Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem

[markland]

I spotted this book in a library Sunday. It was written by James C. Olson and, I believe, originally published in 1965 by the U. of Nebraska Press. I see that it has been re-released in paperback and was wondering if anyone had read it and, fid so, their take on the book.

Thanks in advance,

Billy

[Grahame Wood]

It's good - casts a more measured eye on the period than Hyde does.

[bhist]

That book is one of the best. Read Utley's "The Last Days of the Sioux Nation" and you'll have a relatively complete picture of the Sioux history.

[Ephriam Dickson]

Olson's book is very well researched, based primarily on National Archives records. It is a standard reference on the U. S. government's relation with the Oglala. George Hyde's earlier work on the Oglala has frustratingly few footnotes (his research collection was dispersed and/or destroyed after his death) and has a very slanted viewpoint.

ephriam

[Ephriam Dickson]

P. S. Here are the three standard references currently available on the Oglala during the nineteenth century:

George Hyde. Red Cloud's Folk: A History of teh Oglala Sioux Indians (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1937; with new foreward, 1975).

James C. Olson, Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1965).

Catherine Price, The Oglala People, 1841-1879: A Political History (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996).

Kingsley Bray has a manuscript on the Oglala in review currently at the University of Oklahoma Press.

Ephriam

[Grahame Wood]

Another decent book is Robert W. Larson's Red Cloud: Warrior-Statesman of the Lakota Sioux (UOP, 1997); though it's something of a synthesis of existing published sources, it does use Red Cloud's autobiography...

Autiobiography of Red Cloud: War Leader of the Oglalas, edited by R. Eli Paul (Montana Historical Society Press, 1997) - it concentrates on inter-tribal warfare in a fairly bloody fashion and you do get a sense of a man confident in his own ability to the point of ruthlessness.

Another good book is Frank H. Goodyear's Red Cloud: Photographs of a Lakota Chief (UNP, 2003), which discusses, in chronological order his sittings for various photographers and how his image changed over the years - though the author is keen to show how Red Cloud participated in these sessions rather han just being a passive subject.

[markland]

"Autiobiography of Red Cloud: War Leader of the Oglalas, edited by R. Eli Paul (Montana Historical Society Press, 1997) - it concentrates on inter-tribal warfare in a fairly bloody fashion and you do get a sense of a man confident in his own ability to the point of ruthlessness."

I had just noticed that book also while browsing through some book site. In reference to R. Eli Paul, he now works here in Kansas City. I have my copy of his book, Little Blue Creek, out for an autograph now. An excellent book! While speaking to his wife the other night at the archives I asked what he was working on now and the reply was nothing beyond WWI (he is curator? at the Liberty Memorial Museum which is the only museum in the country, and I believe the world, dedicated solely to WWI). Since I had just finished reading Blue Creek and his depicitions of Spotted Tail clashed so sharply with what I thought I knew of him from his later years, I suggested that he do a biography on Spotted Tail. She later told me he liked the idea so who knows? We may get lucky.

Thanks for the advice on the books, my wife will not like it but

Best of wishes,

Billy

[markland]

*dirty word*

Just this morning discovered that James C. Olson, author of Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem had been living and working in downtown Kansas City at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Unfortunately, I had to find out while reading his obituary. He passed last week at age 88.

Best of wishes,

Billy