I need to find shorter, easier books to read. As book 8 of my personal challenge to read 10 this year, I chose A Terrible Glory by James Donovan. It’s a very detailed, 400-page story of American General George Custer - his life and events leading up to the Little Bighorn, “the last great battle of the American west.”
The battle occurred on June 25-26, 1876, and was the culmination of years of unrest, conflict, skirmishes and battles between American settlers and military, against the Indians who set out to preserve their territory. The government expected a rout; it was, just not the one that had been counted on. Custer and his five undermanned companies of his famed Seventh Calvary were trapped overlooking the Little Bighorn River. Surrounded by more than 1,000 Lakota and Cheyenne warriors, Custer and his forces were slaughtered.
A Terrible Glory is a great work brimming with authentic detail and an unforgettable cast of characters including Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Ulysses S. Grant. The book took 25 years of painstaking research and what results is lauded as “the fullest and most accurate account ever written about Custer’s Last Stand.” The book ends with the army court of inquiry that sought to assign blame for the stunning defeat.
Today, the site of the battle is Little Bighorn National Monument and is located in southeastern Montana. The site memorializes the 263 soldiers and army personnel and the 136 Indians who died in the battle. It’s worth a visit.
I give the book a solid 8.5/10. It could be tightened up by ~15%.
Little Bighorn information here:
https://www.nps.gov/libi/learn/histo...ttle-story.htm