First published 2012
Pulitzer Prize winner Larry McMurtry turns his attention to one of America's most controversial military figures. General George Armstrong Custer emerges as a restless man driven by ambition and plagued by contradictions. McMurtry traces Custer's path from the Civil War through his final campaign against the Lakota and Cheyenne at Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. The author examines how technological advances like the railroad, camera, and telegraph transformed Custer's catastrophic defeat into national legend. He shows how Custer's widow Libbie spent decades shaping public memory of the battle, while Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show reenactments spread the myth across America. McMurtry argues that Little Bighorn marked more than military disaster. The battle signaled the end of the Indian Wars and closed the era of western expansion. Through careful analysis of the controversies surrounding the defeat, McMurtry reveals how legend often overshadows historical reality. This reassessment places Custer within the broader American story.
Genres: biography, historical-fiction, 20th-century, american, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-figures, military-campaigns
Setting: Little Bighorn, American West
Period: Civil War, Indian Wars, Western Expansion
173 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster