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Post by Diane Merkel on Nov 14, 2005 8:09:20 GMT -6
One of our LBHA members has suggested that people select their 10 favorite Custer/Frontier Army books and tell why. You could also include those that you would NOT recommend to someone just starting their collection.
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Post by ma dawg got et on Nov 14, 2005 8:19:50 GMT -6
I would not recommend SON OF THE MORNING STAR It rambles too much.
The Custer Reader is a good start for the neo.
alfuso
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Post by crzhrs on Nov 14, 2005 9:20:44 GMT -6
I think CUSTER'S LUCK by Edgar Stuart would be an ideal book for anyone new who is interested in the events leading to and the battle itself. It's one of the most overlooked of the Custer/LBH books. It's objective, fair, and looks at both sides of the issue.
Do not, I repeat, DO NOT read WHERE WAS CUSTER (I forgot the author) It's one of the most ludicrous newer books. The author states that Mitch Boyer secretly organized a peace treaty between the Sioux and Crow and that Mitch vowed to kill Custer because of the Monesetah affair and then warned the Sioux village that Custer was approaching!
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Post by El Crab on Nov 14, 2005 10:04:00 GMT -6
I would not recommend SON OF THE MORNING STAR It rambles too much. But that's what makes it so great!
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Post by historynut1876 on Nov 14, 2005 10:05:04 GMT -6
Top ten books on any topic are always a difficult question. And this question is very broad, not asking about the Custer battle only, but also about the frontier army. I am also listing books that should be easy to get and not books that are out of print or very expensive and will focus on Custer, which is what I think is being asked about. Keeping that in mind, here is my list, in alphabetical order: 1 - Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War, 1876-1877 by Jerome Greene 2 - Centennial Campaign: The Sioux War of 1876 by John S. Gray 3 - The Custer Myth: A Source Book of Custeriana by W. A. Graham 4 - The Custer Reader by Paul A. Hutton 5 - Custer's Luck by Edgar I. Stewart 6 - Frontier Regulars: U.S. Army and the Indian, 1866-1891 by Robert M. Utley 7 - Life in Custer's Cavalry: Diaries and Letters, 1867-1868 by Albert and Jennie Barnitz (letters edited by R. Utley) 8 - Little Bighorn Campaign: March-September 1876 by Wayne M. Sarf 9 - On the Border with Crook by John G. Bourke 10 - Phil Sheridan and His Army by Paul A. Hutton
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Post by Tricia on Nov 14, 2005 10:35:06 GMT -6
Diane--
As just about everybody knows, I'm more interested in Custer's character and profile over any in-depth military studies (bleah!). So my favourite books tend to be more biographical in nature:
1. "Glory Hunter: A Life of General Custer", Van de Water 2. "Custer: The Controversial Life of George Armstrong Custer," Wert 3. "Cavalier in Buckskin ..." Utley 4. "Touched by Fire," Barnett And my favourite battle book: "Lakota Noon: The Indian Narrative of Custer's Defeat."
Das ist alles! Leyton McLean
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Post by crzhrs on Nov 14, 2005 10:50:38 GMT -6
Leyton:
I agree with the books on Custer's psychological make up. After all they may explain the many questions as to the decisions that took place at the LBH.
I find it far more interesting in discussing the characters and their lives (Indian/White) surrounding the LBH events than the tactics.
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Post by Treasuredude on Nov 14, 2005 14:54:49 GMT -6
I would not recommend SON OF THE MORNING STAR It rambles too much. The Custer Reader is a good start for the neo. alfuso SOMS does ramble but is a good read. I would say the best book to start with would be Cavalier in Buckskin. Custer's Luck is good but dated. The Gray books are great but would send a newbie screaming out the door. Libbie's books are worth a read also. Not for the history but to get a feel for the times.
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Post by Tricia on Nov 14, 2005 16:51:10 GMT -6
Crzhrs:
You're absolutely correct. The personalities--and what a cast we have--do it all for me and truly prove the adage: "truth is stranger than fiction." Just when you think LBH couldn't get more bizarre, something comes up that really makes you shake your head ...
"At The Battle Of The Little Bighorn: Where Was Custer" sounds like a hoot. So does the author (Harry Combs?) have Bouyer kill GAC and then get killed himself as the remnants of his battalion runs towards Deep Ravine? How did Mitch tell the village of their approach? Cell phone from the Crow's Nest?
Regards, Leyton McLean
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Post by crzhrs on Nov 15, 2005 7:57:41 GMT -6
Leyton:
Supposedly Boyer fired a shot (a pre-arranged signal?) from behind one of the ridges to notify the village of Custer's approach. The author states that Boyer may have been the one to shoot Custer at the Ford!
Boyer was so p-oed that Custer abandoned Metoseha and the baby that he vowed to kill Custer!
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Post by Tricia on Nov 15, 2005 9:13:50 GMT -6
Crzhrs--
Gosh, I guess Bouyer must have been carrying a bazooka to make a noise that loud (like the dust cloud alone wasn't enough to cause suspicion in the village)! Maybe Bouyer had the hots for Meotzi, huh? I mean, who didn't?
What's too scary is that I wasn't that far off in believing Mitch shot Custer, just the location ... proving to all that warped minds really do think alike!
Regards, Leyton McLean
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Post by crzhrs on Nov 15, 2005 9:36:06 GMT -6
Considering that Mitch told Curly (I paraphrase): That man (Custer) is crazy and will kill us all (or something to that effect); and that Custer admonished Mitch when Boyer told him the village was too big for the 7th, whose to say if Boyer wanted to shoot him.
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Post by Scout on Nov 15, 2005 9:50:35 GMT -6
I now have to get a copy of WHERE IS CUSTER, I loved those kind of books. 'Jack Crabb' books. It is amazing to me the number of Custer books that have absolutely no research behind them at all. Some are a real hoot to read and good for a laugh. I just finished reading WHITE-MAN-RUNS-HIM. This could've been a better book with a little more research but it does list a number of 'indian oral history' accounts of Custer's death. I think there must be a dozen or more. These are always entertaing and always outrageous. I think the Mitch Bouyer story is in there. Whatever you do think about SOMS you have to agree it is hard to put down. Connell has a strange writing style, sort of all over the board. He jumps from one subject to another yet seems to pull it all off. As far as a great read I would have to put Graham, Brininstool and Camp in there on my list.
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Post by crzhrs on Nov 15, 2005 10:49:16 GMT -6
Scout:
SOMS is one of my favorites, not because of its study of the battle, but of the personalities and lots of "side bar" info. Bits regarding De Rudio, Reynolds, Dorman, Rain-in-the-Face, Crazy Horse, Benteen, Reno, Custer, and all the other characters that we know from the LBH, but also realize that there was more to them than that.
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Post by twomoons on Nov 17, 2005 6:35:45 GMT -6
I would have to agree with Scout. Graham, Brininstool and Camp are the best sources that we have. Without them we have nothing. They are used in virtually every credible book as sources, just read the biblio's.
Brininstool is by far the most insightful. His - Troopers with Custer - I think is a must read for any serious Custer researcher. His insights in that one book alone encompass more truths than all the others combined.
SOMS is perhaps the best for peripheral studies that help us to understand the people, places and other events that culminated at the LBH.
I value the work done by Gray, Michno and others who attempt to place the value of "time" in relationship to events at LBH. While linear in nature their efforts helps us to understand the flow of what occured. In sharp contrast, they are totally unreliable as to actual timing of those events. They tend to assign time values in many instances that are unrealistic to the outcome. Gray for instance quite arbitrarily assigns x number of minutes for Reno to hold the Skirmish line. This is based upon what he thinks. Not upon any thing known. Michno does the same. They do this throughout their work. If they are wrong by just several minutes, on each event, that drastically alters the ending timeline, and consecquently the conclusions. Their skewed perceptions have had drastic consequences upon the LBH community at large, with the result that we now have phobes and philes who firmly believe things that - never were.
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