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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | 921 RED CLOUD | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Places the information about the Lakota chief's life within the larger context of Indian tribal conflicts and Anglo-Indian wars.
Author Notes
Robert W. Larson is retired as Professor of History from the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley. He is the author of New Mexico's Quest for Statehood, 1846-1912 and Populism in the Mountain West.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Wielding the source material with muscular assurance and a judicious eye, historian Bray aims at nothing less than a definitive account of the great Oglala warrior and tribal chief. In painstaking detail, he paints a life and career of exceptional valor, skill and influence on behalf of the Lakota people. Though Crazy Horse was self-possessed and brilliant in battle, his tactical gifts were offset by the reluctant assumption of civil leadership, a role at odds with his taciturn and introspective nature. Bray carefully weighs the private and the political life to illustrate the interaction of Crazy Horse's personal experiences with larger historical events (including intertribal conflicts, fragile alliances, and clashes with American soldiers, among them the battle at Little Bighorn) all shaped by the mounting encroachments of white society in the 1850s-1870s. The author presents his account as a more historically accurate complement to the breathless, iconic portraiture of Mari Sandoz's long-standard biography, Crazy Horse, the Strange Man of the Oglalas. But Bray's compensatory rigor sacrifices some narrative flow to the exigencies of a detailed scholarly accounting. If general readers' eyes may glaze over at many of the particulars, this nonfiction debut promises to be a standard reference for many years to come. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Larson marshals the latest anthropological and ecological research for his portrait of one of the most famous nineteenth-century Lakota chiefs. Red Cloud's life extended from 1821, when the Lakota had finished assimilating the horse to their culture and had come to dominate the Northern Great Plains, to 1909, when his people had long since been sequestered on reservations. As a young man, he was a distinguished and aggressive warrior, active in intratribal feuds. Later, facing white men's encroachments, he was a skilled negotiator who won more concessions from the U.S. than most Native American leaders. He was realistic about the inevitability of white settlement, but he opposed assimilation. Larson's densely written book tells not only Red Cloud's story but also the story of his people's supremacy and decline, and it is moving in spite of its academic presentation of a great mass of data. --Roland Green
Choice Review
Larson examines Red Cloud's leadership, especially in dealing with US representatives after 1860. Designed as a popular biography, and therefore without footnotes, the book attempts to set the record straight about Red Cloud vis-`a-vis other leaders such as Crazy Horse. Because his purpose is to portray Red Cloud as both a warrior and a statesman, Larson does not undertake a point-by-point defense of the Sioux leader. The story follows the tortuous path of interaction with the US, providing more about diplomatic negotiations than about Red Cloud as tribal member. Although Red Cloud's political resilience is well described, more explanation might have illuminated his several returns from political obscurity. Scholars may be less than content with the absence of citations, especially since Larson seeks both to rehabilitate Red Cloud and to authenticate his autobiography. In the passages where the author makes textual references to sources, the reader is more comfortable about the narrative's support. Useful map; photographs. General readers; undergraduates. J. H. O'Donnell III; Marietta College
Kirkus Review
A readable biography of Lakota chief Red Cloud that attempts to untangle the many conflicting accounts of this key figure in 19th-century America. Larson, a retired professor of history (Univ. of Northern Colorado, Greeley), places the rather scanty and unreliable information we have about Red Cloud's life within the larger context of Indian tribal conflicts, the Anglo-Indian wars, and the eventual peace that was established between the Indians and the conquering Anglo-Americans. Born in 1821 to a Lakota Sioux band and well known for his valor on the battlefield (against both whites and other Indians), he became the acknowledged leader of his tribe. As he was nearing 40, however, and past his physical prime, Red Cloud was content to leave the fighting to younger warriors, such as Crazy Horse, and focus his attentions on political dealings with the US government. Representing the Lakotas, Cheyennes, and Arapahoes, Red Cloud signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868, making peace with the whites. But though he was a tough negotiator, the government was in fact heeding its own interests when it conceded to him many of his demands. It had discovered that supporting the Indians was more economical than fighting them, and determined to move the Lakota Sioux onto reservations. Red Cloud agreed to the condition--against the wishes of other Sioux chiefs- -although it would not be until two years later, after his first visit to Washington to meet the ``Great White Father,'' that he would begin his long career on the reservation. There he continued to be a vital spokesman for his people, helping to preserve their land and their heritage. He died in 1909. A good start, although the man behind the legend still remains cloaked in mystery. (21 illustrations and 1 map, not seen)
Library Journal Review
Though the Sioux have long occupied a prominent position in the view of those interested in the Indians of North America, Red Cloud has not received substantial biographical treatment in the last generation. Chief in the 1860s and as renowned a Sioux warrior as Crazy Horse was to be, Red Cloud accomplished the rare feat of successfully facing down expansionist moves of the U.S. government by forcing the closing of the Bozeman Trail. In his later years, he did not join with Sitting Bull and others in the campaigns leading up to the Battle of the Little Big Horn but continued to be a significant figure in Sioux-U.S. relations. Larson (history, Univ. of North Colorado) has written a readable, fair, and carefully researched and documented biography of a fascinating leader. Highly recommended.Charles V. Cowling, Drake Memorial Lib., SUNY at Brockport (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| List of Illustrations | p. ix |
| Series Editor's Foreword | p. xi |
| Preface | p. xiii |
| 1 The "Old Trails" | p. 3 |
| 2 The Making of a Warrior | p. 30 |
| 3 The Coming of the Whites | p. 50 |
| 4 Red Cloud's War | p. 74 |
| 5 A Treaty at Last | p. 105 |
| 6 Turbulence on the Reservation | p. 137 |
| 7 Reverberations from the Little Bighorn | p. 185 |
| 8 The Feud with McGillycuddy | p. 217 |
| 9 The Ghost Dance Troubles | p. 249 |
| 10 The End of the Trail | p. 285 |
| Sources | p. 305 |
| Index | p. 317 |
