The History Book Club discussion

Spoiler Alert

This is the spoiler thread for the book Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America by T.J. Stiles.

There are articles/videos/interviews etc. which deal with this book that I am setting up a thread to add any of these items to.

Please feel free to add your own. If you cite any book or author aside from the book being discussed - you have to add the proper citation, book cover, author's photo and author's link.

This way the adds will not be disruptive to the non spoiler conversation. And you can discuss any and all of these without spoiler html because this is not the book discussion thread nor a non spoiler thread. Setting up this spoiler thread for this book will also not clutter up the book discussion thread.

by T.J. Stiles (no photo)

Knopf Editor Jonathan Segal on T.J. Stiles’s Second Pulitzer
By SCOTT PORCH
April 19, 2016

Author T.J. Stiles trained as a historian at Columbia University, but the path to his first — and now second — Pulitzer Prize was more circuitous than most. Rather than teach history or start writing a book, Stiles wrote jacket copy, those paragraphs that run down the front and back flaps of a book that help you decide whether to read it.

Stiles was a copywriter at Oxford University Press where he worked with dozens of historians to distill their manuscripts into 300-word descriptions, and he started writing on the side for Smithsonian and other publications. He wrote a Jesse James biography that Alfred A. Knopf bought and published in 2002.

And that’s where things started to get interesting for Stiles. His next two books — The First Tycoon in 2009 and Custer’s Trials in 2015 — would win the Pulitzer Prize. The First Tycoon, a biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt, also won the National Book Award.

Remainder of article:

Link: http://www.signature-reads.com/2016/0...

Source: Signature

An Exaggerated American: The Lost, Outmoded Life of General Custer
By BRYCE BAUER
October 27, 2015

George Armstrong Custer was a lot of things: a West Point delinquent, a Civil War genius, a strident temperance advocate and reluctant promoter of civil rights, a strikingly empathic man capable of fierce narcissism, a loyal partisan ready to renounce political convictions for personal gains, and a serial flirt with intense passion for his wife. For all the muddle that he was, the man of the famous Last Stand was almost without qualification a polarizer, sharply splitting his observers, in both his life and his legacy, into champions and foes.

From the public’s perception today, he is seen either as the gallant embodiment of rugged American individualism, or a bloodthirsty agent of Manifest Destiny.
In his own time, he was either the nationally celebrated soldier, the “Boy General of the Golden Locks,” whose tactical genius and adept command of his men scored vital victories against the Confederacy, or an illegitimate crony, with a dubious record on emancipation, who fought for the union, but fraternized with the rebels.

Remainder of article:

Link: http://www.signature-reads.com/2015/1...

Source: Signature

Custer's Trials T.J. Stiles talked about his book Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America, in which he recalls the life of General George Armstrong Custer.

Link: https://www.c-span.org/video/?400041-...

Source: C-Span

FULL movie Custer's Last Stand, 1991

https://youtu.be/y8O3uDL_W4E

Source: Youtube

The Real Wild West - Episode 1: General George Custer (HISTORY DOCUMENTARY)

https://youtu.be/_4ek1gFNS-M

Source: Youtube

The Battle for Little Big Horn (A Good Day To Die)

According to Chief Sitting Bull ... it was a "Good Day To Die" ... it was General Custer's Last Stand!

https://youtu.be/60yLVrhksWk

Source: Youtube

Custer's Last Trooper

https://youtu.be/y6R8OzY6_1M

Source: Youtube

Crazy Horse's Account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn

https://youtu.be/OU9iyFim4sA

Source: Youtube

From the Bismarck Tribune, June 11, 1877.

The Untold Indian Story of Custer's Last Stand

Studio 21 host Loren Farr interviews Dr. Herman J. Viola, Curator Emeritus of the Smithsonian, about the battle at Little Big Horn. "Loren Farr" "Little Big Horn" "Native American History" "Smithsonian"

https://youtu.be/J8VteaARd0A

Source: Youtube

Dr.Joe Medicine Crow speaks about the Battle of the Little Bighorn

Dr. Joe Medicine Crow speaks about Garryowen Montana, the site of the battle of the little bighorn.

https://youtu.be/OFu81yHWyWA

Source: Youtube

Little Bighorn Survivors Film Footage!

This video contains footage of actual survivors of the June 25-26, 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn. The men featured here are NOT reenactors. This reunion took place in 1926 on the 50th anniversary of the battle.

https://youtu.be/Wld_WJ7oKCc

Source: Youtube

A&E - Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse Biography Part 1

https://youtu.be/5O9umGN73Y0

Crazy Horse Biography Part 2

https://youtu.be/cxamJJo4T4c

Crazy Horse Biography Part 3

https://youtu.be/C1ejHw-koSg

Crazy Horse Biography Part 4

https://youtu.be/W74Z1u-bem0

Crazy Horse Biography Part 5

https://youtu.be/gVDHILWl_9w

A&E's Biography on Lakota warrior, Crazy Horse. Tashunca-uitco (1849-1877) Celebrated for his ferocity in battle, Crazy Horse was recognized among his own people as a visionary leader committed to preserving the traditions and values of the Lakota way of life.

Even as a young man, Crazy Horse was a legendary warrior. He stole horses from the Crow Indians before he was thirteen, and led his first war party before turning twenty. Crazy Horse fought in the 1865-68 war led by the Oglala chief Red Cloud against American settlers in Wyoming, and played a key role in destroying William J. Fetterman's brigade at Fort Phil Kearny in 1867.

Crazy Horse earned his reputation among the Lakota not only by his skill and daring in battle but also by his fierce determination to preserve his people's traditional way of life. He refused, for example, to allow any photographs to be taken of him. And he fought to prevent American encroachment on Lakota lands following the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, helping to attack a surveying party sent into the Black Hills by General George Armstrong Custer in 1873.

When the War Department ordered all Lakota bands onto their reservations in 1876, Crazy Horse became a leader of the resistance. Closely allied to the Cheyenne through his first marriage to a Cheyenne woman, he gathered a force of 1,200 Oglala and Cheyenne at his village and turned back General George Crook on June 17, 1876, as Crook tried to advance up Rosebud Creek toward Sitting Bull's encampment on the Little Bighorn.

After this victory, Crazy Horse joined forces with Sitting Bull and on June 25 led his band in the counterattack that destroyed Custer's Seventh Cavalry, flanking the Americans from the north and west as Hunkpapa warriors led by chief Gall charged from the south and east. Following the Lakota victory at the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull and Gall retreated to Canada, but Crazy Horse remained to battle

General Nelson Miles as he pursued the Lakota and their allies relentlessly throughout the winter of 1876-77. This constant military harassment and the decline of the buffalo population eventually forced Crazy Horse to surrender on May 6, 1877; except for Gall and Sitting Bull, he was the last important chief to yield.

Even in defeat, Crazy Horse remained an independent spirit, and in September 1877, when he left the reservation without authorization, to take his sick wife to her parents, General George Crook ordered him arrested, fearing that he was plotting a return to battle. Crazy Horse did not resist arrest at first, but when he realized that he was being led to a guardhouse, he began to struggle, and while his arms were held by one of the arresting officers, a soldier ran him through with a bayonet.

Source: Youtube

Crazy Horse Memorial bigger than Mount Rushmore
CNN

https://youtu.be/zLFB1Ic1PMk

Work began on the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota in 1948. Those working on it now say they'll be gone before it's finished.

Source: Youtube

More:
https://youtu.be/7b1ZVAs-rDo
https://youtu.be/25LJjPdhNyE
https://youtu.be/ThtKqV9RUZ0
https://youtu.be/LuS9genyRzM

Live! From The Library : Custer's Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America

Stiles’ new biography offers fresh perspective on the widely known cavalry commander. Well respected for his valor in the field, Custer helped usher in massive changes in America yet, as Stiles writes, Custer struggled to adapt to modern times. Diablo magazine senior editor Peter Crooks will sit down with Stiles for a conversation on the new book.

T.J. Stiles won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the National Book Award for Nonfiction for “The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt.” He is also the author of “Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War.” Stiles resides in the Bay Area with his family.

Link: https://youtu.be/IQA12bVR7tE

This is the glossary thread - go to the discussion thread for the discussion beginning May 8th

Bentley - can I post a few links to Mr. Stiles discussing the book from BookTV that aired on CSPAN2 ?

- there are three of them - each about 1 hr, one for the Tucson Festival of Books (he's interviewed by Western Historian/Professor at UNM Paul Hutton), one from the Kansas City Public Library and one where he is part of a panel of nominees for the Lerhman Prize for Military history, the moderator is Andrew Roberts(view spoiler)[he didn't win (hide spoiler)]

Yes, Happy - you can - this is the link for helpful urls. I thought I had this closed until May 8th but you must have slipped right in.

Post them now and then I will close until May 8th smile)

Thnx Bentley

It was frozen yesterday, but the Computer Gods must have unfrozen it.

Here they are

Tucson Festival of Books
https://www.c-span.org/video/?406242-...

Kansas City Public Library
https://www.c-span.org/video/?400041-...

Lehrman Prize
https://www.c-span.org/video/?406490-...

This is a panel discussion with the authors of the 4 nominated books, moderated by Andrew Roberts

Thank you Happy - I have no idea - it could have been when I was working on preparation for the threads.

I hope you will be joining the discussion

Custer and His Dogs

http://ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/2011...

Source: Montana's Musings, America Comes Alive, Piperbasenji, Custer Over Blog

More:
http://americacomesalive.com/2014/08/...
http://piperbasenji.blogspot.com/2012...
http://custer.over-blog.com/article-1...

That Time that Custer Stole a Horse:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history...

Source: Smithsonian

Other books about Custer/Civil War, etc:

by Robert M. Utley

by Evan S. Connell

by Richard Slotkin (no photo)

by Paul Andrew Hutton (no photo)

by Shirley A. Leckie (no photo)

by Jeffry D. Wert (no photo)

by Louise Barnett (no photo)

by Michael A. Elliott (no photo)

In the Preface Research notes - the author cites this book:

by Heather Cox Richardson (no photo)

Let me add a couple of others

by James Donovan

When I visited the LBH, the Ranger giving the presention on the battle said this was the best single book on the Battle

by Stephen Ambrose

This is an early Ambrose and compares the lives of Crazy Horse and Custer

Thank you very much Happy - appreciate the adds. The ones that I have been adding so far are those mentioned by Stiles himself in the Preface or in the Preface notes.

George A. Custer’s camp at Hidden Wood Creek during his Black Hills expedition, 1874 - National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Article:
https://www.civilwar.org/learn/biogra...
https://www.britannica.com/biography/...

Custer and Crazy Horse
Lieut. Col. George Custer and Crazy Horse fighting at the Battle of the Little Bighorn by the artist Kills Two.

Where Custer fell - marker


National Monument, Montana
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Montana

Monroe, Michigan: George Armstrong Custer statue
Statue of George Armstrong Custer in Monroe, Michigan

Custer, George Armstrong - George Armstrong Custer, undated engraving - Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.

Interesting article on the young West Point Custer:

http://duaneschultz.com/wp-content/up...


Nininger Hall - the tower is the only surviving section still at West Point which was utilized as living quarters in 1861 by Custer's class of cadets

Custer's Roommate/Gettysburg/WIA Major Tully McCrea Image



More:
http://modoc1873.stores.yahoo.net/cur...
https://battleofolustee.org/letters/m...
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...



http://www.marinersmuseum.org/blogs/c...
Lt G. A. Custer with captured Confederate prisoner & West Point classmate, Lt James B Washington


US Military Academy Cadets, est. 1861-1865. Accessed through Library of Congress online - this may be in front of the tower at Nininger Hall - the only section left today where the 1861 cadets were housed

Note: Don't those two look like a couple of buddies hanging out rather than one of them being a prisoner of war - while the other is the commanding officer of the army who captured you.

Custer birthplace in New Rumley, Ohio

Custer’s Last Stand Was Only the Beginning
By DAN FROSCHDEC. 18, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/us/...

Source: The New York Times

1877
Custer’s funeral is held at West Point

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-hi...

Source: History.com

General George Armstrong Custer had two horses with him on the campaign: Vic (Victory) and Dandy. In battle, he rode Vic (right), who had a white blaze on his face and three white stockings. one field report states that Vic was found dead, 100-150 feet from Custer, and another says Vic was one of the dead horses making up the breastworks near where Custer died. Dandy (left)was with the pack train and survived.

Note: Those are probably Custer's dogs behind the horses.

Edward S. Godfrey Recalls What Custer
and His Brothers Wore in the Battle
A 7th Cavalry survivor's account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn

http://www.astonisher.com/archives/mu...

Source: Astonisher.com

Comanche, Little Bighorn Survivor

Field review by the editors.



http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/...

Source: University of Kansas

Just a quick mention here - we do have a folder on Native American history at the HBC:

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...