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Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas
Crazy Horse , the military leader of the Oglala Sioux whose personal power and social nonconformity set him off as "strange," fought in many famous battles, including the one at the Little Bighorn. He held out boldly against the government's efforts to confine the Sioux on reservations. Finally, in the spring of 1877 he surrendered, one of the last important chiefs to do so, only to meet a violent death. Mari Sandoz, the noted author of Cheyenne Autumn and Old Jules, both available as Bison Books, has captured the spirit of Crazy Horse with a strength and nobility befitting his heroism.
428 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1942
123 people are currently reading
3580 people want to read
About the author
Mari Sandoz
59 books49 followersMari Susette Sandoz (May 11, 1896 – March 10, 1966) was a novelist, biographer, lecturer, and teacher. She was one of Nebraska's foremost writers, and wrote extensively about pioneer life and the Plains Indians.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 133 reviews
July 22, 2010
An amazing book about a hero of the Native Americans who faced impossible odds and stood with dignity and strength. Three elements made this one of the best books I have ever read:
-- The spiritual and natural aspect of how Crazy Horse and his people read the signs gave to the Universe. I will always hold a copy of this book to hope to understand the ways of them. The language is amazing.
-- The history of how the expansion of settlers over the West was met by the tribes. And the political ramifications of the chiefs who looked for benefits for themselves and their groups while selling out the others. Much like today.
-- Finally, the beauty of the storytelling that Sandoz delivers via interviews, records and folklore to depict the selfless man who led and cared for thousands.
Highly recommended!
-- The spiritual and natural aspect of how Crazy Horse and his people read the signs gave to the Universe. I will always hold a copy of this book to hope to understand the ways of them. The language is amazing.
-- The history of how the expansion of settlers over the West was met by the tribes. And the political ramifications of the chiefs who looked for benefits for themselves and their groups while selling out the others. Much like today.
-- Finally, the beauty of the storytelling that Sandoz delivers via interviews, records and folklore to depict the selfless man who led and cared for thousands.
Highly recommended!
June 22, 2022
So much has been written about Crazy Horse, but none with the provenance of this book. Ms. Sandoz grew up near the Sioux who knew Crazy Horse or whose relatives knew him. As a result, her book is generally recognized as the closest to the truth about Crazy Horse as we can get.
The author uses the voice of an omniscient Native American narrator to tell the story. Please note that the narrator tells the story as many Native Americans would. The pace is slow, Native American descriptors are used (e.g., "the moon of cherries black") followed by the white interpretation, and descriptions of persons, villages, and environments are quite detailed.
I found this method of telling the story to be perfect for enveloping the reader in the Native Americans' world and for clearly communicating how very differently they and the whites perceived nature, family, honor, and truth. Truly enlightening.
The author uses the voice of an omniscient Native American narrator to tell the story. Please note that the narrator tells the story as many Native Americans would. The pace is slow, Native American descriptors are used (e.g., "the moon of cherries black") followed by the white interpretation, and descriptions of persons, villages, and environments are quite detailed.
I found this method of telling the story to be perfect for enveloping the reader in the Native Americans' world and for clearly communicating how very differently they and the whites perceived nature, family, honor, and truth. Truly enlightening.
June 11, 2010
This is actually a significant book in a number of ways because on some topics it is the closest thing we have to original source material on the Sioux viewpoint of the wars. I'd recommend reading the into which spells out some of the books strengths and deficiencies but essentially it is as though a verbal history had been turned to print. Thus it is not short of opinion some of which is not objective nevertheless this author was able to interview and collect materials from people much closer to events such the Little Big Horn battle (Custer) than anyone living today. It's not very kind to Red Cloud or Indians who had accepted the treaties (called fort loafers) but this might reflect the opinion of those still bitter at the outright theft of the Black Hills. It's really ironic that they have carved up a mountain to make a tourist attraction dedicated to Crazy Horse as it's exactly the kind of thing he would have fought violently to prevent.
Given all the materials written from the side of the white combatants this book is also important because it spells out the void that exist(s) between them and the Sioux. I think it's pretty widely accepted nowadays that men like Crazy Horse were understandably ambivalent to the agencies and reservations.
Perhaps most importantly it give you an idea of how Crazy Horse was remembered by people who knew him or had tribal and family connections to him. You have to remember that although this book was written several decades ago it reads more like a contemporary work. This addition has added footnotes and other things that were not there in the previous editions but other than that this book reads more like something in the modern era than the racist undertones present in so many works written in the past.
This book has some significance historically in my opinion as I've said but even if you are not an historian it reads well and like a story told around the campfire or lodge. It is not a highly technical or overly stodgy work in it's methodology so on that alone it's a worthy discussion item for a classroom. Often in my experience college freshmen have absolutely not clue about these things let along why some might object to the use of "Fighting Sioux" for the name of a sports team. This is one of those books that might help bridge that gulf.
As I said there is still a space filled with misunderstanding between whites and Indians in this country.
Given all the materials written from the side of the white combatants this book is also important because it spells out the void that exist(s) between them and the Sioux. I think it's pretty widely accepted nowadays that men like Crazy Horse were understandably ambivalent to the agencies and reservations.
Perhaps most importantly it give you an idea of how Crazy Horse was remembered by people who knew him or had tribal and family connections to him. You have to remember that although this book was written several decades ago it reads more like a contemporary work. This addition has added footnotes and other things that were not there in the previous editions but other than that this book reads more like something in the modern era than the racist undertones present in so many works written in the past.
This book has some significance historically in my opinion as I've said but even if you are not an historian it reads well and like a story told around the campfire or lodge. It is not a highly technical or overly stodgy work in it's methodology so on that alone it's a worthy discussion item for a classroom. Often in my experience college freshmen have absolutely not clue about these things let along why some might object to the use of "Fighting Sioux" for the name of a sports team. This is one of those books that might help bridge that gulf.
As I said there is still a space filled with misunderstanding between whites and Indians in this country.
September 11, 2008
i cannot recommend this book strongly enough. it was easily my favorite read of the past year. sandoz tells the story of crazy horse in a comprehensive, complex, and extremely accessible way. i have read several smaller biograhical pieces on crazy horse and most of them have had little impact on me. carzy horse is to the lakotas much like the historical jesus is to christians, a life loaded with actual remarkable events, mythology, and faith... so, the telling of his story is tricky business. sandoz wrote this book shortly after crazy horse's death and it is written with the insight of an insider while still keeping an objective distance. sandoz (while white) lived amongst the lakota tribes and seems to have really captured the spirit of the times. it is a vivid and eventually heart breaking story that is a must read for anyone interested in american indian history, i cant believed i missed it for this long. --gw
January 29, 2013
After commencing an in-depth study of Native American Tribes on the eastern seaboard and reading west, I crossed paths with the Lakotah Sioux and Crazy Horse in a hardcover book by Mari Sandoz, 'Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas.' Although the armchair journey ended here, I continued studying the Sioux.
Sensed in words just so, Sandoz illumined the shadow side of Crazy Horse. In this specific lifetime, he participated significantly in the defeat of Custer in the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876. A legendary warrior, he fought many battles. However, I strongly suspect that the battle of the heart was his biggest battle.
Intrigued by the notion that a man could so love a woman, even after she married another, I wondered: If they were alive today, what kind of people would they be, what kind of events would they attract, and would they attract each other?
Was I inspired?
You bet!
Thirty-three books later, I completed the writing of a contemporary romance novel based on the personalities of Crazy Horse & Black Buffalo woman, foreshadowing the storyline on poignant nightdreams about both of them.
Set in the Black Hills, no internet, no emails, but actual phone conversations & letters engaging SD COC’s, the Pine Ridge Reservation, Ruth Ziolkowski, co-founder of the Crazy Horse Monument, and Deadwood’s Historic Saloon #10. As a result, on-site verification of this extensive research was done without any road maps! All this because one woman put pen to paper, wrote a book, and storied childhood memories told by her elders.
Thank you, Mari Sandoz!
Sensed in words just so, Sandoz illumined the shadow side of Crazy Horse. In this specific lifetime, he participated significantly in the defeat of Custer in the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876. A legendary warrior, he fought many battles. However, I strongly suspect that the battle of the heart was his biggest battle.
Intrigued by the notion that a man could so love a woman, even after she married another, I wondered: If they were alive today, what kind of people would they be, what kind of events would they attract, and would they attract each other?
Was I inspired?
You bet!
Thirty-three books later, I completed the writing of a contemporary romance novel based on the personalities of Crazy Horse & Black Buffalo woman, foreshadowing the storyline on poignant nightdreams about both of them.
Set in the Black Hills, no internet, no emails, but actual phone conversations & letters engaging SD COC’s, the Pine Ridge Reservation, Ruth Ziolkowski, co-founder of the Crazy Horse Monument, and Deadwood’s Historic Saloon #10. As a result, on-site verification of this extensive research was done without any road maps! All this because one woman put pen to paper, wrote a book, and storied childhood memories told by her elders.
Thank you, Mari Sandoz!
August 5, 2018
Copied review from Kirkus:
"KIRKUS REVIEW
"The author of Old Jules turns again to biography, this time in the saga of a great Indian leader, Crazy Horse. His life encompasses the bitter period of the Sioux Wars, which culminated at Little Big Horn. Brought up on tales and legends surrounding him, she finally felt compelled to trace them to their sources, and from that long research job, this book emerges. It is a book that stands as a monument to white stupidity -- and cupidity --and mismanagement, as the author traces successive tragic mistakes, from the day when a mischance precipitated virtual massacre, to ""Custer's last fight"". Curly or the Light Haired Boy, son of a man who was virtually a mystic, was twelve at the start; he had friends among the whites, and no hatred nor bitterness against them. This is the story of how hate grew, nurtured by broken promises, cruelty, selfishness, greed, as the Oglalas and their kin were pushed hither and you as he lost one after another whom he loved. The story is told in rhythmic prose, echoing the form of Indian speech. It is not easy reading -- it is often confusing -- but, in the last analysis, it is rewarding and challenging reading."
**
Some Sandoz quotes from the forward:
"The home of my childhood was on the upper Niobrara River, the Running Water of the old-timers, at the edge of the region they called the Indian Country ... close ... in those open days, to the great Sioux reservations of South Dakota, to Fort Robinson and the Black Hills--the final resting places of refuge for many of the old buffalo-hunting Indians, the old traders, trappers, and general frontiersmen who looked with contempt upon the coming of the barbed wire and the walking plow. Such men, with their heroic times all in the past, are often great story-tellers, and these my father, Old Jules, drew to him as a curl of smoke rising above a clump of trees would once have drawn them, or the small of coffee boiling at sundown."
"So, around our kitchen table or perhaps at the evening fires of the Sioux often camped across the road from our house, I heard these old-timers tell many and wonderful stories ...
"As I listened to these stories it seemed that through them, like a painted strip of rawhide in a braided rope, ran the name of one who was a boy among the Oglalas the day the chief of his people was shot down. He must have been twelve then, quiet, serious, very light-skinned for an Indian, with hair so soft and pale that was called Curly or the Light-Haired Boy ... twenty-three years later, he was known as the greatest ... his name, Crazy Horse, was one to frighten the children of the whites crowding into his country, and even the boldest warriors of his Indian enemies ..."
" ... had little interest in the things that delight most of his brother Sioux ... the name by which he was often known, Our Strange Man ...
" ... watched him walk in silence through his village in peacetime, every face more alive for his passing."
"KIRKUS REVIEW
"The author of Old Jules turns again to biography, this time in the saga of a great Indian leader, Crazy Horse. His life encompasses the bitter period of the Sioux Wars, which culminated at Little Big Horn. Brought up on tales and legends surrounding him, she finally felt compelled to trace them to their sources, and from that long research job, this book emerges. It is a book that stands as a monument to white stupidity -- and cupidity --and mismanagement, as the author traces successive tragic mistakes, from the day when a mischance precipitated virtual massacre, to ""Custer's last fight"". Curly or the Light Haired Boy, son of a man who was virtually a mystic, was twelve at the start; he had friends among the whites, and no hatred nor bitterness against them. This is the story of how hate grew, nurtured by broken promises, cruelty, selfishness, greed, as the Oglalas and their kin were pushed hither and you as he lost one after another whom he loved. The story is told in rhythmic prose, echoing the form of Indian speech. It is not easy reading -- it is often confusing -- but, in the last analysis, it is rewarding and challenging reading."
**
Some Sandoz quotes from the forward:
"The home of my childhood was on the upper Niobrara River, the Running Water of the old-timers, at the edge of the region they called the Indian Country ... close ... in those open days, to the great Sioux reservations of South Dakota, to Fort Robinson and the Black Hills--the final resting places of refuge for many of the old buffalo-hunting Indians, the old traders, trappers, and general frontiersmen who looked with contempt upon the coming of the barbed wire and the walking plow. Such men, with their heroic times all in the past, are often great story-tellers, and these my father, Old Jules, drew to him as a curl of smoke rising above a clump of trees would once have drawn them, or the small of coffee boiling at sundown."
"So, around our kitchen table or perhaps at the evening fires of the Sioux often camped across the road from our house, I heard these old-timers tell many and wonderful stories ...
"As I listened to these stories it seemed that through them, like a painted strip of rawhide in a braided rope, ran the name of one who was a boy among the Oglalas the day the chief of his people was shot down. He must have been twelve then, quiet, serious, very light-skinned for an Indian, with hair so soft and pale that was called Curly or the Light-Haired Boy ... twenty-three years later, he was known as the greatest ... his name, Crazy Horse, was one to frighten the children of the whites crowding into his country, and even the boldest warriors of his Indian enemies ..."
" ... had little interest in the things that delight most of his brother Sioux ... the name by which he was often known, Our Strange Man ...
" ... watched him walk in silence through his village in peacetime, every face more alive for his passing."
January 15, 2015
This was a book written from the viewpoint of the Indians. The author interviewed people who knew Crazy Horse and seemed to have gotten a clear understanding of his views and those of others surrounding him at the time. There were some white men who accepted the ways of the Indians and who even took native wives. However, many of the members of the Calvary came expecting to drive the Indians out of the places they had always lived. They decided that Red Cloud should be the chief with whom they would negotiate. They got Red Cloud and others to sign treaties to give up their lands and to live on reservations where conditions were horrible and most people were starving. There were also cases where the Calvary attacked and killed innocent people. The Lakotas governed with councils and required consensus before acting, so they did not approve or even understand about the government's dealings with Red Cloud. Crazy Horse did not trust the white men, especially when he found out that treaties did not contain what had been discussed in negotiations. There were times when Indians surrendered at the forts with white flags and were shot, and he personally came upon the aftermath of a massacre by soldiers that left men, women, and children dead with scalps taken. Crazy Horse led the battle at the Little Big Horn, but afterward he came to the realization that they could resist the white men no longer. The buffalo herds which sustained them for food had disappeared, many Indians died from white men's diseases, and so Crazy Horse brought his people to Fort Robinson in peace. He wanted to do what was best for his people. The army took away their weapons and horses and wanted to send them to the Missouri reservation. Crazy Horse resisted because he knew of the deprivations there. He wanted their own land to the north where they would be free to hunt and live in the way that they knew. He was being told he would go to Washington to negotiate. Once again he felt that the white men had lied to them. A scout who feared Crazy Horse started telling lies about him, and even though most did not believe the lies, a reward was offered for his death. He was stabbed at the fort and died there.
The white people have little to be proud of. The story of Crazy Horse is well written, and the author includes information in a glossary about her interviews, places, names, and Lakota terminology.
The white people have little to be proud of. The story of Crazy Horse is well written, and the author includes information in a glossary about her interviews, places, names, and Lakota terminology.
March 14, 2017
Penso che Cavallo Pazzo di Mari Sandoz sia una delle biografie più complete ed esaustive sulla figura di questo nativo americano la cui figura leggendaria, insieme a quella di Toro Seduto, è da tempo entrata da tempo nel mito non soltanto in America ma in tutto il mondo.
Nonostante all'autrice vada assolutamente riconosciuto il merito di aver condotto una ricerca davvero minuziosa e approfondita su questo personaggio e in generale sul popolo nativo degli Oglala Lakota, purtroppo la gran quantità e la densità di informazioni presenti in questo libro hanno reso la mia lettura lenta e a volte faticosa. Ammetto che leggere di ciascuna battaglia condotta da Cavallo Pazzo e di ogni nemico contro cui ha combattutto ha smorzato spesso il mio coinvolgimento in quella che, invece, è di per sé è una narrazione chiara in stile romanzo, che ha il grande pregio di far immergere il lettore nella storia di un popolo attraverso il punto di vista del popolo stesso.
Da questo libro emerge una figura meritatamente leggendaria, quella di un nativo ben lontano dallo stereotipo di guerrieri Sioux assetati di sangue e battaglie che vuole la tradizione popolare: Cavallo Pazzo non voleva altro che la pace per la propria gente, e che essa potesse abitare una terra in cui vivere libera così come era sempre stata prima dell'arrivo dell'uomo bianco e delle sue barbarie. Speranza per la quale "lo Strano Uomo degli Oglala" deciderà di consegnarsi e per cui purtroppo morirà fatalmente prima di aver compiuto i quarant'anni di età.
Un libro, questo, che spontaneamente non credo avrei mai scelto di leggere se non fosse stato per una sfida, e che sono comunque contenta di aver letto nonostante la mia valutazione non vada al di sopra delle 3 stelle, ma che mi sento di consigliare a chi è molto interessato al tema e affascinato dagli Indiani d'America.
Nonostante all'autrice vada assolutamente riconosciuto il merito di aver condotto una ricerca davvero minuziosa e approfondita su questo personaggio e in generale sul popolo nativo degli Oglala Lakota, purtroppo la gran quantità e la densità di informazioni presenti in questo libro hanno reso la mia lettura lenta e a volte faticosa. Ammetto che leggere di ciascuna battaglia condotta da Cavallo Pazzo e di ogni nemico contro cui ha combattutto ha smorzato spesso il mio coinvolgimento in quella che, invece, è di per sé è una narrazione chiara in stile romanzo, che ha il grande pregio di far immergere il lettore nella storia di un popolo attraverso il punto di vista del popolo stesso.
Da questo libro emerge una figura meritatamente leggendaria, quella di un nativo ben lontano dallo stereotipo di guerrieri Sioux assetati di sangue e battaglie che vuole la tradizione popolare: Cavallo Pazzo non voleva altro che la pace per la propria gente, e che essa potesse abitare una terra in cui vivere libera così come era sempre stata prima dell'arrivo dell'uomo bianco e delle sue barbarie. Speranza per la quale "lo Strano Uomo degli Oglala" deciderà di consegnarsi e per cui purtroppo morirà fatalmente prima di aver compiuto i quarant'anni di età.
Un libro, questo, che spontaneamente non credo avrei mai scelto di leggere se non fosse stato per una sfida, e che sono comunque contenta di aver letto nonostante la mia valutazione non vada al di sopra delle 3 stelle, ma che mi sento di consigliare a chi è molto interessato al tema e affascinato dagli Indiani d'America.
July 30, 2018
Every Nebraskan should have read at least one work of Mari Sandoz, so I finally got around to reading “Crazy Horse,” her biography of the strange Lakota warrior who defeated Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in June, 1876.
Ms. Sandoz wrote the story of Crazy Horse, called Curly as a child b/c of his lighter-colored hair and eyes compared to other Lakota, in a style that would resemble the story-telling of the Sioux, so it isn’t straightforward, but sometimes, almost rambling. That took getting used to, as did the various names for the same Lakota, as their names changed throughout their lifetimes.
Crazy Horse was called “Their strange man” by his band of Lakota, b/c he never bragged about his coup or scalps from his battles, nor danced in the victory dances. He was a quiet, humble man who never dressed as a chief, even when he was made one. He knew, as we all do, that the Whites were going to betray all their treaties w/ the Sioux, as they did. The innocence of the Sioux was just so hard to read, like thinking that throwing the dirt from a gopher hole would make a warrior’s horse disappear from sight (like a gopher does going down his hole), or that Crazy Horse has “strong medicine” to deflect lead bullets in battles. Unfortunately, his “medicine” did not protect him when he finally took his people to Fort Robinson b/c they were starving. He was literally stabbed in the back by a bayonet in the presence of his Indian betrayers.
This is a very affecting story about a good man who fought for his people and his way of life. I will remember this book for its beautiful writing for a long time—high praise from me, as I don’t generally like books about the “Old West.”
Ms. Sandoz wrote the story of Crazy Horse, called Curly as a child b/c of his lighter-colored hair and eyes compared to other Lakota, in a style that would resemble the story-telling of the Sioux, so it isn’t straightforward, but sometimes, almost rambling. That took getting used to, as did the various names for the same Lakota, as their names changed throughout their lifetimes.
Crazy Horse was called “Their strange man” by his band of Lakota, b/c he never bragged about his coup or scalps from his battles, nor danced in the victory dances. He was a quiet, humble man who never dressed as a chief, even when he was made one. He knew, as we all do, that the Whites were going to betray all their treaties w/ the Sioux, as they did. The innocence of the Sioux was just so hard to read, like thinking that throwing the dirt from a gopher hole would make a warrior’s horse disappear from sight (like a gopher does going down his hole), or that Crazy Horse has “strong medicine” to deflect lead bullets in battles. Unfortunately, his “medicine” did not protect him when he finally took his people to Fort Robinson b/c they were starving. He was literally stabbed in the back by a bayonet in the presence of his Indian betrayers.
This is a very affecting story about a good man who fought for his people and his way of life. I will remember this book for its beautiful writing for a long time—high praise from me, as I don’t generally like books about the “Old West.”
February 25, 2010
Sooo disappointing. I had very high expectations for this book because I heard it was one of the best biographies of all time. It is the story of the famous Indian Chief, Crazy Horse, published in 1942 by Mari Sandoz. She tells the story from the "Indian" perspective and that is a good part of the problem. So much of it seemed contrived and unnecessarily wordy and akwardly written because she persisted in using "Indian" language, i.e., "In the month of Calves Sprouting Hair on their Legs, June, the white man traveled the Holy Road to the Black Hills in search of the metal that is the color of a setting sun, Crazy Horse....."
I often found myself re-reading sentances two and three times to figure out what she was actually saying. The author goes in excruciating and difficult to follow detail on all the Indian skirmishes. One paragraph Crazy Horse is recuperating in his lodge, the next paragraph he is riding down some rival Warrior and scalping him.
I was also expecting a more sympathetic rendering of the injustices that happened to the Native Americans. But, the story really seems to dwell on the fighting between the different Indian tribes, their fixation on the white man's goods (especially whiskey) and the Indians seemingly callousness towards stealing each other's horses and the collecting of scalps.
In all fairness, after two thirds of forcing myself through this book, I speed read and skimmed the last third.
I really disliked it.
I often found myself re-reading sentances two and three times to figure out what she was actually saying. The author goes in excruciating and difficult to follow detail on all the Indian skirmishes. One paragraph Crazy Horse is recuperating in his lodge, the next paragraph he is riding down some rival Warrior and scalping him.
I was also expecting a more sympathetic rendering of the injustices that happened to the Native Americans. But, the story really seems to dwell on the fighting between the different Indian tribes, their fixation on the white man's goods (especially whiskey) and the Indians seemingly callousness towards stealing each other's horses and the collecting of scalps.
In all fairness, after two thirds of forcing myself through this book, I speed read and skimmed the last third.
I really disliked it.
March 8, 2012
This is an awesome history of the life of Crazy Horse. Sandoz not only researched historical documents exhaustively, but she also interviewed a great number of surviving participants, people who knew Crazy Horse. Also she did something which i feel more historians should do: she visited every place, every physical location, every peice of land upon which the events took place. I think all these extra efforts show up because by meeting people and going to places, we make connections which are not just from rote cross-referencing. Sandoz's resulting account moves us through the changes in the world that Crazy Horse inhabited, rather than giving us a narrativized set of facts. It's a beautiful work. Even if you already know (as I did) many of the facts of Crazy Horse's life, this is a great read which will change your perspective on american history and the Lakota, Cheyenne and Crow homelands.
May 8, 2016
Initially I was apprehensive about reading the book when the introduction described the author's writing style as being similar to the way a native storyteller might relate a saga around a campfire. However I soon got past my fear and found the text gave me a much better understanding of the way that the Native Americans of the Plains viewed the world and their place in it. It is one thing to read even the very best white author's thoroughly researched and well written nonfiction biography or history of early relations between pioneers/settlers/soldiers and Indians, it is quite different to get an understanding of the Indian's perception of the same event based on Indian's spiritual and cultural background. By the way, the author did not spin this story out of thin air, it is based on valid research and many personal interviews. I found the book easy to read and extremely refreshing and rewarding, I recommend it highly.
December 7, 2016
Rightly is regarded as one of the outstanding books on Native American culture and history, it is the brilliantly told story not only of Crazy Horse but of his people. Together with all extra material found in this edition of the book originally published in 1942 it is unmissible if you want to learn about that period of time and the area of the Western US.
September 27, 2023
A good biography of the great leader, Crazy Horse, the one Native American who never surrendered. Told from a different perspective.
I really enjoyed it, but it may not be for everyone.
I really enjoyed it, but it may not be for everyone.
November 18, 2013
Mari Sandoz grew up in the Sandhills of northwestern Nebraska. Her father, Old Jules, was an original pioneer, who arrived in the area at the tail end of the wars with the Plains Indians (he rode to the Wounded Knee massacre site the day after when he heard the news He was appalled). Old Jules was acquainted with some of the Natives, and Mari grew up in a household hearing the old stories.
In this book, Sandoz tells the story of Crazy Horse, and she does so with great literary effect. In prose style, it reads more like a novel than most biographies. Crazy Horse is presented as a powerful and compelling person, doing his best in the most extreme of circumstances.
During his childhood and adolescence, there is much joy and vitality as he moves across the plains visiting relatives and friends of other tribes, but he has already witnessed some of the illogical, violent response of the whites that foreshadow the future.
The tribe has always thought he was a strange, and as he grows up he becomes a great hunter and warrior, with a powerful medicine which seems to protect him from the weapons of his enemies. We get more than just the story of battles, we learn of his love, his spiritual connection, his loyalty to friends, and his admiration for family and mentors. Crazy Horse is a fully-conceived person, not just the iconic figure.
Of course his warrior abilities are turned to the Indian Wars as he fights to maintain the old ways, struggling against those of his own people who would give everything up. It is, of course, ultimately a lost cause. Not only must he struggle against the loss of the bison and the repeated invasions of the whites, there are the internal politics of the tribe. Some other significant figures of the era, such as Red Cloud, are portrayed in a very negative light in this story.
The final chapters are sad, as the victory at Little Big Horn (or Greasy Grass, the Lakota name for the battle) does not translate to victory in the struggle, and he must come in to face his enemies and their jealousies and broken promises.
A magnificently well-told story and a beautifully written book.
In this book, Sandoz tells the story of Crazy Horse, and she does so with great literary effect. In prose style, it reads more like a novel than most biographies. Crazy Horse is presented as a powerful and compelling person, doing his best in the most extreme of circumstances.
During his childhood and adolescence, there is much joy and vitality as he moves across the plains visiting relatives and friends of other tribes, but he has already witnessed some of the illogical, violent response of the whites that foreshadow the future.
The tribe has always thought he was a strange, and as he grows up he becomes a great hunter and warrior, with a powerful medicine which seems to protect him from the weapons of his enemies. We get more than just the story of battles, we learn of his love, his spiritual connection, his loyalty to friends, and his admiration for family and mentors. Crazy Horse is a fully-conceived person, not just the iconic figure.
Of course his warrior abilities are turned to the Indian Wars as he fights to maintain the old ways, struggling against those of his own people who would give everything up. It is, of course, ultimately a lost cause. Not only must he struggle against the loss of the bison and the repeated invasions of the whites, there are the internal politics of the tribe. Some other significant figures of the era, such as Red Cloud, are portrayed in a very negative light in this story.
The final chapters are sad, as the victory at Little Big Horn (or Greasy Grass, the Lakota name for the battle) does not translate to victory in the struggle, and he must come in to face his enemies and their jealousies and broken promises.
A magnificently well-told story and a beautifully written book.
November 7, 2007
This book is interesting because of the way it's told. It reads much like a novel would read. It's related from an Indian omniscient point of view. In other words you feel as if a Native American were sitting down recounting the tale. During the story we see Crazy Horse grow from a young boy called Curly hanging around his warrior friend Hump to a mighty warrior brave in battle. Sadly as most people know his people endured many hardships and many broken promises made by soldiers representing the Great Father. Reading this you can't help but be somewhat moved and have compassion for the eventual demise of the Oglalas that was well underway during Crazy Horse's life. Towards the latter part of the book emotions run deep as you see how jealousy, anger, and greed ripped apart what could have been good relations among the different Native American peoples. Of course, Crazy Horse the man we come to know in this book undergoes many of the hardships of the people himself. Almost as if he is the embodiment of the transition from the Indians to the white man's world at any cost.
I did have a couple of problems with this book though. Namely, I found the writer's sentences to be ambiguous a lot of the time. There are no complicated words here as she is trying to write in the plain-spoken Indian style but many times I felt she was unclear so you would find yourself reading passages several times over to try and get sure her meaning. After a while this can become tedious. I also felt the prose could have been more lucid. Just because you're telling a story in a plain-spoken style doesn't mean you have to forsake any intellctual-sounding prose altogether. For these reasons it can be a taxing read which made what could have been a great book into just a good book. I still do recommend this work for a good perspective on the Native American view of history (even though some of the historical events in the book are no doubt dubious) if you are prepared to put in some effort and time reading it.
I did have a couple of problems with this book though. Namely, I found the writer's sentences to be ambiguous a lot of the time. There are no complicated words here as she is trying to write in the plain-spoken Indian style but many times I felt she was unclear so you would find yourself reading passages several times over to try and get sure her meaning. After a while this can become tedious. I also felt the prose could have been more lucid. Just because you're telling a story in a plain-spoken style doesn't mean you have to forsake any intellctual-sounding prose altogether. For these reasons it can be a taxing read which made what could have been a great book into just a good book. I still do recommend this work for a good perspective on the Native American view of history (even though some of the historical events in the book are no doubt dubious) if you are prepared to put in some effort and time reading it.
November 30, 2015
CRAZY HORSE was originally published in 1942. Mari Sandoz - 1896-1966 - wove a fascinating story of Crazy Horse, through talking with those elders still alive at the time who knew Crazy Horse. She also studied all the interviews taken in 1906 and in 1930-31, from those knowledgeable about the times Crazy Horse lived. Some even remembered how he was killed. She went to libraries, court houses, read manuscripts, and on and on. And these are documented in the back of the book. This book is the third edition of Sandoz's book published by the University of Nebraska Press, with an Introduction by Vine Deloria, Jr. It has been also updated with supplemental materials, which was very helpful to me, especially the names of the men and women who are mentioned.
This is the first time I have learned about Crazy Horse and his childhood up to his murder. I can't say that any other way. He was a quiet man, who spoke very little. As a child, he was called Curly, but after a successful battle with another tribe, his father, Crazy Horse, gave him his name, and took the name Worm. Crazy Horse did not dress in war bonnets, etc. He braided his hair, wore one feather, and put the sign of lightning on each cheek.
What I found in this book was a tragedy of a man who only wanted peace for his people. He realized early on that the white "chiefs" talked out of both sides of their mouths; treaties meant nothing; and there were traitors in his camps. Translators sometimes reinterpreted Crazy Horse's words to the Soldier Chiefs, causing untold damage. One time friends turned against him because of jealousy, favors from the Generals; and their own greed.
I highly recommend this book. It is a fascinating read.
This is the first time I have learned about Crazy Horse and his childhood up to his murder. I can't say that any other way. He was a quiet man, who spoke very little. As a child, he was called Curly, but after a successful battle with another tribe, his father, Crazy Horse, gave him his name, and took the name Worm. Crazy Horse did not dress in war bonnets, etc. He braided his hair, wore one feather, and put the sign of lightning on each cheek.
What I found in this book was a tragedy of a man who only wanted peace for his people. He realized early on that the white "chiefs" talked out of both sides of their mouths; treaties meant nothing; and there were traitors in his camps. Translators sometimes reinterpreted Crazy Horse's words to the Soldier Chiefs, causing untold damage. One time friends turned against him because of jealousy, favors from the Generals; and their own greed.
I highly recommend this book. It is a fascinating read.
June 5, 2016
I am a huge admirer of Crazy Horse. This book is most interesting and enlightening. It reinforces my string admiration of Crazy Horse. He is a rarity among Native Americans. The story is a mix of sadness and admiration. As an example, when Crazy Horse rode into the Red Cloud Agency, the US Army officer noted that it was a "triumphal march, not a surrender."
The are people and places that appear better than I expected: Three Stars (General Crook), Sitting Bull, and Grandmother's Land (Canada ruled by Queen Victoria).
There are also people whose behavior made me angrier than I expected: Long Hair (Custer), Red Cloud, and General Sheridan.
It should also be noted that the language of the book requires some thought until you get to the midpoint of the book. The language mirrors that of the Lakota and uses their names for places, people, and events. For example, September is the Moon of the Black Calf.
This is well worth the time it takes to understand the language and it will make you empathize with man behind the legend.
The are people and places that appear better than I expected: Three Stars (General Crook), Sitting Bull, and Grandmother's Land (Canada ruled by Queen Victoria).
There are also people whose behavior made me angrier than I expected: Long Hair (Custer), Red Cloud, and General Sheridan.
It should also be noted that the language of the book requires some thought until you get to the midpoint of the book. The language mirrors that of the Lakota and uses their names for places, people, and events. For example, September is the Moon of the Black Calf.
This is well worth the time it takes to understand the language and it will make you empathize with man behind the legend.
January 23, 2013
I really enfoyed this book even tho I knew the ending. It is the stroy of the native American embodied in the life of one remarkable man.
It was published in 1942 and based on conversations with Indians who had first hand knowlege of Crazy Horse plus other research.
I struggled with the style of writing but I think she was writing in the way the Indians conveyed their oral tradition.
Interesting things I didn't know: Braves could have more than one wife and women had the protected right to leave their man.
Things that I know and had confirmed: The dispicable treatment of native Americans by our government.
It was published in 1942 and based on conversations with Indians who had first hand knowlege of Crazy Horse plus other research.
I struggled with the style of writing but I think she was writing in the way the Indians conveyed their oral tradition.
Interesting things I didn't know: Braves could have more than one wife and women had the protected right to leave their man.
Things that I know and had confirmed: The dispicable treatment of native Americans by our government.
July 27, 2012
If you don't read this book, your life will not be complete; yea, it's one of those. The prose is fantastic; possibly the best I've ever read by an American writer. Sandoz seems to have successfully melded a modernist style with an obviously Oglala narratorial voice. The history seems rather accurate, and completely based on the Oglala point of view. The story is extremely moving. You empathize with the displaced native people; and I think that was what Mari Sandoz aimed for when writing this historic novel.
December 4, 2013
This is a wonderful book. I started lightening my considerable load of books when I went back to school a few years ago. Not only did I keep this one, I took it with me. I then had to jettison almost everything when I moved to New York City, and I had to get rid of it then. But it's the kind of book I'll probably come back to occasionally. Two things I really appreciated about it: 1. The writing is beautiful. It reads like a novel. 2. This was the first book, I think, that gave me a real sense of exactly how their independence was broken and they were rounded up.
July 23, 2007
I'm probably not the target audience for this book. What IS the target audience anyway? My guess is that Sandoz did not actually write with any one reader in mind, choosing to focus instead on relating the life of Crazy Horse with as much authenticity as possible--authenticity as distinct from but without detriment to accuracy. Hence the tone of an oral history, and idiosyncrasies of language that are meant to reflect the Lakota way of speaking.
Whatever, this story is awesome!
Whatever, this story is awesome!
January 21, 2011
I really liked this book. The story of Crazy Horse mirrors the stories of other great leaders cut down by those close to them. Those who envied or feared them. Caesar, Jesus, and countless others unknown.
Crazy Horse believed he was protected by a greater power. A vision from God. He faced the enemy often, fearlessly, and when he defeated the 7th Calvary at little big horn, it changed him life forever...very sad ending.
Crazy Horse believed he was protected by a greater power. A vision from God. He faced the enemy often, fearlessly, and when he defeated the 7th Calvary at little big horn, it changed him life forever...very sad ending.
September 28, 2011
Of all the books about the history of the American west and the events and clashes between the Indians and the settlers and U.S. Army this is by far the best. The author was raised on a farm near a Souix reservation in the early 20th century and, as a child, became friends with an old man on the reservation who was once Crazy Horse's best friend. She hear the story first hand from a man who had been there. If you're a history buff this is a must read.
June 21, 2013
This story will inhabit your dreams, likely in equally beautiful and terrifying ways. The language is lyrical and it took me a while to adjust my ear to it, but once I did, the story really flowed.
The tale itself is one of the great human tragedies. While there are many moments of love, compassion and wisdom, the injustices visited upon this man and these people break the heart.
The tale itself is one of the great human tragedies. While there are many moments of love, compassion and wisdom, the injustices visited upon this man and these people break the heart.
May 19, 2018
Completing this journey was a long, slow process, and a bit of a grind. I'm glad I stuck with it because in the end, the legend of Crazy Horse resonated with me and I'll remember his saga for the rest of my life.
December 23, 2022
The book was kind of slow paced (it took me a month to read its 400 pages) but I found it very interesting and I would consider it one of the best books I've read about the American Indians of the North American plains. It is written in the storytelling style of some American Indian groups and while that added to the slow pace, I enjoyed it for the rich and sometimes haunting language. The book was published in 1942 and the author was able to interview some people who actually knew Crazy Horse.
February 26, 2016
You can't knock Sandoz on her exhaustive research of her subject, but the density of the information presented sometimes detracts from the story lying behind the chronology of battles, hunts, and encampments (I didn't really need to know about EVERY coup he counted against EVERY enemy). That said, however, she certainly did the memory of this great man justice by retelling his life story through his own eyes...which allows us a much more empathetic understanding of the abject inhumanity the Native Americans faced at the hands of the invading and conquering whites. All in all, I'm glad I took Patti Smith's recommendation--she wrote about it in her own book Just Kids--and soldiered (so to speak) through to the end!
July 12, 2008
The is one of the best biographies I have ever read period, not only because of the detailed presentation of life and charachter that is achieved, but because it captures the Lakotah voice and point of view. I learned that when this book was first released in 1930 (or thereabouts) it was widely dismissed and only recently has come into its own. The story of the Sioux Lakotah is unbelievably harsh and this book allows the reader to really experience the events from the Native American perspective.
November 8, 2008
A great perspective on the oral traditions of a great people -- the Sioux, and all of their complexities. Sandoz shows a time of great transition and cultural upheaval. Though not a scholarly work by today's standards, Sandoz clearly had access to people who survived the darkest of times, and still remembered thte the brighter days, and trusted her to tell the story, if not completely accurately, at least with respect to their traditions and their voice. Truly sad that I had not ever been required to read this book in school.
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