Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Bighorn
by Evan S. Connell

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Book Reviews of Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Bighorn

Book Review: A Great Introduction
Summary: 5 Stars

What makes this book unique in it's portayal of the General and the events surrounding the famous last battle is that Evan S.Connell, who is primarily I believe a novellist, approached this topic with absolutely no agenda of his own on the subject.

Whilst this may not satisfy many historians it makes for great reading!! Making this a book ideal for somebody new to the subject wanting to learn more or the learned reader who just wants to be entertained and not swamped with complex time theories or arguments over the size of the village etc. There are plenty of books on the market that do this much better but not all are always as enjoyable.

Connell just reports on various different accounts in an easy going prose without really putting his own slant on the proceedings. He simply just writes about Custer, Benteen, Crazy Horse et all, giving examples of both the good, the bad and the downright ugly in all of them.

It is left to the reader to make up his mind on the events and actions of those who took part in them. Too many historians come to this powerful and contreversial subject with their own ideas on what happened, be it pro or anti-Custer, and this has a tendancy to sometimes, neccessitate a need to distort or bend the facts accordingly.

Refreshingly you come away from this book wanting to know more about the protaganists involved but without having a biased opinion on them. The General himself comes over in a fairly good light considering at the time of publication his character was probably at it's nadir.However Connell also shows up the darker side of the man that made him the paradoxical figure he was and why he remains so fascinating even after all this time.

Indeed what the book clearly shows is that what makes this such an enduring legend in America's history is that arguably it's most famous, or notorious, soldier left his mark not by a glourious victory but rather(as it was thought of at the time)a fairly ignominious defeat.What Connell does do is also give the credit where it's due to the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes at the Little Big Horn who actually won the battle that day, which tends to get forgotten in a lot of literature ammassed on this subject.

This was the first serious book that I bought on George Armstrong Custer and back in 1984(which I think was the year I got it) living in the United Kingdom there wasn't many books around at that time specifically on this subject. I found it an excellent starting point to begin further and more in depth reading on the General and his last battle.It may seem an odd subject for a Yorkshireman to show an interset in(I think it might be Errol Flynn's fault!!)but this book certainly kick-started a long lasting interst in Custer and that particular area of American history.

Summary of Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Bighorn

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