The Last Stand: A Novel About George Armstrong Custer and the Indians of the Plains - Softcover

George Armstrong Custer is once again brought to life in this saber-rattling, hoof-pounding saga of the legendary general's decade (1866-1876) with the Seventh Cavalry. Custer's arrogance, ambition and bravado brought him fame and glory throughout his career. Politicians, reporters and civilians loved him?but, according to this rare novel from prolific WWII historian Hoyt (199 Days), the Plains Indians, as well as most of the Army, including his officers, hated him. In contrast to his prevailing reputation as a great pathfinder and Indian fighter, Custer is depicted here as a foolhardy martinet, dispensing harsh, brutal discipline to his troopers while ignoring regulations himself. Never hesitant or indecisive, he leads the Seventh Cavalry in a shameful attack on Black Kettle's peaceful Cheyenne village on the Washita River, an attack the Indians neither forgive nor forget. Newspapers call Custer "Yellow Hair" but the Sioux and Cheyenne call him "Squaw Killer" and "Thief Chief." When Washington decides that the solution to the Indian "problem" is genocide, Custer is selected as the best man to impose the final remedy. Once again defying orders, the general foolishly leads the Seventh Cavalry into Sitting Bull's force of 5000 warriors waiting for him on the banks of the Little Bighorn River. Rich in period detail, riveting action and strong characters, this is a fascinating story about bravery, betrayal, incompetence, cowardice and pride.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Probably no event in American history--with the possible exception of the assassination of JFK--has inspired more words than Custer's last stand. So much has been written that one might easily make the mistake of dismissing this latest fictional retelling as merely more of the same. Hoyt, a military historian and acclaimed author, neither romanticizes nor condemns the flamboyant, glory-seeking Custer. Rather, he views him as a mass of contradictions: an excessively cruel military disciplinarian, but also a romantic who disobeyed orders, risking his career, to be near his beloved wife, Libby, when he believed she was in danger. In this entertaining novel, readers will see as perhaps they have never seen before how the political and social climate of 1876 combined with the unique Custer personality to converge in a final conflagration on the great northern plains. Hoyt states in his preface that myth is often a substitute for history in America. Such would not be the case if more historians were able to present their research in such an easily digestible form. Wes Lukowsky