-successful plan. Overall, the nonfiction aspects of this fictionalized story are well done.
The real problems with Ridgeline are entirely literary.
This begins with the characters, who are all flat, one-dimensional mouthpieces. The soldiers – Fetterman, Lieutenant Grummond, Captain Ten Eyck, and Colonel Henry Carrington – exist only to spout jargon and exposition. Each is given one character trait, and one character trait only (this might be a function of Punke’s compositing of real-life persons, meaning that everyone featured here is twice as extreme as in ordinary life). Fetterman is indecisive, Grummond is a relentlessly aggressive bully, Ten Eyck is just a dude who wants to chill and swill whiskey, and Carrington is hopelessly out-of-his-depth (not even his uniform fits). None of them are fit to lead a cheer at a football game, yet Punke wants us to believe that this collection of blunderers and psychopaths somehow rose to positions of grave responsibility. To be sure, the officers of Fort Phil Kearny were not the nation’s finest, having a tendency towards alcoholism, undeserved snobbery, and martial self-regard. Still, their failings were far more nuanced than Punke’s broad caricatures allow.
(Grummond, for example, spends the entire book spouting nonsense about “thieves” and “savages” while paraphrasing Alexander the Great. The real life Grummond certainly seems like an ass, but I doubt that any person – especially a sociopath who was living a double life, with two different wives – could be so mono-focused and repetitive and still expect others to take him seriously).
The Indian characters are not drawn much better. Punke clearly went out of his way to present the Indians sympathetically and sensitively, which is well-intentioned. He tries so hard, however, that he is almost condescending. Crazy Horse, for example, does not have a single thought – or say a single word – that doesn’t involve the white people encroaching into the Powder River Country. Undoubtedly, Crazy Horse had these concerns. Yet I am confident in saying that he had other thoughts as well. Instead of humanizing Crazy Horse, he is transformed into a gloomy prophet uttering portents of doom. Not flesh-and-blood but a symbol, as lifelike as his half-finished monument in South Dakota.
All these characters – white and Indian – are forced into a glacially-paced arc, marking time as Punke deliberately, even pedantically (every chapter is datelined), moves us toward the fateful battle. This clash – taking up nearly a third of the entire length of the book – is solidly executed, leaving aside the fact that I did not care about anyone involved in it. But getting there is tough. Most chapters center on groups of men, either soldiers or Indians, debating the same issues over and over. Even when Punke cuts away from this particular thread, things don’t get much better. There is, for instance, a conversation between Jim Bridger and James Beckwourth in which the two famed frontiersmen ponder the existence of God. I wish I was kidding, but I’m not, and the scene borders on the embarrassing.
Ideally, historical fiction gives you both good history and good fiction. Most of the time, you have to settle for one out of the two. With Ridgeline, though, the decent history is not nearly enough to overcome the lazy characterizations, leaden dialogue, forced emotional beats, and sluggish forward momentum. When you know what it going to happen at the end, the journey to the destination takes on the utmost importance. Unfortunately, the journey in Ridgeline is not worth taking.
- Michael Punke, Ridgeline
Michael Punke’s Ridgeline is a book that should have worked for me. I was expecting it to work for me. It is a novelization of the 1866 Fetterman Fight, in which a detachment of eighty United States soldiers were lured into an ambush by a pan-Indian coalition of Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors. Though this is somewhat an obscure topic – the battle being far less than a world-historical event – it just happens to be one that I am fascinated in, and one I love to discuss (this being one of the many reasons people don’t invite me to parties).
Often when I buy a book it ends up languishing on my shelf. This was one that I tore into right away.
As far as Old West tales go, Punke chose a good one. The Fetterman Fight pitted a disorganized, over-extended, and arrogant military on the one side, against a resolute coalition of tribes – some former enemies – coming together for a single purpose on the other. The setting is Fort Phil Kearny, a military outpost on the far edge of the frontier, located in present-day Wyoming. Within this fort is a group of bickering officers – most veterans of the Civil War – who cannot decide among themselves the best way to deal with a very new enemy. Instead of coming together, they cleave into competing cliques like schoolboys, enacting their own version of an episode of Degrassi High. Meanwhile, outside their walls, resistance is coalescing around Indian leaders such as Red Cloud and Crazy Horse, resulting in new tactics and techniques.
All this culminates in a brief, bloody battle on a naked ridge, shortly before Christmas.
Having such high hopes and expectations, it came as quite a shock when I realized that Ridgeline was not very good. Indeed, though it gives me no pleasure to say it, I thought it came perilously close to simply being bad. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate it – there is nothing offensive about it – but that’s about as positive as I can get.
Admittedly, this is a subject to which I am close. This is an odd flex, but I know just about everything concerning the Fetterman Fight. I’ve visited the battlefield on at least four occasions, read all the secondary sources, pored over the maps, and have studied the primary sources (both Indian and white), including the testimony from the congressional inquiry.
Knowing so much about the history, I made a conscious effort not to be overly sensitive to Punke’s dramatic changes. Honestly, though, I was rather pleased with his presentation. Much of Ridgeline is thoughtfully revisionist, especially with regard to the character of Captain William Judd Fetterman, the commander of the unlucky men who found themselves in the maw of an ingenious trap.
The standard – and mostly fabricated – wisdom about the battle is that Fetterman was a boastful idiot who proclaimed that he could “ride through the whole Sioux nation” with only eighty men. Generations of western historians have therefore enjoyed Fetterman’s comeuppance, served with a side of irony, since Fetterman led exactly that number of men on December 21, 1866. The reality, though, is that Fetterman was a decorated Union officer with an impeccable service record who never – at least according to contemporary sources – uttered any such boasts. Punke’s Fetterman is presented as the competent, tactically sound officer that the evidence says he was.
Though I had some minor issues history-wise, most of Punke’s alterations are defensible. For instance, he elides some real-life characters for the sake of simplicity, while he has to construct the Indian preparations for the battle whole cloth, as there is no documentation as to who devised the ultimately-successful plan. Overall, the nonfiction aspects of this fictionalized story are well done.
The real problems with Ridgeline are entirely literary.
This begins with the characters, who are all flat, one-dimensional mouthpieces. The soldiers – Fetterman, Lieutenant Grummond, Captain Ten Eyck, and Colonel Henry Carrington – exist only to spout jargon and exposition. Each is given one character trait, and one character trait only (this might be a function of Punke’s compositing of real-life persons, meaning that everyone featured here is twice as extreme as in ordinary life). Fetterman is indecisive, Grummond is a relentlessly aggressive bully, Ten Eyck is just a dude who wants to chill and swill whiskey, and Carrington is hopelessly out-of-his-depth (not even his uniform fits). None of them are fit to lead a cheer at a football game, yet Punke wants us to believe that this collection of blunderers and psychopaths somehow rose to positions of grave responsibility. To be sure, the officers of Fort Phil Kearny were not the nation’s finest, having a tendency towards alcoholism, undeserved snobbery, and martial self-regard. Still, their failings were far more nuanced than Punke’s broad caricatures allow.
(Grummond, for example, spends the entire book spouting nonsense about “thieves” and “savages” while paraphrasing Alexander the Great. The real life Grummond certainly seems like an ass, but I doubt that any person – especially a sociopath who was living a double life, with two different wives – could be so mono-focused and repetitive and still expect others to take him seriously).
The Indian characters are not drawn much better. Punke clearly went out of his way to present the Indians sympathetically and sensitively, which is well-intentioned. He tries so hard, however, that he is almost condescending. Crazy Horse, for example, does not have a single thought – or say a single word – that doesn’t involve the white people encroaching into the Powder River Country. Undoubtedly, Crazy Horse had these concerns. Yet I am confident in saying that he had other thoughts as well. Instead of humanizing Crazy Horse, he is transformed into a gloomy prophet uttering portents of doom. Not flesh-and-blood but a symbol, as lifelike as his half-finished monument in South Dakota.
All these characters – white and Indian – are forced into a glacially-paced arc, marking time as Punke deliberately, even pedantically (every chapter is datelined), moves us toward the fateful battle. This clash – taking up nearly a third of the entire length of the book – is solidly executed, leaving aside the fact that I did not care about anyone involved in it. But getting there is tough. Most chapters center on groups of men, either soldiers or Indians, debating the same issues over and over. Even when Punke cuts away from this particular thread, things don’t get much better. There is, for instance, a conversation between Jim Bridger and James Beckwourth in which the two famed frontiersmen ponder the existence of God. I wish I was kidding, but I’m not, and the scene borders on the embarrassing.
Ideally, historical fiction gives you both good history and good fiction. Most of the time, you have to settle for one out of the two. With Ridgeline, though, the decent history is not nearly enough to overcome the lazy characterizations, leaden dialogue, forced emotional beats, and sluggish forward momentum. When you know what it going to happen at the end, the journey to the destination takes on the utmost importance. Unfortunately, the journey in Ridgeline is not worth taking.
August 11, 2022
Wow! Wow! Wow! This is one hell of a novel. Talk about action packed. This one starts strong and violent and never really lets up. It’s raw and brutal. It is not for the faint of heart or squeamish.
This was great historical fiction and obviously well researched. The Civil War is barely over when Colonel Carrington and his troops are sent to Wyoming to build a new fort that will defend the route to Montana for the gold seekers and other pioneers. Carrington’s troops were under-provisioned. He was not the right leader, having no battle experience. The ignorance and arrogance of the officers was overwhelming, as they had no concept of the different tribes. There was one officer I really wanted to see die ( for several reasons). On the other side, are the Oglala band of the Lakota Indian tribe. Crazy Horse is a young warrior, a decade before his encounter with Custer. He’s a visionary and an amazing strategist. Yes, Punke goes overboard in his black and white version of Army vs. Indians. All the Indians are good, wise and philosophical. But let’s face it, the whites were stealing their land and decimating their food sources.
The story gives the reader multiple POVs, which change frequently. Interspersed with the “real time” of the story are the journal entries of the wife of LT. Grummond.
I had never heard of the battle known as the Fetterman Massacre, so I wasn’t aware of how it turned out. I had to fight myself from Googling it. Punke shows throughout that regardless of the outcome of this battle, the resources of the whites will eventually prevail.
This made for an overwhelming audio experience due to the violence and the detailed nature of the final battle. It was like I was there. I could easily see this being made into a movie.
I was thrilled that the audiobook included the historical notes, which are all too often excluded from audio editions.
This was great historical fiction and obviously well researched. The Civil War is barely over when Colonel Carrington and his troops are sent to Wyoming to build a new fort that will defend the route to Montana for the gold seekers and other pioneers. Carrington’s troops were under-provisioned. He was not the right leader, having no battle experience. The ignorance and arrogance of the officers was overwhelming, as they had no concept of the different tribes. There was one officer I really wanted to see die ( for several reasons). On the other side, are the Oglala band of the Lakota Indian tribe. Crazy Horse is a young warrior, a decade before his encounter with Custer. He’s a visionary and an amazing strategist. Yes, Punke goes overboard in his black and white version of Army vs. Indians. All the Indians are good, wise and philosophical. But let’s face it, the whites were stealing their land and decimating their food sources.
The story gives the reader multiple POVs, which change frequently. Interspersed with the “real time” of the story are the journal entries of the wife of LT. Grummond.
I had never heard of the battle known as the Fetterman Massacre, so I wasn’t aware of how it turned out. I had to fight myself from Googling it. Punke shows throughout that regardless of the outcome of this battle, the resources of the whites will eventually prevail.
This made for an overwhelming audio experience due to the violence and the detailed nature of the final battle. It was like I was there. I could easily see this being made into a movie.
I was thrilled that the audiobook included the historical notes, which are all too often excluded from audio editions.
June 1, 2021
’The full story of what happened in that brief hour of bloody carnage at high noon under the wintry sky of December 21, 1866, will never be known.’ -- Dee Brown - The Fetterman Massacre: Fort Phil Kearny and the Battle of the Hundred Slain
Ridgeline, Michael Punke’s second novel, is set to be published on Jun 1, 2021, just 9 days short of 19 years since his first novel, The Revenant was published. I have not read The Revenant, but I did see the movie which was not a movie one easily forgets.
Ridgeline is another incredibly memorable story, which shares a fictionalized account of the true story of those U.S. Army officers, some who had recently fought in the Civil War, sent to settle the West, establishing a US Army outpost in northeastern Wyoming - Fort Phil Kearny. As many were then travelling, hunting for gold in the hills of Montana, a fort was needed to offer protection and avert Native American attacks. Some of the military men brought their wives, and other women, laundresses, were also there. Initially, the lifestyle was on the rough side, living in makeshift tents, but as time passes some of the higher ranking married men will have officers’ quarters, while most are roughing it. Their supply of the supplies they’d been promised doesn’t live up to their expectations. Guns, ammunition are antiquated and insufficient in number for their need, and of the one hundred and eighty infantrymen, only around half spoke, let alone understood, anything bearing a resemblance to English.
This alternates between the stories of those living inside the fort, and those of the indigenous people living on the surrounding land, which includes the renowned Crazy Horse, who has seen the women along with the children, making him realize that they intend to settle the area, the idea of them doing so leaves him deeply disturbed.
Crazy Horse is aware of the military’s belief that they aren’t capable of planning any kind of strategy, which he believes will play out in their favour. The battle that inevitably ensues ends up being an epic one. A battle fought with an almost blind arrogance on one side, and brilliant strategy on the other.
Published: 01 Jun 2021
Many thanks for the ARC provided by Henry Holt and Company / Henry Holt & Co.
April 13, 2021
Fort Kearney, located in Wyoming, was constructed to discourage Native American attacks for gold prospectors on their way to and from Montana. Crazy Horse, acutely aware of the encroachment on the Native hunting grounds and loss of land, becomes the center of the ingenious and savage slaughter of military troops. The characters of the Native Americans, military troops, their families and scouts are strikingly authentic. The battle, itself, is nothing less than cinematic. I’m not typically a reader of western historical fiction so I am pleased and heartened that this is a spectacular novel.
June 6, 2021
Having really enjoyed Punke’s previous work, The Revenant, I didn’t hesitate when offered a chance to read this new book, Ridgeline. I’ve long had a fascination with the old West, my favorite movie it Tombstone. I’m glad I read this book, as it was just what I needed for a change of pace. Wonderfully written and it kept me involved the entire book with the descriptive writing and action. I was provided a complimentary copy by the author and publisher.
July 25, 2021
This is why I love historical fiction – books like this. Everyone has heard of Crazy Horse (and I’d even been introduced to this real-life hero through Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee years ago in an undergrad lit class). And yet, I knew (or recalled) so little of this historic figure’s bravery.
Through fully formed, flawed characters, this fictional account stays true to historic fact, using spare but impactful writing to deliver a history lesson about the impending extirpation of Native Indians in a burgeoning America during the late 1800s. Heartbreaking in so many ways…
Punke inhabits the viewpoints of various US soldiers, their wives, and two scouts, showcasing their flaws alongside glimpses of their humanity. One soldier is truly the “villain” – as unsavory a human as you might encounter. At the same time, the author shares the anger and heartbreak of various Lakota leaders as white invaders encroach upon their land and decimate their food sources/threaten their way of life. This multi-point-of-view technique was so effective, allowing the reader to understand the “savage” ways of the Indians, the loyalty of soldiers to their commanders. So much empathy and understanding is penned in these pages.
I appreciated the insights of many of the characters, including the earthly Bridger, one of the scouts:
Looming peaks would always provide a welcome dash of the unknown, but more and more the mountains comforted Bridger for their timeless constancy, their steady presence, an anchor against the decades. They made him feel small, reminded him he was small, reminded some others who needed the reminding. He liked the idea that the mountains would carry on, long after the petty snarling of the day to day.
The epistolary journal entries of Frances Grummond were also interesting. I can’t wait to watch this as a movie; if I recall correctly from a Zoom author event, I believe that rights were gobbled up immediately, and the same director of Punke’s The Revenant will direct.
Through fully formed, flawed characters, this fictional account stays true to historic fact, using spare but impactful writing to deliver a history lesson about the impending extirpation of Native Indians in a burgeoning America during the late 1800s. Heartbreaking in so many ways…
Punke inhabits the viewpoints of various US soldiers, their wives, and two scouts, showcasing their flaws alongside glimpses of their humanity. One soldier is truly the “villain” – as unsavory a human as you might encounter. At the same time, the author shares the anger and heartbreak of various Lakota leaders as white invaders encroach upon their land and decimate their food sources/threaten their way of life. This multi-point-of-view technique was so effective, allowing the reader to understand the “savage” ways of the Indians, the loyalty of soldiers to their commanders. So much empathy and understanding is penned in these pages.
I appreciated the insights of many of the characters, including the earthly Bridger, one of the scouts:
Looming peaks would always provide a welcome dash of the unknown, but more and more the mountains comforted Bridger for their timeless constancy, their steady presence, an anchor against the decades. They made him feel small, reminded him he was small, reminded some others who needed the reminding. He liked the idea that the mountains would carry on, long after the petty snarling of the day to day.
The epistolary journal entries of Frances Grummond were also interesting. I can’t wait to watch this as a movie; if I recall correctly from a Zoom author event, I believe that rights were gobbled up immediately, and the same director of Punke’s The Revenant will direct.
September 23, 2021
A tremendous work of historical fiction by the author of The Revenant. It is based on true events and real people. The "Fetterman Fight" aka the "Battle of the Hundred in the Hand" in December, 1866 was a significant event in American history and probably the high point in the Native American fight against the settlement of the West and the American Army's efforts to support that settlement. This book is extremely well written and brings the events to life with a brilliant clarity. Highly recommended.
May 22, 2021
Ridgeline, by Michael Punke, stands out first by having the best title ever. If you've ever explored NE Wyoming, then you know what I mean. It's all about the ridgelines, and what beyond they hide.
Punke's account of Fetterman's Fight is historical fiction at its best. The pacing is perfect, evoking an era when everything took longer than today. It also portrays a brilliant strategic plan, executed with perfection by Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and the other Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors when blindsided the US cavalry and infantry and ultimately won back the Powder River Valley (for a few years anyway).
It's risky for an author to fictionalize a critical historical event where there is not much detail known and historical documents present conflicting views. But Ridgeline works. First, the author wrote an extensive afterward to delineate the fictional liberties taken and where conflicting accounts appear in the historical record. Including this explanation takes historical fiction up a notch for me.
Most of all, though, the story is riveting. If you enjoy US Historical fiction and Western fiction in particular, this novel will take you right to the Powder River Basin. I love Punke's attention to details - small details many authors would leave out but, when included, help transport the reader to the time and place of the events. And it never felt like a lecture.
Ridgeline comes out in June, so I recommend grabbing a copy for your summer reading now. I'm on a multi-month road trip, and one of the highlights will be exploring the sites and National Monuments described in the novel. Maybe I'll see you there!
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Punke's account of Fetterman's Fight is historical fiction at its best. The pacing is perfect, evoking an era when everything took longer than today. It also portrays a brilliant strategic plan, executed with perfection by Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and the other Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors when blindsided the US cavalry and infantry and ultimately won back the Powder River Valley (for a few years anyway).
It's risky for an author to fictionalize a critical historical event where there is not much detail known and historical documents present conflicting views. But Ridgeline works. First, the author wrote an extensive afterward to delineate the fictional liberties taken and where conflicting accounts appear in the historical record. Including this explanation takes historical fiction up a notch for me.
Most of all, though, the story is riveting. If you enjoy US Historical fiction and Western fiction in particular, this novel will take you right to the Powder River Basin. I love Punke's attention to details - small details many authors would leave out but, when included, help transport the reader to the time and place of the events. And it never felt like a lecture.
Ridgeline comes out in June, so I recommend grabbing a copy for your summer reading now. I'm on a multi-month road trip, and one of the highlights will be exploring the sites and National Monuments described in the novel. Maybe I'll see you there!
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
September 5, 2022
This book is not the “highly compelling page-turner” that the blurb on the front cover claims it is. There is a lot of interesting historical information throughout the story. The first half of the book was a bit of a slog but it picked up in the second half. The battle scenes during the Fetterman Massacre were very well written and created a very vivid picture of what was happening on each side. If you don’t appreciate history or historical fiction, then you probably should pass on this book. I personally enjoy both and found the historical information worth the slog.
July 31, 2025
Ridgeline is set in 1866 in Wyoming's Powder River Valley, where Colonel Henry Carrington arrives to lead the U.S. Army in building Fort Phil Kearny to protect the frontier for settlers and miners traveling west. The fort was constructed in the middle of sacred Lakota hunting grounds, which of course, prompted resistance from the native tribes. Crazy Horse leads persistent attacks on the soldiers while Red Cloud works to build tribal alliances necessary to defeat the army. Captain William Fetterman and Lieutenant George Grummond were (real) Civil War veterans who play key roles in the story. The tension gradually builds to the climactic Fetterman Fight (also known as the Battle of the Hundred in the Hand).
Punke employs a multi-perspective narrative structure that shifts between various viewpoints on both sides of the conflict, as well an (imagined) diary of one of the soldier’s wives. The first part of the book slowly sets the stage through detailed descriptions of skirmishes and raids. Punke provides plenty of context, though at times it seems like the characters are explaining historic events to one another. Perhaps this was more apparent to me since I was already familiar with this episode in history through previous reading.
I think the novel does a good job of portraying the cultural misunderstandings and arrogance that led to devastating conflict, and I appreciate the inclusion of the female perspective that is so often missing in "westerns." My primary disappointment is that the main characters seem more representational or symbolic than realistic. Lieutenant Grummond is clearly the “villain” of the piece, and Crazy Horse clearly the “hero.” This novel won the 2022 Spur Award for Best Western Historical Novel which is the reason it was on my radar. Make sure to read the author’s note at the end explaining what is real versus fictionalized.
3.5
Punke employs a multi-perspective narrative structure that shifts between various viewpoints on both sides of the conflict, as well an (imagined) diary of one of the soldier’s wives. The first part of the book slowly sets the stage through detailed descriptions of skirmishes and raids. Punke provides plenty of context, though at times it seems like the characters are explaining historic events to one another. Perhaps this was more apparent to me since I was already familiar with this episode in history through previous reading.
I think the novel does a good job of portraying the cultural misunderstandings and arrogance that led to devastating conflict, and I appreciate the inclusion of the female perspective that is so often missing in "westerns." My primary disappointment is that the main characters seem more representational or symbolic than realistic. Lieutenant Grummond is clearly the “villain” of the piece, and Crazy Horse clearly the “hero.” This novel won the 2022 Spur Award for Best Western Historical Novel which is the reason it was on my radar. Make sure to read the author’s note at the end explaining what is real versus fictionalized.
3.5
February 21, 2022
This was my second read by historical fiction author Michael Punke, with the first being many years ago with The Revenant which looked at the fur trading and Hugh Glass in the late 1800s.
His new novel Ridgeline, which came out last June looks at 1866 Dakota Territory and (to me) a little known battle between the Indian tribes and the US Army called "Battle of the Fetterman" which occurred in December 1866.
This novel is wonderfully told by multiple points of view between the soliders and the Native Americans of the events which unfolded many months before the actual battle (December 21, 1866), and is very descriptive (enough so, that your imagination can really take over and you see exactly what's happening in your mind).
I call this novel (and in a good way) a "slow burn". Reason being is as mentioned above, you get the vantage points of the same events but from multiple points of views. To me, this is very helpful as you understand what the Native Americans were thinking but at the same time, you also understand the white settlers' side of the story as well.
If you have any interest in the Old West, Crazy Horse, and what life was like back in the 1800s Dakota Territory, or was a fan of The Revenant, I highly recommend you check out Ridgeline!!
Below is a picture of Native American "Crazy Horse":
Below is Fort Phil Kearny, which is the main historical landmark in this novel and very important:
All, in all I recommend this historical fiction novel if you're looking for something unique, or are like me still and just need a break from WWII (which in my opinion, floods the historical fiction market a LOT) . . .
PS Make sure you read the historical notes & references at end of book - research was EXTENSIVE!!
His new novel Ridgeline, which came out last June looks at 1866 Dakota Territory and (to me) a little known battle between the Indian tribes and the US Army called "Battle of the Fetterman" which occurred in December 1866.
This novel is wonderfully told by multiple points of view between the soliders and the Native Americans of the events which unfolded many months before the actual battle (December 21, 1866), and is very descriptive (enough so, that your imagination can really take over and you see exactly what's happening in your mind).
I call this novel (and in a good way) a "slow burn". Reason being is as mentioned above, you get the vantage points of the same events but from multiple points of views. To me, this is very helpful as you understand what the Native Americans were thinking but at the same time, you also understand the white settlers' side of the story as well.
If you have any interest in the Old West, Crazy Horse, and what life was like back in the 1800s Dakota Territory, or was a fan of The Revenant, I highly recommend you check out Ridgeline!!
Below is a picture of Native American "Crazy Horse":
Below is Fort Phil Kearny, which is the main historical landmark in this novel and very important:
All, in all I recommend this historical fiction novel if you're looking for something unique, or are like me still and just need a break from WWII (which in my opinion, floods the historical fiction market a LOT) . . .
PS Make sure you read the historical notes & references at end of book - research was EXTENSIVE!!
June 10, 2021
Ridgeline is an engrossing fictional narrative of one of the lesser-known battles in American history - the Battle of Little Big Horn in which Punke’s pitch-perfect depiction of the time and place bring the Old West to life. In December 1866, tensions were rising in Wyoming, between the Native American tribes who had lived on the land for generations and the settlers who would destroy their home. Crazy Horse and his fellow Lakota hunters had been watching for months as Colonel Carrington and his army set up camp on one of the most crucial swaths of hunting ground in hundreds of miles, and began to build forts. More disconcertingly, the settlers had brought women and children, which meant they planned to stay. As the Lakota and neighbouring tribes set forth with repeated attacks to discourage the settlers, Captain William J. Fetterman, anxious and arrogant, claimed that he could take offence and rid the area of Native American people with only a small army of 80 men.
And he would--unless Crazy Horse could find a way to lure the army to their doom. This is a compelling, evocative and richly atmospheric story in which the battle is vividly depicted in delightful detail with a steadily rising tension becoming increasingly more palpable with each turn of the page. Punke’s characterisation is incredible as he paints the main characters up brushstroke by brushstroke into complex, multilayered individuals. Crazy Horse is an admirable fighter who battles for the right reasons and this novel gives an authentic look into his mind and thought processes, which were fascinating. A story of protection and betrayal, of courage, wit, and perseverance against unfathomable odds, this tale grapples with essential questions about who owns land: those who are born on it, or those who would kill to claim it? Questions still being asked until this day. This is historical fiction at its absolute finest. Highly recommended.
And he would--unless Crazy Horse could find a way to lure the army to their doom. This is a compelling, evocative and richly atmospheric story in which the battle is vividly depicted in delightful detail with a steadily rising tension becoming increasingly more palpable with each turn of the page. Punke’s characterisation is incredible as he paints the main characters up brushstroke by brushstroke into complex, multilayered individuals. Crazy Horse is an admirable fighter who battles for the right reasons and this novel gives an authentic look into his mind and thought processes, which were fascinating. A story of protection and betrayal, of courage, wit, and perseverance against unfathomable odds, this tale grapples with essential questions about who owns land: those who are born on it, or those who would kill to claim it? Questions still being asked until this day. This is historical fiction at its absolute finest. Highly recommended.
October 22, 2025
Per amanti del genere e forse non solo. La ricostruzione, romanzata ma circostanziata, di una pagina di storia della frontiera occidentale, le lotte tra indiani e bianchi invasori, tra gli Stati Uniti all’indomani della guerra civile e alcune nazioni indiane (Sioux, Cheyenne, Lakota, Arapaho…) che riescono a unire le loro forze guidati dai leggendari Nuvola Rossa e Cavallo Pazzo. Una lettura veloce e gradevole per come l’autore riesce a bilanciare azione e riflessione introspettiva, il racconto della grande battaglia ha un che di cinematografico molto efficace.
March 11, 2022
This is a solid historical fiction (written by the author of The Revenant) which details the Fetterman Massacre of 1867. Important characters, both on the American and the Native American sides, were portrayed and it had a good sense of moral ambiguity from both sides. The final battle was written well, however the characters all felt far too bland and their characterisations were too simple to ever feel real, or to get you behind any of them.
There were lots of nice small details and the history is a good choice for a novel, I just wish the characters were fully fleshed out to reach the emotional impact that would have lifted this above a host of other historical fiction novels.
There were lots of nice small details and the history is a good choice for a novel, I just wish the characters were fully fleshed out to reach the emotional impact that would have lifted this above a host of other historical fiction novels.
January 25, 2023
..beautiful and sad..
One of the best historical fictions I have read!
I found it to be a slow start. However, given that I have no familiarity with the conflicts that Native Americans faced (continue to face) other than a few articles here and there, I was hooked to the book from the beginning.
The structure of the book made it even better. Day-wise accounts of what's happening from various POVs, and ending it all with historical notes and additional information about the main characters and the events itself - just made it all the more poignant and moving.
The conflicts that the indigenous people face, the desecration and destruction of their sacred lands, the moral superiority of the western values.. one thought that popped in while reading this was, 'when there have been similar battles waged elsewhere, shouldn't these have been part of my social textbooks at school?'
One of the best historical fictions I have read!
I found it to be a slow start. However, given that I have no familiarity with the conflicts that Native Americans faced (continue to face) other than a few articles here and there, I was hooked to the book from the beginning.
The structure of the book made it even better. Day-wise accounts of what's happening from various POVs, and ending it all with historical notes and additional information about the main characters and the events itself - just made it all the more poignant and moving.
The conflicts that the indigenous people face, the desecration and destruction of their sacred lands, the moral superiority of the western values.. one thought that popped in while reading this was, 'when there have been similar battles waged elsewhere, shouldn't these have been part of my social textbooks at school?'
June 29, 2021
Michael Punke you are a great author. I love American history especially the Indian Wars after the Civil Wars. You did an amazing job telling the story from both sides and involving a lot of people that were actually there. What determination of Americans of different races and backgrounds. You did a wonderful job of telling the story equally from both sides. I feel like I was there as each side was learning and preparing to face each other as tension was building until the battle was over.
Waiting for your next great and informative book.
Waiting for your next great and informative book.
September 1, 2021
"They made us many promises, more than I can remember. But they kept but one. Then promised to take our land...then took it." Red Cloud
Historical fiction transports readers to another time and place, either real or imagined. Writing historical fiction requires a balance of research and creativity, and while it often includes real people and events, the genre offers a fiction writer many opportunities to tell a wholly unique story.
Although it is historical fiction "Ridgeline" is amazing story based on the tragedy of Fetterman's Massacre in 1866. While building Fort Phil Kearny the U.S. military built it in the middle of Native American hunting grounds, another broken treaty. Desperate to reclaim their lands the Sioux put up a fight to regain their territory.
Michael Punk does amazing job of writing this novel. His research into this period is stellar, as is his description of the Lakota and Fort life. Best of all is his attention to his geography of this area. His description of the Wyoming plains and mountains that served the tribes methods of warfare brought a clear imagery in my mind of how much Native American's valued and respected their land. While U.S. forces did not consider or appreciate the elements of the terrain by destroying many tree's in the area to build a fort. Bringing to life Red Cloud and Crazy Horse and how each fed off each other to build a plan of survival was very interesting. Also, bringing to life the major military men of Col. Carrington, Lt. Grummond, and Capt. Fetterman whose relationships are much more antagonistic then their enemies is the result of good writing and research. The story culminates in a bloody battle. This was one of the parts of the book I did not like. Not because it was bloody, but because it was long. The battle took up almost the last 80 pages in the book. If you're into how a cavalry operates or about what weapons that were used this might intrigue you. I was a little bored about 1/2 way through the battle.
Overall, Ridgeline is an exceptionally atmospheric, nuanced, beautifully written novel by Punke that transports you to another time and place and immerses you so thoroughly into the feelings, personalities, and lives of the characters you can’t help but be affected.
Historical fiction transports readers to another time and place, either real or imagined. Writing historical fiction requires a balance of research and creativity, and while it often includes real people and events, the genre offers a fiction writer many opportunities to tell a wholly unique story.
Although it is historical fiction "Ridgeline" is amazing story based on the tragedy of Fetterman's Massacre in 1866. While building Fort Phil Kearny the U.S. military built it in the middle of Native American hunting grounds, another broken treaty. Desperate to reclaim their lands the Sioux put up a fight to regain their territory.
Michael Punk does amazing job of writing this novel. His research into this period is stellar, as is his description of the Lakota and Fort life. Best of all is his attention to his geography of this area. His description of the Wyoming plains and mountains that served the tribes methods of warfare brought a clear imagery in my mind of how much Native American's valued and respected their land. While U.S. forces did not consider or appreciate the elements of the terrain by destroying many tree's in the area to build a fort. Bringing to life Red Cloud and Crazy Horse and how each fed off each other to build a plan of survival was very interesting. Also, bringing to life the major military men of Col. Carrington, Lt. Grummond, and Capt. Fetterman whose relationships are much more antagonistic then their enemies is the result of good writing and research. The story culminates in a bloody battle. This was one of the parts of the book I did not like. Not because it was bloody, but because it was long. The battle took up almost the last 80 pages in the book. If you're into how a cavalry operates or about what weapons that were used this might intrigue you. I was a little bored about 1/2 way through the battle.
Overall, Ridgeline is an exceptionally atmospheric, nuanced, beautifully written novel by Punke that transports you to another time and place and immerses you so thoroughly into the feelings, personalities, and lives of the characters you can’t help but be affected.
June 22, 2021
VACATION BOOK #8 (8 of 10 during vacation of 6/11-6/27). This was done via an audiobook during drive from Pitkin, CO to Kansas City, KS
This new historical fiction by the author of “The Revenant” was excellent. He seamlessly followed storylines of the Army leadership, to Army wive’s, the Indians, scouts, and cattle Drivers all vividly expressing their thoughts, reasoning, strategies, and outlook on the events.
Great action (fighting parts reminded me of the breathless Matthew Reilly novels) enjoyed this book very much.
This new historical fiction by the author of “The Revenant” was excellent. He seamlessly followed storylines of the Army leadership, to Army wive’s, the Indians, scouts, and cattle Drivers all vividly expressing their thoughts, reasoning, strategies, and outlook on the events.
Great action (fighting parts reminded me of the breathless Matthew Reilly novels) enjoyed this book very much.
January 2, 2022
Ridgeline describes the fight between Capt. William Fetterman and the Sioux chief Crazy Horse at the base of the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming.
Punke switches between the perspective of the settlers, soldiers, and the Sioux to great effect. I can't stop thinking about what it'd be like on one hand, to live in a small fort surrounded by people who want to kill you, or on the other, to have your entire way of life threatened by that same group of heavily armed people in the small fort.
Punke switches between the perspective of the settlers, soldiers, and the Sioux to great effect. I can't stop thinking about what it'd be like on one hand, to live in a small fort surrounded by people who want to kill you, or on the other, to have your entire way of life threatened by that same group of heavily armed people in the small fort.
May 9, 2025
From the first time I saw the Crazy Horse monument carved on a promontory rocky ridge in South Dakota, not far from Mount Rushmore, in 1980, my husband and I promised we would come back in 20 years. But we didn’t. Forty years later, we finally, in a sense, traveled back through that wild country, the setting for Punke’s Ridgeline, and to that poignant reminder of the English protestation of “manifest destiny.” The eventful days in the life of Crazy Horse and the surviving tribes in the early 1860’s gives clarity as to why the incredible feat of the sculpture was undertaken. Its incompleteness seems appropriate, given the fact that the story of the Indian Wars began to draw to a close with the determinative battle at Fort Phil Kearney, on December 21,1861, in Wyoming’s Powder River Valley.
The author of Ridgeline immerses readers into this sometimes-nostalgic / often-tragic period of cultures vying for the West, with everyone's dreams at stake. This well-researched account, weaves together various historical characters (including scouts) who were involved with the United States Army (many veterans of the Civil War), the Indian nations who collaborated together to protect their lands, and pioneers traveling through the northern plains on their way to a new life or the pursuit of gold. Fictionalized journal entries of a married lieutenant’s wife (Frances Grummond) were somewhat helpful in adding a woman’s perspective on the frontier experience, but the writing didn’t have the strength of other imagined scenes based on real people.
With a strong emphasis on the Native American point of view, the Fetterman Fight (battle) of the Indian Wars begins to unfold from the first page. Like the westward push, you won't want to stop in the middle of such rugged and open spaces; you have to travel on to the inevitable end of the trail.
Finally, the notes at the end of the book document the famous and infamous figures one comes to know in the book. I’m still marveling at the mark each one left on our history of the American West through the lenses of time and perspective.
The author of Ridgeline immerses readers into this sometimes-nostalgic / often-tragic period of cultures vying for the West, with everyone's dreams at stake. This well-researched account, weaves together various historical characters (including scouts) who were involved with the United States Army (many veterans of the Civil War), the Indian nations who collaborated together to protect their lands, and pioneers traveling through the northern plains on their way to a new life or the pursuit of gold. Fictionalized journal entries of a married lieutenant’s wife (Frances Grummond) were somewhat helpful in adding a woman’s perspective on the frontier experience, but the writing didn’t have the strength of other imagined scenes based on real people.
With a strong emphasis on the Native American point of view, the Fetterman Fight (battle) of the Indian Wars begins to unfold from the first page. Like the westward push, you won't want to stop in the middle of such rugged and open spaces; you have to travel on to the inevitable end of the trail.
Finally, the notes at the end of the book document the famous and infamous figures one comes to know in the book. I’m still marveling at the mark each one left on our history of the American West through the lenses of time and perspective.
June 14, 2021
US vs Lakota and other Indian tribes as the decisions made by various men in charge bring death and destruction to many. The topic is a sad commentary on government getting things wrong and putting the wrong people on horses and sending them to build forts on land that had been Indian hunting grounds over the centuries. I particularly enjoyed learning of Jim Bridger, Mountain Man. I was not familiar with him and he brought a spark of hope to the narrative.
The author lists many books of reference for further reading. For me, the writing in this book was a bit clunky at times...uneven. We enter the scene in the west in July, 1866....action leading up to December, 1866 action leads up to the Fetterman Massacre and the US government surrendering to Red Cloud and the allied tribes that actually took two years to be finalized in 1868.
Library Loan
The author lists many books of reference for further reading. For me, the writing in this book was a bit clunky at times...uneven. We enter the scene in the west in July, 1866....action leading up to December, 1866 action leads up to the Fetterman Massacre and the US government surrendering to Red Cloud and the allied tribes that actually took two years to be finalized in 1868.
Library Loan
March 29, 2021
I won this book in a goodreads drawing.
The story of what was then called a massacre, of the US Army by the Sioux and various other tribes of Indians. Told by several different viewpoints.
Mainly told from the point of view of Crazy Horse, who has become almost a demigod, as his legend is retold over and over. Here, he is a young man working with Red Cloud. The army has just moved into the Sioux hunting grounds, and we get the points of view of a couple of officers, the famous scout, Jim Bridger, a German bugler, and the wife of one of the officers.
There's some good writing here, but I found the whole thing to be a little too smooth to be authentic.
The story of what was then called a massacre, of the US Army by the Sioux and various other tribes of Indians. Told by several different viewpoints.
Mainly told from the point of view of Crazy Horse, who has become almost a demigod, as his legend is retold over and over. Here, he is a young man working with Red Cloud. The army has just moved into the Sioux hunting grounds, and we get the points of view of a couple of officers, the famous scout, Jim Bridger, a German bugler, and the wife of one of the officers.
There's some good writing here, but I found the whole thing to be a little too smooth to be authentic.
April 6, 2021
Review is of a free ARE. I am a big fan of historical fiction, and this novel did not disappoint. I especially enjoy historical fiction novels that lean more towards historical fact than fiction. This novel seems to fit that mold. Overall a finely written novel; and an enjoyable read.
I really liked the portrayal of the scout Jim Bridger - he seems like the kind of man I would like to meet and share a beer with. I enjoyed two quotes from this novel relative to Bridger; first, "New information didn't cause most people to change their view of the world, in his experience. Usually they just found some way to cram it in to fit with the notions they already had." I have found this to be true for the overwhelming majority of people.
Second, Bridger's thoughts that, "Beckwourth was right about one thing - no sense worrying too much about things that can't be changed." I think this is a healthy approach to past societal wrongs, large or small. Particularly in areas like slavery, relations with the "native americans", and the holocaust. Indeed, wrongs occurred; and it is important to remember them so as to not repeat. But at some point, while acknowledging the wrongs from the past, recognize that we all need to take care of the here and now and turn our focus on the future.
I really liked the portrayal of the scout Jim Bridger - he seems like the kind of man I would like to meet and share a beer with. I enjoyed two quotes from this novel relative to Bridger; first, "New information didn't cause most people to change their view of the world, in his experience. Usually they just found some way to cram it in to fit with the notions they already had." I have found this to be true for the overwhelming majority of people.
Second, Bridger's thoughts that, "Beckwourth was right about one thing - no sense worrying too much about things that can't be changed." I think this is a healthy approach to past societal wrongs, large or small. Particularly in areas like slavery, relations with the "native americans", and the holocaust. Indeed, wrongs occurred; and it is important to remember them so as to not repeat. But at some point, while acknowledging the wrongs from the past, recognize that we all need to take care of the here and now and turn our focus on the future.
March 31, 2022
This is Historical Fiction set in the mid 1880's covering the Indian conflict. I'm a bit of an outlier with this one because I don't get why this one has such a high overall rating. I'm wondering if I missed something. Now, I didn't hate this one. I just wasn't pulled into it.
This read like a wikipedia checklist. The characters never really caught fire for me...they followed the historical outline and acted accordingly. Overall, this was just okay for me....so 2 stars.
This read like a wikipedia checklist. The characters never really caught fire for me...they followed the historical outline and acted accordingly. Overall, this was just okay for me....so 2 stars.
June 14, 2021
Solid! Full review soon!
June 22, 2022
One of the most compelling, intense pieces of historical fiction I have ever read.
Amazingly written.
Amazingly written.
June 9, 2021
This sprawling historical fictional account of the battle known as the Fetterman Massacre, between American Indians and the US Army, presents a wide, if not deep, historical and geographical context to the fight. The range of the book is only a few months, beginning when the US Army sets up in Sioux territory to build Fort Phil Kearney, and ending with the infamous battle, but the scope of the novel widens to present the points of view of several key and secondary players. In particular, the the author focuses on the viewpoints of Lt. Grummond, Crazy Horse, Jim Bridger, bugler Adolph Metzger, Lt. Grummond's wife, among others, and the different points of view give us a sense of the context and importance of the fort, this land, the people of the outpost, the idealism as well as the brutality of the American push towards the West, as well as the resistance from the Natives.
Yes, this is a vast landscape of a story, as vast as the Wyoming setting, and the reader gets a good sense of the time, place and causes behind the characters' actions. But it's a bit of a slog, with very little action. It's the literary equivalent of a Ken Burns documentary: thorough, with lots of voices, but time-consuming and glacially paced.
The author also doesn't hide his disdain for the white characters and his near deification of the Native Americans. In that sense it betrays the author's prejudices too clearly. Carrington is portrayed as bemused, slightly in over his head, and feckless; Grummond is a drunken polygamist; Margaret Carrington is bigoted against the laundresses; the French baker surreptitiously sells homemade hooch, and so on. On the other hand, the Sioux chief, Red Cloud, is wise, sober, and thoughtful; Crazy Horse is similarly noble, caring about the land where the whites do not, etc. In one exchange Lone Bear, Crazy Horse's friend, wonders how the whites have used all their body parts for evil, asking, "Are their hearts pure?" We are given to understand that the Indians live in contrast to them, using their bodies to perfection. Later on Crazy Horse notes that the whites are different from any other enemy, in that "they fight only for the purpose of killing." For an author of historical fiction to whitewash (so to speak) how brutal and violent the warrior cultures of the Indians were is just unforgiveable, if only from a literary perspective, in which the highest good comes not from idealizing one group of people and demonizing the other, but from delineating the ambiguity and complexity in the human character and soul, the shades of good and evil in every single human being. That is absent here in this morality tale.
Yes, this is a vast landscape of a story, as vast as the Wyoming setting, and the reader gets a good sense of the time, place and causes behind the characters' actions. But it's a bit of a slog, with very little action. It's the literary equivalent of a Ken Burns documentary: thorough, with lots of voices, but time-consuming and glacially paced.
The author also doesn't hide his disdain for the white characters and his near deification of the Native Americans. In that sense it betrays the author's prejudices too clearly. Carrington is portrayed as bemused, slightly in over his head, and feckless; Grummond is a drunken polygamist; Margaret Carrington is bigoted against the laundresses; the French baker surreptitiously sells homemade hooch, and so on. On the other hand, the Sioux chief, Red Cloud, is wise, sober, and thoughtful; Crazy Horse is similarly noble, caring about the land where the whites do not, etc. In one exchange Lone Bear, Crazy Horse's friend, wonders how the whites have used all their body parts for evil, asking, "Are their hearts pure?" We are given to understand that the Indians live in contrast to them, using their bodies to perfection. Later on Crazy Horse notes that the whites are different from any other enemy, in that "they fight only for the purpose of killing." For an author of historical fiction to whitewash (so to speak) how brutal and violent the warrior cultures of the Indians were is just unforgiveable, if only from a literary perspective, in which the highest good comes not from idealizing one group of people and demonizing the other, but from delineating the ambiguity and complexity in the human character and soul, the shades of good and evil in every single human being. That is absent here in this morality tale.
March 8, 2021
384 pages
5 stars
It is 1866, just after the cessation of the civil war, when General Sherman selects Colonel Henry Carrington to lead a party of three hundred men, women and children to build a new fort in the Montana Territory. It will be called Fort Phil Kearney. Also with him are Lieutenant George Washington Grummond, scout Jim Bridger, Captain Tenador Ten Eyck, Captain Fetterman and others. More than half of the “new” soldiers do not speak English, or speak it very poorly.
Fort Kearney is built in the middle of the Lakota Sioux hunting ground. Red Cloud, chief of the Lakota wants to foster good will with the soldiers (with the eventual aim of waging war), but Crazy Horse, who is somewhat of a mystic and visionary, wants the white men gone now. They start a series of small raids to irritate the soldiers and to learn their tactics.
Metzger, the German who is also a very proud and meticulous bugler plays a large part in explaining to the reader what is happening on the ground.
Red Cloud invites the Arapaho, Northern Cheyenne and Minnicoujou Sioux to join his war party. He and Crazy Horse devise plans for corralling and decimating the soldiers.
Meanwhile, inside the fort, tempers are flaring between the officers. Grummond is making several scences and generally being insubordinate. Fetterman and Ten Eyck are discussing ways to rope him in as Carrington is proving to be an indecisive and poor leader.
Interspersed with all of this is the secret journal of Frances Grummond. She reveals some very telling facts about the unstable Lieutenant Grummond.
I like how Mr. Punke tells what happened to the key characters in the book. This is a creative imagining of what might have actually occurred to Fetterman and his men at this battle. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and went immediately to Amazon to look for others of Mr. Punke's novels. The story was very well written and plotted. The transitions were nearly flawless, the characters real. The reader got a very good sense of what the individuals were about, their thoughts and motives.
While the Native Americans may have won this battle, the overall history of the white men's dealings with them was reprehensible.
I want to thank NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company/Henry Holt & Co for forwarding to me a copy of this remarkable book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
5 stars
It is 1866, just after the cessation of the civil war, when General Sherman selects Colonel Henry Carrington to lead a party of three hundred men, women and children to build a new fort in the Montana Territory. It will be called Fort Phil Kearney. Also with him are Lieutenant George Washington Grummond, scout Jim Bridger, Captain Tenador Ten Eyck, Captain Fetterman and others. More than half of the “new” soldiers do not speak English, or speak it very poorly.
Fort Kearney is built in the middle of the Lakota Sioux hunting ground. Red Cloud, chief of the Lakota wants to foster good will with the soldiers (with the eventual aim of waging war), but Crazy Horse, who is somewhat of a mystic and visionary, wants the white men gone now. They start a series of small raids to irritate the soldiers and to learn their tactics.
Metzger, the German who is also a very proud and meticulous bugler plays a large part in explaining to the reader what is happening on the ground.
Red Cloud invites the Arapaho, Northern Cheyenne and Minnicoujou Sioux to join his war party. He and Crazy Horse devise plans for corralling and decimating the soldiers.
Meanwhile, inside the fort, tempers are flaring between the officers. Grummond is making several scences and generally being insubordinate. Fetterman and Ten Eyck are discussing ways to rope him in as Carrington is proving to be an indecisive and poor leader.
Interspersed with all of this is the secret journal of Frances Grummond. She reveals some very telling facts about the unstable Lieutenant Grummond.
I like how Mr. Punke tells what happened to the key characters in the book. This is a creative imagining of what might have actually occurred to Fetterman and his men at this battle. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and went immediately to Amazon to look for others of Mr. Punke's novels. The story was very well written and plotted. The transitions were nearly flawless, the characters real. The reader got a very good sense of what the individuals were about, their thoughts and motives.
While the Native Americans may have won this battle, the overall history of the white men's dealings with them was reprehensible.
I want to thank NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company/Henry Holt & Co for forwarding to me a copy of this remarkable book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
October 5, 2021
Due to it being historical fiction, this is a difficult one to review. Do I count off for plot faults? Character faults? In the end I chose a middle-ground.
This was almost a 3. Some problems up front:
1) Would have liked some more conflict between the Indians. Whenever the story turned to them I would get a little bit bored. They had none of the inter-personal interactions that the soldiers had.
2) Characters, and their life on the fort, had no real depth or internal conflict. They were pretty one-dimensional. I liked the journal of the wife, and it was a great opportunity to do a lot of internal perspectives like this, but it was never used that way.
3) What happened to Carrington? In the beginning, we get a first-person perspective of this person as though he was the main character, but then almost nothing again. He kind of disappears from the story.
4) The Audible audiobook narrator was AWFUL. He didn't try to do any voices with anyone, and his voice acting was not great in general. Also, because he was Native American, his voice (and the stacatto/proper style of it) was jarring when it came to the Army's perspective.
5) The last battle gets replayed, and replayed, and replayed to us through the perspective of, literally, seven different participants (I counted). It became exhausting.
With that said, the pacing was pretty good. It held my interest. There was nothing that pissed me off. That's approaching a 4 for me. I would have liked a lot more depth, so it's a very soft 4.
This was almost a 3. Some problems up front:
1) Would have liked some more conflict between the Indians. Whenever the story turned to them I would get a little bit bored. They had none of the inter-personal interactions that the soldiers had.
2) Characters, and their life on the fort, had no real depth or internal conflict. They were pretty one-dimensional. I liked the journal of the wife, and it was a great opportunity to do a lot of internal perspectives like this, but it was never used that way.
3) What happened to Carrington? In the beginning, we get a first-person perspective of this person as though he was the main character, but then almost nothing again. He kind of disappears from the story.
4) The Audible audiobook narrator was AWFUL. He didn't try to do any voices with anyone, and his voice acting was not great in general. Also, because he was Native American, his voice (and the stacatto/proper style of it) was jarring when it came to the Army's perspective.
5) The last battle gets replayed, and replayed, and replayed to us through the perspective of, literally, seven different participants (I counted). It became exhausting.
With that said, the pacing was pretty good. It held my interest. There was nothing that pissed me off. That's approaching a 4 for me. I would have liked a lot more depth, so it's a very soft 4.
June 12, 2024
“A un chilometro e mezzo di distanza, in cima alla Gobba del Bisonte, Cavallo Pazzo sentí di nuovo lo strumento che i soldati suonavano alla fine di ogni giornata; ormai conosceva bene la melodia. Gli piaceva, anche se gli metteva tristezza. Era molto diversa dalle altre canzoni che i bianchi suonavano con la tromba. Quelle erano squillanti e vivaci, come un uomo che parla in fretta. La musica serale invece era lenta e dolente.
Un giorno avevano osservato da lontano la cerimonia funebre dei bianchi che seppellivano un soldato. Cavallo Pazzo aveva notato che era stata suonata la stessa canzone.
Sembrava una musica adatta per l'occasione; significava che i bianchi piangevano anche la perdita di ogni giornata, di ogni tramonto del sole? Per il resto della loro vita sembravano sempre affannati, incuranti delle conseguenze di occupare terre che non erano loro e costruire un forte in mezzo al luogo sacro di un altro popolo. E questo il loro modo di mostrare dolore? È cosí che chiedono perdono?
Ma i bianchi sono capaci di simili pensieri, di riflettere
sulle proprie azioni?”
Un giorno avevano osservato da lontano la cerimonia funebre dei bianchi che seppellivano un soldato. Cavallo Pazzo aveva notato che era stata suonata la stessa canzone.
Sembrava una musica adatta per l'occasione; significava che i bianchi piangevano anche la perdita di ogni giornata, di ogni tramonto del sole? Per il resto della loro vita sembravano sempre affannati, incuranti delle conseguenze di occupare terre che non erano loro e costruire un forte in mezzo al luogo sacro di un altro popolo. E questo il loro modo di mostrare dolore? È cosí che chiedono perdono?
Ma i bianchi sono capaci di simili pensieri, di riflettere
sulle proprie azioni?”
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