What do you think?
Rate this book
A Wounded Thing Must Hide: In Search of Libbie Custer
A vibrant, deeply personal portrait of the wife of General Custer.
Brilliant, inventive, but not in any conventional sense a biography, A Wounded Thing Must Hide is Jeremy Poolman's first foray into nonfiction, taking as its subject the fascinating wife of General Custer. He relates key scenes in Libbie's extraordinary life-her brushes with Empress Elizabeth of Austria, Tsar Alexander III, and Henry James, to name a few-each episode proving rich in relishably surreal detail. We see Libbie ferrying dung from Vienna to St. Petersburg (a present from empress to tsar, to ward off cholera and typhus); taking delivery of the present of a bear from Alex himself; stumbling into a soldier who might perhaps be the great-great-grandfather of Bob Dylan. Throughout it all, we catch glimpses of the glorious, wayward career of the General himself, culminating in the famous slaughter at Little Big Horn.
Far from an aridly factual outline of who did what where, Poolman offers us a vividly, tangibly real re-creation of historical events. He gets to places other biographies can't reach, bleeding, at times, into autobiography. Haunted by the death of his own wife, the narrator follows Libbie's itinerary in search of something unnamed in himself. Through exploring a widow's determination to protect her husband's damaged reputation, he hopes to find a way to deal with his personal loss. By exploring Libbie's and Custer's enduring love and devotion, he finds a form for his own.
Brilliant, inventive, but not in any conventional sense a biography, A Wounded Thing Must Hide is Jeremy Poolman's first foray into nonfiction, taking as its subject the fascinating wife of General Custer. He relates key scenes in Libbie's extraordinary life-her brushes with Empress Elizabeth of Austria, Tsar Alexander III, and Henry James, to name a few-each episode proving rich in relishably surreal detail. We see Libbie ferrying dung from Vienna to St. Petersburg (a present from empress to tsar, to ward off cholera and typhus); taking delivery of the present of a bear from Alex himself; stumbling into a soldier who might perhaps be the great-great-grandfather of Bob Dylan. Throughout it all, we catch glimpses of the glorious, wayward career of the General himself, culminating in the famous slaughter at Little Big Horn.
Far from an aridly factual outline of who did what where, Poolman offers us a vividly, tangibly real re-creation of historical events. He gets to places other biographies can't reach, bleeding, at times, into autobiography. Haunted by the death of his own wife, the narrator follows Libbie's itinerary in search of something unnamed in himself. Through exploring a widow's determination to protect her husband's damaged reputation, he hopes to find a way to deal with his personal loss. By exploring Libbie's and Custer's enduring love and devotion, he finds a form for his own.
- GenresHistory
320 pages, Hardcover
First published August 3, 2002
10 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 31, 2010
According to the back cover of "A Wounded Thing Must Hide," "Haunted by the death of his own wife, the author follows Libbie Custer through her extraordinary life in search of he knows not what." That's for sure. In this meandering, navel-gazing and continually frustrating memoir, Poolman travels around, purportedly working on a book about Libbie Custer, between stalking museum attendants, having one-night stands, getting drunk with old friends who then disappear, and having weird encounters with strangers who just seem, inexplicably, to seek him out in order to tell him irrelevant stories. You will just be settling into reading something, finally, about Libbie, only to have a literary interruption featuring Poolman's interaction with some "colourful" character. Those who pick up the book hoping, like me, to actually learn about Mrs. Custer and her post-George experiences, will be, like me, sorely disappointed.
Then there are the glaring lapses of proofreading, research or both. In one sequence, Poolman and one of the people he meets spend time in a bar outside of West Point gazing at a photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Custer taken "in June 1862, just three weeks before Gettysburg." Really? Neat trick since (1) the Battle of Gettysburg took place in July 1863, and (2) the Custers weren't married until February 9, 1864. Later, reference is made to General Custer passing the reviewing stand in the post-war parade which takes place May 23, 1864. Since the War had another eleven months to go at this point, it must have been a pretty tiny parade. Finally, the found gold that sparked the final battle at Little Big Horn is mentioned as being sieved on July 30, 1876. I can only suspect that the Native Americans then went BACK IN TIME to June 25 in order to kill Custer and his men. Those are just three that I, a person who knows relatively little about this period in history, was able to catch. If the writing cannot be trusted in matters so easily recognized, how can it be trusted elsewhere?
If you want to find out what television shows the author watches in his various hotel rooms, find out how much liquor one person can consume, and how creepy it can be to work as a waitress or museum attendant, then this is the book for you. I'm afraid that those who want to learn about Libbie Custer will have to wait.
Then there are the glaring lapses of proofreading, research or both. In one sequence, Poolman and one of the people he meets spend time in a bar outside of West Point gazing at a photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Custer taken "in June 1862, just three weeks before Gettysburg." Really? Neat trick since (1) the Battle of Gettysburg took place in July 1863, and (2) the Custers weren't married until February 9, 1864. Later, reference is made to General Custer passing the reviewing stand in the post-war parade which takes place May 23, 1864. Since the War had another eleven months to go at this point, it must have been a pretty tiny parade. Finally, the found gold that sparked the final battle at Little Big Horn is mentioned as being sieved on July 30, 1876. I can only suspect that the Native Americans then went BACK IN TIME to June 25 in order to kill Custer and his men. Those are just three that I, a person who knows relatively little about this period in history, was able to catch. If the writing cannot be trusted in matters so easily recognized, how can it be trusted elsewhere?
If you want to find out what television shows the author watches in his various hotel rooms, find out how much liquor one person can consume, and how creepy it can be to work as a waitress or museum attendant, then this is the book for you. I'm afraid that those who want to learn about Libbie Custer will have to wait.
September 23, 2011
The best book about Elizabeth Bacon Custer, her marriage to George Armstrong Custer, and her ability to reclaim his reputation through the strength of her long public devotion is by Shirley Leckie (Elizabeth Bacon Custer and the Making of a Myth). This book is as much about Poolman and his retroactive infatuation with Lizzie as it is about Elizabeth Custer herself. Some of the book is amusing, some of it is narcissistic in the extreme. The combination dosesn't do her justice, though it contains the occasional interesting aside.
October 14, 2016
I’m not sure where I learned of this book, but I was so excited to get my hands on it. I’m not at all familiar with General George Armstrong Custer’s wife, Elizabeth Bacon Custer.
The prologue, titled “Ghosts in the Park,” was wonderful. It begins with Libbie’s death in 1933, four days short of her 91st birthday. It was in the parlor of Libbie’s New York home that the author learned fist learned about the woman, standing in the spot where she stood, watching the sun slip between the buildings and sipping tea from her Dresden china. Beautiful writing. A little unclear about somethings, but I figured they’d be explained in coming chapters.
Alas, that was not to be. I’m not sure exactly what Poolman was writing about, but it wasn’t Libbie Custer. I “think” it was his search for her; going place where she went, making up conversations she probably had. Poolman has recently lost his wife, Karen, to cancer, and became obsessed with Mrs. Custer.
I couldn’t make heads or tails of what Poolman was writing about. There was a scene in the beginning about the Mayflower and the moving of Plymouth Rock that I couldn’t figure out what that had to do with Libbie Custer. That was the way the rest of the book read.
I give this biography/memoir 0 out of 5 stars.
The prologue, titled “Ghosts in the Park,” was wonderful. It begins with Libbie’s death in 1933, four days short of her 91st birthday. It was in the parlor of Libbie’s New York home that the author learned fist learned about the woman, standing in the spot where she stood, watching the sun slip between the buildings and sipping tea from her Dresden china. Beautiful writing. A little unclear about somethings, but I figured they’d be explained in coming chapters.
Alas, that was not to be. I’m not sure exactly what Poolman was writing about, but it wasn’t Libbie Custer. I “think” it was his search for her; going place where she went, making up conversations she probably had. Poolman has recently lost his wife, Karen, to cancer, and became obsessed with Mrs. Custer.
I couldn’t make heads or tails of what Poolman was writing about. There was a scene in the beginning about the Mayflower and the moving of Plymouth Rock that I couldn’t figure out what that had to do with Libbie Custer. That was the way the rest of the book read.
I give this biography/memoir 0 out of 5 stars.
September 17, 2015
This was tedious in the extreme. The author is in love with his own mendacious voice, especially about LBC. Many facts are just, pardon the phrase, dead wrong. They're as dead as her hubby's mutilated corpse. The tone and self-absorption of the writing are just dreadful, a pain to read. I can be compulsive so I stubbornly slogged through to the end. Maybe I should have abandoned this one.
Personally, I don't know how such an intelligent woman as Libbie could stand to be married to such a paternalistic, controlling, cheating ass. I woulda slapped the crap outta him from here to China! But that's me. I wanted to hear how she crawled out from his shadow after his death (he left her in debt!) but was treated instead to a near hagiographic portrait of their marriage. The flawed truth is always more interesting than myth.
Personally, I don't know how such an intelligent woman as Libbie could stand to be married to such a paternalistic, controlling, cheating ass. I woulda slapped the crap outta him from here to China! But that's me. I wanted to hear how she crawled out from his shadow after his death (he left her in debt!) but was treated instead to a near hagiographic portrait of their marriage. The flawed truth is always more interesting than myth.
October 5, 2010
I was traveling through Wyoming visiting tourist spots and it kind of brought this book to life. I don't think the author accomplished quite what he intended. He never really fleshed out Libbie Custer so I felt really disappointed at the end. I do want to read her autobiography.
April 2, 2015
Just my favorite passage for now.
“Perhaps . . . the only thing to be learned from the memory in our lives of the dead is that they are there and we are here. Maybe life—death—really is as simple and as final as that.”
One day, I'll write something substantial about this book.
“Perhaps . . . the only thing to be learned from the memory in our lives of the dead is that they are there and we are here. Maybe life—death—really is as simple and as final as that.”
One day, I'll write something substantial about this book.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews