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Post by Jas. Watson on Feb 16, 2007 15:07:06 GMT -6
Does anyone know where I might obtain a copy of this book for less than two hundred dollars? (Why is it so bloody expensive!)
Jas~
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Post by harpskiddie on Feb 16, 2007 16:04:30 GMT -6
Elementary, my dear Watson: it's called capitalism, or more properly, that part of a capitalistic system which is denoted as the law of supply and demand.
We all wants one; nobody gots none; if ya finds one, it's agin the law to kill the guy and take it!!!
AAAH, for the good old days...........................
Gordie
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Post by Treasuredude on Feb 16, 2007 21:19:19 GMT -6
I have a catalog from Sandy Barnard at AST Press. He lists a copy for $150.00. I've bought many books from Sandy and he is a first class book dealer. His website is at www.astpress.net/default.htm
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Post by Diane Merkel on Feb 17, 2007 19:56:40 GMT -6
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Post by harpskiddie on Feb 18, 2007 1:04:28 GMT -6
Thanks, Diane. Just ordered one.
Gordie
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Post by elisabeth on Feb 18, 2007 3:45:39 GMT -6
Thank you, Diane, and thank you Walt. I'd begun to think I'd have to resort to bank robbery in order to read this. You've saved me from jail!
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Post by Diane Merkel on Feb 18, 2007 22:33:22 GMT -6
I've ordered it, too. I'm glad we won't have to bail you out of jail, Elisabeth! Walt's book on Harrington is also available in paperback now: www.lulu.com/content/235507(As is the hardback: www.lulu.com/content/691881) No, I'm not Walt's agent now, but I really enjoy his writing.
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Post by Diane Merkel on Feb 26, 2007 20:59:52 GMT -6
I just received Walt's book, Thompson's Narrative, and it looks great! A good deal for $19.95 (including shipping)!
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Post by elisabeth on Feb 27, 2007 6:53:17 GMT -6
Mine arrived today, too. Quick work!
Fabulous to be able to read this at last. I have to say that apart from a few curious things not borne out by other evidence (such as the tale of Sgt. Hanley's attempt to reach Custer with Barnum the ammunition mule) it reads to me like the sober, genuine recollections of a sober, genuine man. No "parading", as Benteen would put it: even his trips for water are related without undue bombast or boasting. He seems to be trying to tell the truth as he sees it.
His stuff about Billy Jackson is interesting; not just the story about Custer shooting his stirrup off, but the hostility shown towards him by the wounded on the Far West, and Thompson's conclusion that Jackson had led Custer to the wrong ford. If there's anything in that, it could have been critical to the timing. With one mile less to travel, Custer might have been able to charge the village while Reno was still engaged in the valley. Has anyone ever attempted to identify Thompson's "fording place", I wonder? I realise the river's changed course since then, but it just might be possible ...
And he's devastating about Reno. "My attention was drawn to the fact that Major Reno had at last come out of his hole ..." His accounts of Reno's post-battle comments on Custer are illuminating, too; easy to see how Reno got himself so soundly disliked by all.
Strange that he consistently switches Companies G and I, putting I in the left wing and G in the right.
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Post by d o harris on Mar 1, 2007 5:07:19 GMT -6
If Mr. Cross had this available a year ago it would have saved me considerable time copying it from the Belle Fourche Bee. I'd give this advice to any one reading the narrative: compare his geographical descriptions with the 1891 USGS map. There are points that tend to verify his witness.
Unfortunately for Thompson's credibility about 15% of the Narrative reads like dream sequences after a night of drinking.
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Post by crzhrs on Mar 1, 2007 8:59:49 GMT -6
<Unfortunately for Thompson's credibility about 15% of the Narrative reads like dream sequences after a night of drinking>
And therein lies the problem with his statements. Do we pick & choose what to believe or do we toss everything he stated out the window?
Any idea when his narrative and/or statements were made/published?
It seems many survivors have come up with hard-to-believe statements. Whether its from having 15 minutes of fame and embellishing on it or memory fog is hard to say.
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Post by Montana Bab on Mar 1, 2007 10:10:41 GMT -6
The narrative that I have of Thompson came from the Belle Fourche Bee, Belle Fourche, SD, December, 1913. I havn't read the Magnussen book, but the narrative from above is exactly as crzhs described it. It reads like a novelette. Frankly, I am suspect of all those narratives that were done so late after the battle. But most especially the Indian narratives= only for the fact that they are only as good as the interpreter who's doing the interpreting.
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Post by d o harris on Mar 1, 2007 13:22:04 GMT -6
Thompson's narrative was written within a short time following the battle, but wasn't published until much later. Those who read the narrative, circa 1880, commented there was little change from what was later published in the Bee.
The value of the narrative, and there is value to be found, is in his descriptions of matters that do not directly touch on the Custer fight---that he did not carry 50 rounds of ammo on his person, for example, but wore a prairie belt that carried 20 rounds, the order of march when a regt was on the move, the manner by which each company fell to when the regt halted, and other incidental matters that may appear interesting but irrelevant until applied to aspects of the fighting.
Also, when when Thompson's mentions of the Custer fight is confirmed by others, the Crow scouts, for example, then, perhaps, we ought to give his narrative a more serious regard than is customary. Unfortunately, we are always left with that 15%.
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Post by crzhrs on Mar 1, 2007 14:16:12 GMT -6
Unfortunately much of what the Crows said is open to debate also.
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Post by d o harris on Mar 1, 2007 14:30:06 GMT -6
Certainly, what the Crows said is open to debate, but how likely is it that they and Peter Thompson would contrive to tell the same lie, or fabricate a story confirmed by another fabrication, while separated by time and place.
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