|
Post by elisabeth on Dec 9, 2006 8:56:39 GMT -6
Good news for those of us who can't afford a copy of E. S. Luce's Keogh, Comanche and Custer: a cousin of Luce has kindly published what he describes as "a derivative monograph" based on it -- at the very reasonable price of $12. Here's the link to the info: tinyurl.com/wluy4
|
|
|
Post by Diane Merkel on Dec 10, 2006 13:04:16 GMT -6
Thanks, Elisabeth!
I'm sure Chuck has the original, but he likes to have reprints as well. Another gift for Christmas, and I didn't have to fight traffic or crowds. Perfect!
|
|
|
Post by Scout on Dec 13, 2006 13:54:51 GMT -6
Elisabeth....thanks a million for telling us about the Luce book! I've wanted to get my hands on a copy for years and now I can. I ordered one and then told a firend who ordered one as well. Blessings on you...
Mike
|
|
|
Post by elisabeth on Dec 13, 2006 20:14:09 GMT -6
My pleasure!
I'm still waiting to hear from them as to whether they ship internationally. Longing to get a copy. But at least I've had the pleasure of seeing the orginal, via inter-library loan. What a great system that is!
BTW, beware some of Luce's statements -- e.g. that Nowlan served alongside Keogh in the Pope's army. (He didn't: he was in the British army at the time.) Also that Keogh was in the French Foreign Legion in Africa: there's no proof of that. Nor that his father was in the Irish Lancers. Much that's improbable. Nice book, though.
|
|
|
Post by Scout on Dec 13, 2006 21:18:30 GMT -6
Yes, I'm aware of Luce being loose. I acquired Utley's book and he has some things to say about Luce...all kind of course, but he writes some very funny things about him as well. How he kept scotch or whiskey stashed in places for special occasions. Afer being told to stop smoking he kept cigarettes stashed by his wood shed. But Utley warns of what you say as well. Still, he was one of the earliest park superintendents at the LBH....
|
|
|
Post by elisabeth on Dec 14, 2006 7:00:46 GMT -6
True, and had the benefit of talking to people who'd known the participants first hand ... Yes, he can be forgiven a little romanticising, I suppose.
The Utley book sounds delightful. I foresee another hole in my bank balance ...
|
|
|
Post by Scout on Dec 14, 2006 10:58:22 GMT -6
I highly recommend "Custer and Me". It offers great insight into the National Park Service and the LBH battlefield. Also the politics behind the scenes. Utley also tells of his meeting with Charles Windolph. How mant people still alive can say they talked with a veteran of the LBH!
|
|
|
Post by elisabeth on Dec 14, 2006 12:23:40 GMT -6
Right -- definitely one for my presents-to-myself Christmas list!
|
|
|
Post by harpskiddie on Dec 14, 2006 18:56:30 GMT -6
I'm wondering how true this edition is to the original. It seems to me that Luce's original was well over 100 pages, and this one is shown as 50. Elisabeth, do you recall the size of the original? Am I totally off base here? Twelve or sixteen dollars isn't a great deal, but if this book is a mere shadow of the original, I'd just as soon keep it in my bank account and put it towards something else.
Gordie
|
|
|
Post by Melani on Dec 14, 2006 22:35:35 GMT -6
Got it! Thanks, Elisabeth! I do wish somebody would reprint the whole thing, though. $15 I don't mind, but it is full of rather odd information, and I wouldn't spend significant money on it, even for the collector's value. As for Utley's Custer and Me, I will probably end up with that eventually, but at the moment, if I get any more insights into the Park Service, I'll probably strangle somebody!
|
|
TopKick1833
Junior Member
Sherlock the Beagle Dog
Posts: 80
|
Post by TopKick1833 on Dec 15, 2006 6:07:14 GMT -6
I ordered my copy of Keogh, Comanche and Custer yesterday. Looking forward to getting it. It sounds like an interesting read. I'll make sure I stay alert to some of Luce's statements.
|
|
|
Post by Melani on Dec 15, 2006 15:09:47 GMT -6
As Elisabeth mentioned, if you find the $15 version wanting and want to see the original, it is available rather easily as an inter-library loan. The copy I borrowed came from Arizona, if your local librarian needs a clue.
But I do wonder where Luce came up with some of the stuff in it, like the French Foreign Legion and the 5th Royal Irish Lancers. It has the feel of "playing telephone," where things get repeated and garbled. But since it was the first bio of Keogh, it's been taken as gospel for many years.
|
|
|
Post by elisabeth on Dec 16, 2006 2:36:52 GMT -6
Gordie,
My memory is that you're right about the length of the orginal. From the new one's list of contents, it's not immediately obvious what he's left out; and the battle chapter, which he seems to have retained, was lifted almost verbatim from Kuhlman anyway -- as Luce acknowledged. So it might be $15 wasted for you ... But I'll still be trying to get hold of a copy, myself!
Melani, yes, it's a real puzzle -- because these alleged "facts" are so specific. He has to have got them from somewhere. He might have deduced the Africa bit for himself from Lamoriciere's background and the confusing fact that the French Foreign Legion also got involved in the Italian war ... but the 5th Royal Irish Lancers isn't something he could pluck out of the air. I wonder ... He also seems to be imbued with the belief that DeRudio a) fought alongside Keogh (instead of against him!) and b) was similarly decorated by the Pope. Do you think he could have talked to DeRudio? Or at the very least, picked up at second hand some of the tall stories that DeRudio had left behind in the regiment? He's the extraneous factor in that first chapter, and a known fantasist ...
|
|
|
Post by Scout on Dec 16, 2006 11:29:20 GMT -6
Luce didn't write Luce? Gosh, I was still trying to figure out who wrote Shakespeare.
From 'Custer and Me' ...Utley on Luce: " In retrospect, some of his wonderful stories seem embroidered if not altogether invented. Was he reall aboard a troop transport torpedoed in World War I, cast on a rocky island with Ty Cobb, and resued by the German submarine itself? Underlying the stories, however, as I confirmed much later, was a foundation of truth, however elastic." See what we're working with here?
Utley worked his first year under 'Captain' Luce but when he returned the following summer it was now 'Major' Luce. Utley says he must have promoted himself at some point. The guy was a first class character. I think he was great!
|
|
|
Post by elisabeth on Dec 16, 2006 11:51:48 GMT -6
Fabulous! I think it must be the frontier that does it. There's something in that western air that inspires creative memory!
|
|