The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn

"An engrossing and tautly written account of a critical chapter in American history." --Los Angeles Times

Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Hurricane's Eye, Pulitzer Prize finalist Mayflower, and Valiant Ambition, is a historian with a unique ability to bring history to life. The Last Stand is Philbrick's monumental reappraisal of the epochal clash at the Little Bighorn in 1876 that gave birth to the legend of Custer's Last Stand. Bringing a wealth of new information to his subject, as well as his characteristic literary flair, Philbrick details the collision between two American icons- George Armstrong Custer and Sitting Bull-that both parties wished to avoid, and brilliantly explains how the battle that ensued has been shaped and reshaped by national myth.

ISBN-13: 9780143119609

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Publication Date: 04-26-2011

Pages: 496

Product Dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.20(d)

Age Range: 18 Years

Nathaniel Philbrick is the author of In the Heart of the Sea, winner of the National Book Award; Mayflower, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Bunker Hill, winner of the New England Book Award; Sea of Glory; The Last Stand; Why Read Moby Dick?; and Away Off Shore. He lives in Nantucket. His newest book, Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution, was published in May 2016.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for Mayflower, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History

"Vivid and remarkably fresh...Philbrick has recast the Pilgrims for our age of searching and turmoil."
—The New York Times Book Review

"A signal achievement. Philbrick enlightens and even astounds."
—Salon.com

Praise for Sea of Glory, winner of the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize

"Brilliantly told...has to be among the best nonfiction books of this or any other year."
—Los Angeles Time Book Review

"A breathtaking account of one of history's greatest adventures."
—Entertainment Weekly

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Table of Contents

List of Maps xiii

Preface Custer's Smile xv

Chapter 1 At the Flood 1

Chapter 2 The Dream 27

Chapter 3 Hard Ass 36

Chapter 4 The Dance 53

Chapter 5 The Scout 71

Chapter 6 The Blue Pencil Line 88

Chapter 7 The Approach 109

Chapter 8 The Crow's Nest 128

Chapter 9 Into the Valley 151

Chapter 10 Reno's Charge 166

Chapter 11 To the Hill 188

Chapter 12 Still Point 206

Chapter 13 The Forsaken 220

Chapter 14 Grazing His Horses 237

Chapter 15 The Last Stand 257

Chapter 16 The River of Nightmares 280

Epilogue: Libbie's House 304

Appendix A The Seventh Cavalry on the Afternoon of June 25, 1876 313

Appendix B Sitting Bull's Village June 25, 1876 317

Acknowledgments 321

Notes 325

Bibliography 419

Illustration Credits 447

Index 449

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