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Title: A Road We Do Not Know : A Novel of Custer at Little Bighorn by Frederick J. Chiaventone ISBN: 0-7432-4179-7 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 22 March, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $20.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.73 (15 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: "Killer Angels" on the Little Bighorn.
Comment: After reading the reviews here, I agree totally with the comparisons of Frederick Chiaventone's "A Road We Do Not Know" to Shaara's "The Killer Angels." This book is that good!
Chiaventone's wonderful dramatization is simply the best fictional account of the Little Bighorn that I have ever read. The reader is taken from moment Custer's scouts spot the hostile village's pony herd in the pre-dawn darkness of June 25, 1876 to the burying of the torn, mutilated remains of 265 American soldiers on June 27. In between the men and events of that battle are brought vividly to life with terrific historical detail and well-thought out conjecture. Chiaventone goes into the thought processes of the commanders, both white and Indian, and the emotions of the average soldier or warrior. It is refreshing to see Lakota and Cheyenne leaders portrayed as able tacticians, and not just inspirational leaders without any thought of how to engage the enemy. Chiaventone shows Gall and Crazy Horse outthinking the 7th Cavalry as well as outfighting and outnumbering them.
It is also refreshing to see Chiaventone trying to rehabilitate the military reputation of General Custer. Over that last fifteen years, many historians (Utley, Hutton, Wert, Barnett ect.) have tried to tear down the current popular image of Custer as a blustering, racist, glory-hunting fool, and some novelists, such as Chiaventone and Michael Blake, have followed suit. In "A Road We Do Not Know", George A. Custer is shown as a very capable and experienced commander. (You don't become a brevet major general at the age of 25 for being an idiot!) Is he portrayed as Errol Flynn? No! But he is also not portrayed as a one dimensional, cardboard villain like on "Dr. Quinn." However, Custer's image is so intertwined with our national guilt over the treatment of the Indian that I don't think his reputation will ever fully be rehabilitated, but I do take my hat off to Chiaventone for trying.
It's a shame that Simon and Schuster really did not support this book when they published it, it deserves a far bigger following. It also deserves to be ranked with "The Killer Angels" as one of the finest pieces of historical fiction on the subject of men in combat.
Rating: 5
Summary: As if you where there.
Comment: There are really two kinds of historical fiction:
a) those based on History and as much as posible try to recreate Real Life people and events.
b) those who use history as a background to develop a fictional plot or fictional event.
For me this book fits easyly on the first one. Utterly believable account, dialogues and sequence of events. (Hard to belive it's a first novel!) On the same level of "Gates of Fire" and "The Killer Angels".
There are also two kinds of books for me, the one's I read one time and the one's I enjoy reading more then once, this one I enjoy rereading.
A must have/read.
Rating: 2
Summary: You have to love the cavalry
Comment: I gave this two stars but it is a matter of taste. I was looking for straight historical fiction. To enjoy this read you must really be an avid fan of military fiction. For people with this interest, this might be five stars. For my taste, the author dwelt too much on the details of the military custom and practice that he reconstructed for the circa 1870s Seventh Cavalry. This amounted to the first half of the book and I got bogged down in it. But this preoccupation with military details ran through the remainder of the book and I think had the effect of dampening the climax. It seemed like there was more militaria than characterization so it was hard for me to be personally drawn into the climax. But I realize that this is exactly what some people want. I also felt that the characterization of Custer was a little too charitable based on the history I have read. I am a Native American and I got the impression form this book that Custer was almost benevolent in attitude towards Indians -- just a little egotistical. That's a stretch.
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Title: Moon of Bitter Cold by Frederick J. Chiaventone ISBN: 0765300931 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 20 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: The Fetterman Massacre by Dee Brown ISBN: 0803257309 Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr Pub. Date: April, 1984 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Archaeological Perspectives on the Battle of Little Bighorn by Douglas D. Scott, Richard A., Jr. Fox, Melissa A. Connor, Dick Harmon ISBN: 0806132922 Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr (Trd) Pub. Date: September, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Lakota Noon: The Indian Narrative of Custer's Defeat by Gregory F. Michno ISBN: 0878423494 Publisher: Mountain Press Publishing Company Pub. Date: August, 1997 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Son of the Morning Star : Custer and The Little Bighorn by Evan S. Connell ISBN: 0865475105 Publisher: North Point Press Pub. Date: 30 October, 1997 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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