I thoroughly enjoyed reading James Donovan’s nonfiction novel A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn - the Last Great Battle of the American West, published in 2008 by Little, Brown and Company. A Terrible Glory tells the story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, fought by the Seventh Calvary of the U.S. government against “more than a thousand Lakota and Cheyenne warriors”.
Donovan’s richly-detailed narrative is fascinating, even to me — a reader who doesn’t usually care to read a military/war nonfiction book. This is because Donovan brings to life the characters and their relationships to each other and others. I left the book having a completely different view of George Armstrong Custer, whom I previously had no respect for. Now, I have some empathy for him, can understand why he ended up in the situation he did. Donovan seemed fair and impartial in his assessment, analysis and interpretation of the historical records and documents.
I had no idea that there were other commanding officers on the battlefield that day and that they made mistakes also. That they did not send help to Custer at the sounds of the fierce fighting where they knew Custer was. One of them spent the battle in a state of drunkenness. I also had previously pictured, since I have seen the battlefield on our way to Plains, Montana, Custer and his Calvary riding around a rather large area and fighting the Sioux. The true picture is much sadder and far more tragic.
Not that Donovan implies the Sioux shouldn’t have fought like they did. The Indians were persecuted without any hint of doubt and the American government was out to take their lands and destroy their way of life, no matter what. It is fascinating to learn about Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse and the other Indians as they tried in vain to defend their families, their tribes, their culture. Both Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse came to tragic ends. Now, I know more about them as the men they were and as the great leaders they were.
A Terrible Glory is 485 pages with notes, but if you have any interest in the history of the Native American’s plight or in the Wild West, you should not pass this book by. For too long we have held onto the legend of Custer and the Last Stand, rather than to what really happened.
