Oklahoma Books

Gall. Lakota war chief.
I want to thank Robert W. Larson for his contribution to one of the most important hunkpapa war chiefs: Gall.
I think Robert M. Utley said it right: "Robert Larson has rescued from obscurity one of the most prominent leaders of the Lakota Sioux".
I am from the Netherlands, Europe, and I read for several years now about the history of the sioux peoples, especcialy 2 tribes: the Mdewakantons and the Hunkpapas.
The book "Gall. Lakota war chief" is for me a beautiful contribution to the Sioux history.
If somebody wants to react, do not hesitate and mail me please.
I am looking for more information of the Mdewakantons chief Little Crow.
In my opinion the most important chief of the Dakota tribes.

The life of Gall of the Hunkpapa Lakota (Sioux) who lived from 1840 to 1894 has long been a footnote of history, someone who shows up alongside Custer, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse but never comes to the fore to offer his own story. With so many first class biographies of his contemporaries such as Crazy Horse and Custer and Sitting Bull: The Life and Times of an American Patriot there was always a need for a biography of Gall.

Born in 1840 he was a famed warrior in his twenties and served under Sitting Bull during the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, and later fled to Canada with him until his surrender. Gall settled in the Dakotas as a farmer and Judge of the Court of Indian Affairs on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation and apparently became friendly with local white settlers in his later years. He turned against Sitting Bull when the older chief become involved with the Ghost Dance movement.

Gall lived on the Standing Rock Agency until his death December 5, 1895.

This is a wonderful contribution to scholarish on the American West and on the American Indian and finally provides a chapter in the life of one of the greatest warriors of the American West,

Seth J. Frantzman

Gall was a Hunkpapa warrior and Lakota chief who resisted efforts by the U.S. government to annex the Black Hills - and led a charge to attack Custer's men on the other side of Little Bighorn. Despite his achievements there has been much controversy surrounding Gall's role and contribution to the conflict, and retired history professor Robert W. Larson here sorts through different reports, views and source materials to paint a new portrait of Gall's character. College-level holdings strong in Native American history will find it a scholarly survey that covers the known extent of Gall's life, using rare Standing Rock Reservation records, among others, to recreate and add depth to standard reports. It's a highly recommended library addition for any specialty collection.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I just finished reading this "first ever" biography of the Lakota (Hunkpapa) Indian leader Gall (Pizi) by Robert W. Larson, retired Professor of History (from the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley) and writer, and found it very informative. I want to recommend it to all serious Indian Wars students and frontier history buffs.

It is, doubtless by necessity, somewhat speculative regarding Gall's exact whereabouts and activities during certain phases of his life, as sufficient biographical source material is sometimes lacking. That is to be expected and is quite understandable -- there are obvious gaps in the record. Further, Gall certainly lived in the shadows of more renowned Lakota chiefs such as Sitting Bull (for many years, Gall was one of his loyal lieutenants) and Crazy Horse.

But regardless, Gall was quite a phenomenon in his own right. At the time, U.S. soldiers called him the "Fighting Cock of the Sioux", and Libbie Custer, even while continuing to grieve the loss of her husband at the Little Big Horn, upon first seeing his picture (which was taken in 1881 at Ft. Buford by David F. Barry), observed that he appeared to be one "fine specimen of a warrior". And so he was, according to all accounts. He wasn't notably tall, at least by modern day standards, but he was well-built, strong, athletic, and courageous. And, not unlike Custer, he apparently didn't mind being conspicuous on the battlefield, such as by wearing red.

Larson's approach is scholarly (there are copious end notes) and, at times, though always reliably competent and straightforward, some readers might find his writing style to be a bit on the dry side. But, even so, for people of my ilk who are fascinated with this era of history, the subject matter will inevitably keep one turning the pages.

This book is worthwhile, especially regarding information that it presents on lesser-known actions and incidents. While plenty of ink has been devoted to the Little Big Horn fight, Larson's book doesn't focus too much on the xs and os of that conflict, opting instead to bring out all kinds of interesting details regarding the lesser known parts of the Great Sioux War era, the sojourn of the "hostile" Lakotas in Canada prior to their ultimate surrender, reservation life at Standing Rock, etc. I personally appreciated reading and learning more about these things.

It is fitting that Hunkpapa Sioux warrior Gall (Pizi) has his biography. Definitive biographies of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were written decades ago ("The Lance and the Shield" by Robert Utley and "Sitting Bull: Champion of the Sioux" by Stanley Vestal, "Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas" by Mari Sandoz). Oglala chief Red Cloud and the Brule Spotted Tail share a literary champion (George Hyde's "Red Cloud's Folk" and "Spotted Tail's Folk"). Generals George Custer, George Crook and Alfred Terry have received exhaustive treatments. Even Custer scout and Gall adversary, the Arikara Bloody Knife, has received attention.

It bothered Robert Larson, a retired University of North Colorado history professor, that Gall's role in the decades-long Plains wars did not have the scholarly treatment it deserved. Further, his estrangement from his uncle, Sitting Bull, in the years afterward remained largely unexamined. Though not a visionary figure like Sitting Bull or Crazy Horse, Larson writes, "Gall was thought to be the equal of Crazy Horse if not superior when it came to warfare." For this he was known by the American troops as "the Fighting Cock of the Sioux". Tellingly, Gall's favorite Hunkpapa name was The Man That Goes in the Middle, as in "the man who leads the charge".

Mr. Larson puts Gall's life into context: Born in 1840, Gall was present at almost every significant action in the Sioux wars (and the primary antagonist in many of those events). Gall may be found at the 1864 battles of Killdeer Mountain and the Badlands, and the Fort Rice attacks of 1865. In December 1865, upon Bloody Knife's identification, soldiers bayoneted Gall while he lay in his tipi outside Fort Berthold. He barely survived. He was reported to be at Fort Buford (1866), and likely other forts along the Bozeman Trail during Red Cloud's War (1866-1868). As Sitting Bull's delegate, Gall attended a July 1868 peace conference at Fort Rice to discuss the Fort Laramie Treaty. He bared his scars and spoke against the treaty, then unexpectedly endorsed it (now believed for the post-conference gifts only). Red Cloud would not sign it until November of that year. Agency life in the Dakotas' Great Sioux Reservation thus began for many, while others remained in the unceded lands of Montana and northern Wyoming. The independent Gall straddled both worlds, coming and going as he pleased.

The early 1870s were relatively quiet years, interrupted by unwelcome US expeditions into Yellowstone valley in 1871 and 1872. These intrusions triggered the Battle of Arrow Creek (Baker's Battle) and the harassment of other soldier-escorted survey parties (i.e. the skirmish at O'Fallon Creek). Custer led an expedition into the Yellowstone country in 1873. He was fired upon by Rain-in-the-Face and later by Gall's men. Not long after the Battle of the Yellowstone, Custer led an 1874 expedition into the Black Hills. The gold rush that followed triggered more clashes between non-treaty Lakota's and white intruders. An attempt to buy the sacred Paha Sapa was made by the US government and rejected by Red Cloud. In late 1875 President Grant signed off on an ultimatum to the roaming peoples: come into the reservation lands by January 31, 1876 or be considered "hostile".

General's Sherman and Sheridan made plans for a winter campaign to force Sitting Bull, Gall, Crazy Horse and others' bands in. The campaign would result in the June 17, 1876 Battle of the Rosebud and Custer's June 25, 1876 "massacre" at the Little Bighorn. Gall does not appear to have been at the Rosebud, a battle in which Crazy Horse figured prominently and a sun dance-weakened Sitting Bull attended to provide inspiration. Larson's speculation that Gall was also suffering from the effects of the sun dance ceremony seems generous. Likely he was elsewhere, having gone off to Fort Berthold or some other trading post, or simply arrived late to the battle and was content to watch the younger combatants.

He was at Little Bighorn, however, and lost five family members there. After hearing the first shots Gall ran to gather his horses, saw Crazy Horse taking action to repel Reno's charge at the south end of the village, and went to find his family (whom he assumed had gone running with others in the opposite direction). After searching for a time and finally reaching his village again, Gall found his two wives and three children all killed. He picked up a hatchet, remounted his horse and rode for the river where he'd earlier seen troops searching for a northern crossing. Late to the fight and admittedly following Crazy Horse, Crow King and others, he fell in with those repelling the attackers from that end of the camp. Gall and his fellow warriors reportedly ended the soldiers' brief struggle on Calhoun Hill, overwhelming them with shots and charges. Gall then proceeded to Custer Hill and participated as hoards of angry tribesmen "charged them with our ponies," ending the assault on their families.

Shortly after this fight the assembled bands split apart, well aware that this "victory" would only lead to more soldiers and more misery. After a couple more desultory battles (Slim Buttes and Cedar Creek), in May 1877 Gall followed Sitting Bull north into Canada - the same month in which Crazy Horse led his people into Red Cloud Agency and his own murder.

After four difficult, near-starving years in Grandmother's Land, in January 1881 Gall broke with Sitting Bull in making the decision to return to the US. An angry Sitting Bull would return that fall. Gall made an effort to adjust to reservation life, trying his hand as a district farmer and serving as a judge on the Court of Indian Affairs at Standing Rock. Indian Agent James McLaughlin's promotion of Gall and other "progressives" at the expense of "traditionalists" such as Sitting Bull damaged some tribesmen's perception of Gall, but the manipulation of various Indian factions was McLaughlin's doing not Gall's. (Resentment among Sitting Bull's allies was such that Kicking Bear's famous pictograph of the Little Bighorn battle highlights Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Rain-in-the-Face and Kicking Bear himself - omitting Gall's presence altogether!)

Ever a man of action, Gall survived. He evaluated his people's predicament and "assimilated" to the extent he felt it necessary and culturally comfortable, permitting his children to attend a reservation school while ignoring Episcopal preaching against keeping more than one wife. Gall is described as a good farmer and a conscientious judge, a man of integrity, hardworking and loyal, and "constructive" in contrast to the intractable Sitting Bull. Having been a successful warrior and hunter, it is not surprising that Gall prospered while others withered. And he remained tough as nails and greatly respected, as Larson illustrates in an 1882 incident: "When two large groups of Indians became involved in a fight in which guns were displayed, Gall intervened, seized the guns, and refused to return them until the two parties reconciled."

As with all human beings however, age, rich food, and sedentary life took its toll. Gall died in December 1894, having lived long enough to bear the wretched disappointment of the disastrous Dawes Act and Sioux Act of 1889, and witness the rise of the Ghost Dance and Sitting Bull's subsequent murder and the culminating evil of Wounded Knee.

Several decades ago, late Sixties and early Seventies activists employed a potent mix of history and mythology to raise public awareness and renew tribal consciousness. It is not surprising that they chose to use the powerful images of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, warriors to the end. But it is fitting too that our memory of Gall, the warrior who survived longer than they - and arguably fought better, is revived. Wicoh `a ("good deed"), Robert Larson.

I picked up this book because when I initially read the plot it was like someone had taken a page out of my own life. My "Chebon" was a well known pow-wow dancer. All I can say there is that I wished he'd done a disappearing act like "Chebon"; it would've saved me alot of grief. Potts does a good enough job with the descriptions of pow-wow; although I think she could fine tune her character development and dialogue. I wanted to feel more sisterhood with Ilianna but her 'history' was awfully vague. Same with Chebon. There were numerous printing errors in my copy of the book, but this may be what happens when you self-publish which I think is the case here, but I could be mistaken. I was disappointed with the ending; after experiencing a major burn, the character seemed to have learned very little from her experience. I think Potts had an opportunity to bring the vibrancy of pow-wow, the cultural conflicts between NDN men and White women, and more, to her readers and fell short.

Forty-two year old Ilianna Marshall has a job, a house, her hobbies, and a best friend, but no romance to erase the remnants of an unhappy marriage and lonely nights. Attending a powwow and meeting Chebon Charboneau, a Native American, remedies that problem. The two share a weekend of love that will last for a lifetime--she hopes and he promises. She hopes she's not being used. She doesn't want to be just a powwow pickup. She wants desperately to believe Chebon's promises, but should she?

Leanna Potts writes a fulfilling story of a woman's hunger for love and the cost of satisfaction. Lovers of romance stories will savor every moment Ilianna and Chebon spend together. And, the way the book ends, romance lovers will beg for the sequel.

Have just finished a great summer time read, "PowWow Pickup" by Leanna Potts. The heroine Ilianna Marshall is recovering, but slowly, from a loveless marriage. As therapy she attends a local powwow. She also hopes it will get her in touch with her Native American background which has largely been ignored by her mother. While there, she meets and falls in love with Chebon, a Grass Dancer

The author paints a vivid picture of the modern powwow. One can see the costumes, hear the drums, smell the dust and gain understanding of this little known slice of ethnic culture. Tenderly and with sensitive awareness of her needs Chebon breaks through the shell Ilianna has built around herself. Would that we all could have such a lover!

The surprising ending sends a realistic message about romance in the Twenty First century. Well written, with lively dialogue, colorful descriptions and true to life situations, Powwow Pickup is bound to hold your interest.

Reviewed by Betty Wold,Phoenix,AZ

As a avid reader, I go through books of multiple types like candy. It is at times, very difficult to keep me engrossed. This book was gripping from the first page. The author has managed to include native american lore, romance, mystery and plain good fiction while at the same time staying realistic. The combination is very difficult to find in one place, not so with Powwow Pickup. The author's ability to reach into the human heart and pull out emotions that all of us have probably felt at some time is uncanny. The author is truelly on the rise.

I LOVED this book and couldn't put it down until I finished. It's a romance set in a contemporary Native American background, which is difficult to find today. Illiana, the main character, is a woman still bitter after a divorce, but who feels an instant attraction that she resists to Chebon, a grass dancer she meets at a powwow. He overcomes her insecurities and uncertainties about getting to know him, and they have a short, wonderful romance. The sense of loss and betrayal Illiana feels when she and Chebon part is palpable. The author has a great ability to make her characters real, interesting, and strongly capturing the reader's empathy. I look forward to more from this writer.

quienes desertaron del ejercito invasor, pues se rebelaron ante la injusta guerra impuesta por el ya poderoso vecino del norte a la república del sur, recien independizada, quince años tenia como tal, enconrandose debilitada por una serie de pugnas inetrnas, las cuales por cierto, habian sido atizadas por el primer representante oficial del vecino del norte, se trato de una gvulgar uerra de conquista, la mas injusta que han visto los tiempos, por eso no es de extrañar que el ejercito invasor expe- rimentara el mas alto porcentaje de desercion durante una guerra, Polk, su mentor Jackson, Gaynes, Taylor, Scott, Pillow y demas caterva hoy por hoy se cuecen todos los dias en el infierno.

This book chronicles the rise and fall of the Saint Patrick's Battalion, "The San Patricios," a notable arm of the Mexican Army during the War of 1846-1848. Two hundred deserters from the U. S. Army joined the San Patricios and fought against their former comrades in five major battles. As detailed by the author, the history of the San Patricios is a woeful tale of angry, bewildered, naive, or calculating young men, from varied backgrounds, who deserted for a myriad of reasons and paid a fearful price.

John Riley, the Irish born originator and organizer of the San Patricios, was a soldier of fortune who survived all of his wars. (Riley had the distinction of serving three different national flags in the 19th century) Two-fifths of the San Patricios were from Ireland and the remainder from other European nations or the United States. All of the deserters had been privates in the U. S. Army and several were noted troublemakers.

The casualties suffered by the San Patricios at Churubusco on August 20, 1847, were devastating. Three hours after the battle had commenced, 60% of the two hundred and four men were either dead or had been captured by the Americans. Of the 85 San Patricios taken prisoner, 72 including Major John Riley were tried for desertion. All were found guilty except for one man who was judged insane. Fifty men were condemned to death by hanging, fifteen were to suffer lesser punishments, and five were pardoned.

On September 10, Riley and 14 men were brutally whipped and branded with a large "D." Sixteen of the condemned were hanged that day and four others the following day. The remaining men were positioned two days later on a scaffold overlooking Chapultepec Castle awaiting an American victory. When this occurred, 30 San Patricios were to be launched into eternity. A macabre chapter took place when the condemned men viewed the American flag being raised over the castle. They cheered with eyes uplifted and their loyalties reclaimed at the instant of their deaths.

The victory over Mexico was celebrated by the U. S. military and by politicians as it was the first war fought and won on foreign soil. It involved the first large scale amphibious landing of troops; it provided the U. S. Army with its first experience in occupying a foreign capital; and it crowned manifest destiny as the harbinger of America's future. Four officers who fought in the war became U. S. Presidents and forty-three officers became noted generals in the American civil war.

Mexico lost the war because the balance between politics and the military became unhinged and thus destroyed any semblance of strategy. This resulted in a lack of control on the battlefield. Few Mexican commanders had any idea as to what was happening during most battles. Their tactics were poorly conceived and doomed to failure although the bravery of the Mexican soldier was unquestioned. The difference between the two sides was the fact the President of Mexico also conducted field operations; a relic of European command structure unsuited for the innovative strategy employed by the Americans.

There were many reasons why American soldiers deserted during the Mexican War; the highest desertion rate in any foreign war fought by the United States. The reasons were varied: the severe regimentation of 19th century military life; the harsh and cruel punishment for the slightest infraction; the unpopularity of the war; the Catholic issue; economic enticements offered by the Mexicans such as higher pay, land grants, and higher rank; the widespread prejudice toward foreign born soldiers; and the lack of promotion or advancement in the U. S. Army.

The members of the San Patricios weren't cowards despite the opprobrious words heaped on them by the Americans. Their proficiency and bravery in battle elicited the highest praise from the Mexican Government, "...all the time the attack(s) lasted they sustained the fire with extraordinary courage." On September 12, the anniversary of the hangings and on every Saint Patrick's Day, ceremonies are held in San Angel, a suburb of Mexico City to honor these heroes of Mexico.

Robert Miller constructed his story from known data and from sources hitherto unread. He manages to combine, arrange, and connect a mass of facts with the insight of a very good historian yet his careful scholarship doesn't interfere with nor detract from an exciting tale. He writes with a flowing style so clear and alive that the reader is drawn into this book with pleasure. The footnotes, bibliography, and index are comprehensive and reflect a very thorough job. The battle maps are adequate. It's unfortunate no pictures or paintings exist in order to identify members of the San Patricios.

Miller's book isn't about leaders, winners, or losers. It's about people with their strengths and their weaknesses; their virtues and their vices; and the realization that some people when beguiled by perceived glory, might take a final and fatal step in their lives. If good writing and careful scholarship are signs of a professional than Robert Ryal Miller is a stylish professional indeed.

This is an OK book on the subject, but unfortunately it turns a blind eye to the true reasons why a large number of immigrant Catholic soldiers deserted from the U.S. army before and during the war with Mexico. Nativism and anti-Catholic prejudice were the norm among military officers of that day. Violence, abuse, religious persecution, and unfair punishments were routinely directed against Irish and German soldiers like a hellish disease.

The courts that condemned the deserters did not allow religion or racial prejudice as a defense in the trials and that is why so many of the "San Patricios" cited abduction by Mexican "rancheros" or drunkenness as the reason they went "over the hill." Their fates at trial were assured from the beginning. The author doesn't take this into account, and in this sense one concludes that the research was shallow.

A better book is "The Rogue's March" by Peter Stevens.

With the exception of two romantic novels and an amateur 1986 stage play,
no treatment of the history of The Saint Patrick's Battalion was available
until the publcation of this volume.

This unique unit, composed almost entirely of U.S. Army deserters, the
majority of them Irish-born, operated as part of Antonio de Santa Ana's
army during the Mexican-American war of 1846-1848.

Described by the author as a group of "bewildered young men", they were
idolized in Mexico as martyrs and heroes while being despised in North
America as traitors and deserters.

For deserters, they were certainly fond of warfare. Participating in
five major battles, including Buena Vista and Churubusco, the
artillery and infantry units of their battalion typically suffered
combat casualties upwards of fifty percent.

The author, Robert Ryal Miller, tells their story well - from the inception
of their unit to the last days of the war and beyond. Especially gripping
is his description of the despicable U.S. Colonel William Selby Harney's
punishment of thirty captured "San Patricios". He timed the hanging of
his captives (including Francis O'Connor, who had lost both legs to cannon
fire and had to be propped up on the gallows) to coincide with the raising
of the American flag at the conclusion of the assault on Chapultepec castle.

Miller does his best to deal with the many myths that surround the "Batallion
de San Patricio", including the one that has them establishing San Patricio,
Texas and, for the most part, succeeds. However, as Thoreau once said: "Some
circumstantial evidence is too strong to ignore - such as a trout in the milk".

This excellent (and long past due) history is enhanced by the inclusion of
a preface, illustrations, maps, tables, an appendix, notes and a bibliography.

Miller does a nice job keeping the reader's interest and his presentation of the facts is clear and upfront. However, more than a few times he does go out of his way to present his opinion that the San Patricios where more likely motivated by personal benefit than a search for justice. Fortunately, he doesn't allow his opinion get in the way of the facts letting the reader make his own informed decision.

It was very interesting to me as a Cherokee and living in the area where the murders occured. I kept an open mind while reading the book without predjudice. The writers did a wonderful job telling the story of their investigation; I didn't want to put it down. It was afterall, the story of their investigation, it doesn't make it an absolute truth. I still don't believe that Gene Hart killed those little girls. No one that I know does, or at least couldn't have done it without help from another person. Rumors and tales still circulate around about who really did kill those girls. The person believed to many, to have actually committed the murders, has passed away. So the mystery still lingers.

When you read this book you will cry. Three beautiful little girls were killed & raped by a sick man. They were ripped from their beds in their sleepbags. No adult was in the cabin. They were all alone at the very end of the camp. They did not have a chance. They were murders in cold blood. Just babies. Beautiful babies. they could not prove that the man accused was the killer but the head Indian man said that if he was guilty he would be punished & one year later he died.

I am in the middle of reading this book for the second time. I find it to be fascinating, sad, educational and informative. I was very young when this tragedy happened - I do not remember it at all. I regret the deaths that the book is about. I also think that readers should take advantage of the opportunity to learn more about the cultures and belief systems that may be different than some but that still surround many of us. The agents that worked on the case are portrayed in a way that makes me homesick - their humor, their determination, their respectfulness to each other, their interactions with each other - makes me miss being in Oklahoma. It's different there.

I wasn't born when this happened, but had a grandfather who was part of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol's search party. This book was very informative, disturbing, and intense. I have also watch the documentary on this book and can't help but feel so very terrible for the families of those babies, and that they got the right man.
Great Book!

I am from Oklahoma and remember when this all happened. The book is written from the standpoint of two detectives who worked the case. The recent DNA findings (2002) didn't mean that Hart was not guilty. They simply could not get enough DNA to process it. The DNA that was collected meant 1 in 7000 chance of an Indian matching that info (Hart did match that one). Whether the book is biased or not it is still very informative.

Teddy Blue Abbott rode the old western cattle trails from his early teens and shares his memories in 'We Pointed Them North'. A willful young man, Abbott left his Nebraska home early and followed his dream of being a cowboy all the way north to his eventual home in Montana. Along the way he rode many a horse, chased a lot more cow critters, shared an occassional drink and dallied a bit with 'sporting' women and met numerous other young men with similar dreams. The times could be tough but looking back on his life, Teddy Blue wouldn't change a thing.

I purchased this book for research purposes. I was surprised to find it so engrossing - a real page turner!

Of all the books I've read and owned on the historic west - and they're many - among the finest is Teddy Blue's personal account of the early cattle drives from Texas to Montana. He lived it, he remembered it in all its finest detail, and he told it well. This book both informs and entertains, and with Teddy's tongue firmly planted in his cheek at the right times - such as his account of how he came by his nickname - it flat out amuses. Teddy walked it like he talked it, and there is no better, straighter picture of his wild times than We Pointed Them North.

This is another of the several books now available that describes the Texas trail herds and Eastern Montana cattle industry from a cowboy's perspective. Many people consider this the seminal book of the genre. My copy was published in 1939, the year I was born; however, it has been republished several times and is currently available.

My father knew Teddy Blue and I grew up around a mix of cowboys raised in Texas and the northern states. This book is an authentic view of the cowboy's life. Like Teddy Blue, many started out at a young age as an adventure-seeking, rather wild kid. Hard work that wasn't always fun molded them into skilled hands in handling cattle. Teddy Blue finally married, took a homestead, and became one of the settlers whom he used to detest for running livestock and farming on fenced land. That was typical of those Texas cowboys that came to Montana or Wyoming and didn't run back south with the first snowflakes.

This is the true story of trailing livestock from Texas to Montana and raising cattle on the open range. It has stampedes, blizzards, settlers, Indians, prostitutes, outlaws, and vigilantes. It is a story of love, courtship, and marriage. It relates the maturing of Montana from no government or law to established statehood and communities.

E.C. Abbott earned the nickname "Teddy Blue" during one of his more boisterous minutes in Miles City, Montana. Admittedly, it is a misnomer to call Mr. Abbott a Texan since his family moved to Nebraska from England when Teddy Blue was eleven and he fully adopted Montana as the state where he lived out his life. However, he, like the other cowboys who "came up the trail," refers to himself as a Texas cowboy.

This book is very readable. We are indebted to Helena Huntington Smith for recording Teddy Blue's memories, as well as her other writings such as "A Bride Goes West." Those two books are an anchor for the history of the "old west."

A good look at the life of a cowboy in Montana and Wyoming in the late 1800's. Not politically correct by any stretch. Not very well put together but a very interesting read.

Set in modern day Santa Cruz, Owens has constructed a fictional thriller based on events in and around the infamous mission's domain. Troubled spirits mingle with malignant minds as Native American professor Cole McCurtain finds himself and his Choctaw family drawn into a story he has dreamed for many nights. Find yourself drawn to Cole's wise young daughter Abby and his wise-cracking cross-dressing Navajo friend Alex Yazzie. This literary novel is a great thriller which provides lots of laughs and some sexy characters along the way.

Bone Game is the sequel to The Sharpest Sight, a mystery set many years earlier with protagonist Cole McCurtain coming of age along the Salinas River. Another excellent and very funny literary text that doubles as a sensational mystery

The whole history of the opression of Native Californians is not widely known or spoken of, even in California (I still hear that misbelief that the missions were good for the Indians occaisonally -- don't get me started0. And unfortunately, many times people aren't even aware that native peoples such as the Ohlone that figure into Owens' book still exist (they were, after all, declared extinct by anthropologists like Alfred Kroeber, which is extremely untrue). So I commend Owens for drawing upon the rich history of California in a way I have not seen many other authors do. Plenty of books rely on the premise of the wronged native -- most deal with horse-back riding Plains Indians with names like "Big Wolf" or "Two Eagles."

As for plot, and story, Owens scores here as well. I notice that many other reviewers found the plot line confusing, which in turn confuses me as I found it easy to follow. I even figured out that there were two...well, I don't want to spoil it for you. Owens also has good descriptions of the local scenery -- the redwoods forests of the Santa Cruz mountains as well as the juniper-pinyon forests of New Mexico - that come through as authentic to any who has ever walked in those places.
It's too bad Owens isn't still around producing works like these.

I ran across this book in my search for mysteries written by Native Americans. The jacket blurb and book reviews made it sound intriguing and worth picking up to read.

The story line weaves back and forth between murders set in present day California and Spanish Colonial times.

Owens prose is haunting; his images catch just at the edge of the reader's mind. Ok, one asks, is this happening today? Or 300 years ago? Is it real? (whatever that means.) Or just one of the protagonist's screwy dreams?

Frankly, I got exhausted trying to figure out where and when I was supposed to be. I fought my way through several hundred pages, searching for a plot I could hang on to. We finally got there, but by that time I had become bored with Cole - the angst-ridden, usually drunk, central character.

Maybe I'm just old fashioned - I like my mysteries to unfold in a more or less straight line. Too much poetry, imagery, and symbolism for my taste.

I just happened to stumble upon this novel through a book club. I enjoyed every sentence of it! Owens blends Native American history, lore and custom with his characters' modern-day American concerns and fears. Cole McCurtain, teaching Indian Studies at Santa Cruz, finds that he is lonely, drinking far too much, and missing his family. His daughter, Abby, comes to stay with him at the same time that body parts start floating ashore. Cole is haunted by nightmares that seem to be telling him a story. He is also surrounded by a fascinating array of characters who fill the novel with humor, sarcasm and wisdom.
Owens' writing is first-rate. This is a chilling novel that, at the same time, is quite touching. I cared about what happened to the characters and had to keep reading to find out the next twist.

After reading the novel Bone Game, a common reaction of many readers must be confusion. There are so many visions and dreams in this novel. These visions seem to occur independent of time and space, leading a reader used to highly structured "Western" novels to throw up their hands in futility. On reflection, however, several themes can be discerned from this confusing novel. One overarching theme seems to be the pervasive force of evil that manifests itself throughout the book. Louis Owens definitely has a grasp of criminal history. He has borrowed from real life events to construct his novel. Most of the events in Bone Game occur at the University of California, Santa Cruz where Cole McCurtain works as a professor. During the early 1970's Santa Cruz suffered through a crime wave when three serial killers committed crimes there.

Herbert William Mullin was, by anybody's account, a strange bean. A heavy user of LSD and a frequent pot smoker, Mullin eventually suffered a serious psychological collapse. He began hearing voices that commanded him to kill people in order to prevent earthquakes from destroying Southern California.

Edmund Kemper embarked on a sadistic rampage of murder and mayhem that culminated with his arrest in Pueblo, Colorado in April 1973. Kemper was a giant of a man, 6'9" tall and 280 pounds. Inside lurked a monster. Kemper despised women, especially his mother. When Kemper began to hunt women, his mother, a UCSC employee, inadvertently aided her son's murderous desires by providing him with a parking sticker for his car. This sticker allowed Kemper to lure young college co-eds to their deaths. After killing his victims, Kemper dismembered their bodies and decapitated them. Kemper buried one particular head in the yard outside his room, with the head facing towards the house so he could "talk" to his victim.

The third killer was John Linley Frazier. Frazier's spree was limited to a single event in 1970, when he torched the house of a local doctor. Frazier left a note at the crime scene expressing his outrage at the exploitation of the ecosystem and the rampant materialism prevalent in American society. When arrested, it was discovered that Frazier was a rabid ecologist and a practitioner of Tarot cards. Police believed that the murders Frazier committed might have been linked to the hippie culture movement that existed in the surrounding areas of Santa Cruz.

This lengthy description of madness is not an attempt to skirt discussion of Bone Game. Rather, Owens uses these real events to create fictional characters that adopt, and ultimately subvert, Indian culture. Can any reader look at the hulking figure of Paul Kantner and not see Ed Kemper? The murderer in Bone Game uses a car with a UCSC parking sticker to pick up one of his female victims. Kantner even murders his mother in the same way Kemper killed his mother. Paul also admits to burying the head of one of his victims so that it faces his room, allowing him to talk to the head. Again, this is the same thing that Kemper did.

Herbert Mullin and John Frazier are also represented in the story. Robert Malin, Cole's graduate assistant, seems to possess some of Mullin's attributes. Both Mullin and Malin (the names again share a similarity) engage in hallucinogenic experiences. Mullin takes acid and Malin takes part in the peyote ceremony. Mullin's experience with hallucinogens does not have the spiritual and healthy connotations of an Indian peyote ritual. Instead of receiving visions helpful and cleansing visions, Mullin's visions are nightmares of depravity that lead to murder. Even Robert does not share in the healthy experience of the ritual because he runs out before the ritual is finished. Robert talks about his "dreams" to kill, closely resembling Mullin's own sadistic visions. It is also important to point out that Malin seems to have adopted Mullin's fascination with earthquakes, as can be seen when he talks to Abby after he has abducted her.

Frazier's fascination with ecology and the prevention of materialistic consumption are both ideas that are closely associated with Indian values. In the hands of Frazier, they become twisted beyond recognition and turned into a reason for murder and destruction. The hippie culture that Frazier was immersed in also presents a problem. The hippie culture attempted to co-opt many Indian ideas, especially the concept of community. While this may seem to be a noble goal, in the hands of Whites it had a propensity to occasionally produce a John Frazier or a Charles Manson. The hippie culture that Frazier was a part of actually does makes an appearance in Bone Game, when Paul takes Abby to a place called Elfland. Elfland is a place where white students go to take part in wacky "New Age" rituals. These rituals are actually pathetic attempts by Whites to copy Indian ritual.

Another important event in Bone Game that illustrates the idea of subversion deals with the Indians themselves, as people. Luther and Hoey run into a gang of criminals who deal in a sort of Indian slavery. The evil committed against the Indians here is twofold: not only is an Indian abducted and denied dignity as a human being by Whites, the Whites have also turned Indian against Indian. One of the gang is an Indian who has nothing but contempt for his own people.

A weird book but worth reading if you like Indian literature.

As I began to read the book, I constantly keep in mind just who the authors were. Having read "Others Unknown", I knew that James Nichols was a suspect at one point.

The first several chapters is mainly concerned with James Nichols' lashing out at the FEDS for raiding his farm. It's loaded with hilarious jabs at the federal government which at times overshadows the facts. The book poses some very interesting questions about the bomb and obstruction of justice. But I think the best information in the book comes from the last several chapters begining with "Witnesses". I was losing enthusiasm in the book until I hit this chapter. From then on the book took a more serious approach to the facts. Stephen Jones' book had a chapter on US v. McVeigh and he rattled off a list of names of people who the goverment never called as witnesses without explaining what the significant of those witnesses were. This book explained what those witnesses saw the morning of April 19, 1995 as well as the weeks/days leading up to the bombing. (The fact that I was able to cross-reference FE with Jones' book gave it more credibility).

The book also gave more in-depth information on the ATF informant, Carol Howe and exactly what she had reported to her superiors which was ignored at the expense of 168 men, women and children.

My lasting impression is that there was a grand COVER-UP, the government had been tipped off (Jones said the same in his book) and we may never know what really happened and why.

WORTH THE READ FOR THE SECOND-HALF, WILL LEAVE YOU WANTING MORE INFORMATION.

Being the brother of convicted co-conspirator Terrry Nichols does not give the author any inside info on the bombing. Terry was able to tell him very little about the plot while being visited in jail. This is only about the FBI's high-handed investigation of the author due to his relationship to Terry. Not relevant to the main event. I wish I hadn't bought it.

I have read almost all of the books out there about the Oklahoma City bombing and the Assault on The Branch Davidians in Waco which is often cited as having been the inspiration for the destruction of the Murrah Building. This book contains LOTS of scathing information regarding The US Governments manipulation of people and its censorship/fabrication of information released to the public. The story it tells is vitally important for all Americans to read although I found the book to be tedious reading in certain areas. Nichols tells his story with all the emotion it deserves and what he has to say is important. Read it!

This is a great book which gives a lot of information that the most American's have NO IDEA. James Nichols has a great sense of humor through it all as well. It shows the INJUSTICE in this case. I highly recommend.

As I began to read the book, I constantly keep in mind just who the authors were. Having read "Others Unknown", I knew that James Nichols was a suspect at one point.

The first several chapters is mainly concerned with James Nichols' lashing out at the FEDS for raiding his farm. It's loaded with hilarious jabs at the federal government which at times overshadows the facts. The book poses some very interesting questions about the bomb and obstruction of justice. But I think the best information in the book comes from the last several chapters begining with "Witnesses". I was losing enthusiasm in the book until I hit this chapter. From then on the book took a more serious approach to the facts. Stephen Jones' book had a chapter on US v. McVeigh and he rattled off a list of names of people who the goverment never called as witnesses without explaining what the significant of those witnesses were. This book explained what those witnesses saw the morning of April 19, 1995 as well as the weeks/days leading up to the bombing. (The fact that I was able to cross-reference FE with Jones' book gave it more credibility).

The book also gave more in-depth information on the ATF informant, Carol Howe and exactly what she had reported to her superiors which was ignored at the expense of 168 men, women and children.

My lasting impression is that there was a grand COVER-UP, the government had been tipped off (Jones said the same in his book) and we may never know what really happened and why.

WORTH THE READ FOR THE SECOND-HALF, WILL LEAVE YOU WANTING MORE INFORMATION.

I used this years ago in college and just got it off the shelf as I prepare to take up Homeric Greek again for fun.

This was a great help when I first needed it for both 'Odyssey' and 'Iliad' readings. I can certainly agree with those who want principal parts and more definitions, but that's why you also need Liddell and Scott's or Cunliffe's 'Lexicon...' My sticking point is that nouns could've been given a definite article and a genitive ending, even so supplying them yourself (as I did) is a great exercise.

What is so nice about this book is the great number of words listed for you and especially its portability. Take it every where; use it any time!
What Owen and Goodspeed wanted to do is provide vocabulary as simply as possible. And they succeeded.

If you wish to read any language, vocabulary is necessary. The listing of words by frequency and parts of speech helps one to focus study time where it will bear the most fruit.

This wordlist is of inestimable value to all those few yet thrice-blessed who still learn to read Homer in Greek. By the time you finish it, you will have at least a nodding acquaintance with every word that appears ten times or more in the Iliad and Odyssey. That may indeed leave a trireme of unknown words, but trust me, knowing the most frequent ones makes it much easier to get the gist of a passage before running to the lexicon. If you are learning Homer from Pharr--as nearly everyone does--this is a good reference to consult to see which words in his chapter vocabularies are worth committing to your active memory. (I wish that Pharr had marked the words of infrequent occurrence. Wright should have done this in his "revision" but he didn't really revise Pharr much at all.)

There is only one shortcoming, though I do consider it a serious one: the list of verbs does not include principal parts, and the noun list does not give genders or stems. You could easily write in the article and genitive forms for the nouns, but good luck trying to fit the five remaining principal parts of a verb on the same line as its entry. So no matter how you solve this problem, you will still need to look up nearly every word. That's an onerous task to inflict on a beginner. With a class of students, though, I suppose the teacher could divide up the drudge-work.

The greatest obstacle to reading Homer in Greek is the sheer density of the vocabulary. That is to say, Homer's vocabulary is
enormous. As an attempt to help the student of Homeric Greek acquire a good grasp on Homer's vocabulary, this little book is useful yet not as useful as it could have been.

The book contains word lists covering words that occur up to ten times in the Iliad and Odyssey. Unfortunately, there are serious faults with the word lists. As one reviewer has already mentioned, the verbs give only the present indicative active; with a verb such as audao (to speak, say, utter (something)(to someone)), this is no problem, since the verb only appears in a few tenses in which context and form always guarantee one's recognition of it. However, there are countless verbs which undergo such dramatic changes in form from one tense to the next
that knowing the present indicative active alone is well-nigh useless. Thus, principal parts should have been provided for such words.

Also, there are many words whose meaning changes from one context to the next. The definitions provided for such words in the word lists are almost useless, since they only equip the reader with an understanding of them in certain contexts.

One last criticism: There are a number of words which really do not need to be included in these word lists. Words like kai, de, and alla are so common and so basic that only the most intellectually challenged of Greek students would need to practice them.

So the book is useful for the absolute beginner in Homeric Greek, but its defects become more and more obvious the more
one progresses in one's learning. It's a shame that no one has come up with a better alternative to these word lists. Personally, I would love to see a full vocabulary guide to Homeric Greek such as one can find for the vocabulary of the Greek New Testament, in which principal parts and variant meanings are included, and in which all of Homer's vocabulary is covered down to those pesky hapax legomena (words used only once).

I will disagree with the reviewers that fault Owen & Goodspeed for the lack of principle parts and alternate definitions; for me, the strength of this little volume was the ability to carry it tucked in a pocket and quickly drill vocabulary when I had a few minutes. Anyone reading Homer should have a good lexicon and use that for examining meanings and forms; if you memorize the contents of Owen & Goodspeed, you'll be able to quickly identify words and, if necessary, look them up for other meanings or unusual forms.

I purchased this book after reading a review about it on someone's blog. The book presents the fascinating history of the planning and building of the Hoover Dam. I was particularly struck by the descriptions of the working conditions that the workers endured. While the text appeared to be fairly dense, it was actually a fast read. The only real complaint I have about the book is that I think it could have used a few more maps to help the reader get a sense for where things were. I believe there was one map, and it wasn't very details. If you are at all interested in the history surrounding the construction of the Hoover Dam I highly recommend getting this book.

What a wonderful book. As a civil engineer, if I had been born 50 years sooner, I probably would have gone in dam-building, but by the time I came along, the great dam-building era in the US was over. On a recent trip to Las Vegas, my wife and I visted Hoover Dam three times, we were both so fascinated with this monumental structure.

So I bought "Hoover Dam - An American Adventure" by Joseph E. Stevens. The author does a great job of describing the technical details without getting too technical for laymen, and he also covers the human details and the political background of the huge project.

One thing that really made the book so enjoyable was the liberal use of photographs, and unlike many books where the photographs are all in the middle of the book, the photographs are located throughout the book in the appropriate chapters.

This book made me proud to be an American, with the roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-the-job-done attitude that typified the early dam and bridge builders.

If you have the slightest interest in major engineering feats, read the book, it's a good one.

Excellent book. I have read a number of science/engineering histories and this is one of the best. It follows the building of the Hoover Dam from start to finish. If I ever go to Las Vegas, it will be because I wanted to see the Dam. It has just the right amount of detail, both technical and political to keep me interested. It read faster than its size would suggest.

I was a young boy who lived in Boulder City for five years when my father helped build the dam. This is an excellently written - maybe one of the best I have ever read - and very accurate account of the construction, the people who did it, and life at the time. I stop and reminisce every time I go through Boulder City and drive over the dam. I loved my Dad and am very proud of his participation there. This book took me back in a very instructive and entertaining manner. It did the entire project proud. I won't hesitate one second to recommend this book to anyone who appreciates excellence in writing, or who loves America and its history. For this was a truly great undertaking, excellently and excitingly performed. And by people who, in my opinion, are prime examples of the so called "Greatest Generation". Detailed accounts of the construction of the dam are available, and are also excellent. But that is not the focus of this book.

According to the jacket, this is the first book for this author. You can't tell after turning the last page. Well written, easy to read history of the Hoover Dam project. Never overly technical, yet highly informative.

The third edition to Garrison's Catullus is an improvement from the last edition. A minor revision includes updated bibliography concerning textual tradition. But the big improvement is the reformatting of the book's type-face. It is now set in Minion Pro which is easier to read, in my opinion, than Times New Roman. In other words, it is beautifully laid out to present a good book overall. Other things: still remaining are the commentary and vocabulary in the back of the book.

Garrison's book is not the soundest text for people reading Catullus in Latin. For one thing, the book does a disservice in "titling" every poem in the collection with an English one-liner...this goes a long way towards influencing the reader before s/he even reads the Latin. Second, there is no critical apparatus with the Latin text...and with a poet like Catullus, for whom textual issues are more than marginally important, this is a lamentable loss...even beginning Latin students can be sophisticated enough not to think that the text of an author was handed down by Jupiter on golden tablets...or in this case, in a forest green paperback. Fordyce's 1961 Oxford commentary remains standard for the poems he covers (and contrary to popular lore he did not leave the others out out of a sense of Puritanism but rather because the Oxford Press at the time thought the book would sell to a larger market with the obscene poems omitted)...there is also Merrill, still in print (he has every poem)...and for more accomplished Latinists, we now have Thomson's big 1997 volume. If you can find it, Kenneth Quinn's 1970 commentary on the whole corpus is also worth a close look...

I am a T.A. for a course in Catullus, and I find this book to be very helpful. Included in this volume are the complete extant works of Catullus, a Catulluan vocabulary (crucial because some of Catullus' more colorful vocabulary does not appear in all dictionaries), a brief and informative commentary, a list of people to whom Catullus makes reference, a review of Catullus' meters, and a glossary of terms and their definitions. This book is extremely helpful and is ideal for a student reading Catullus for the first time or a more experienced Latin reader who is attempting to read Catullus' corpus as quickly as possible.

Daniel H. Garrison's THE STUDENT'S CATULLUS, published by University of Oklahoma press, contains all 113 poems of the standard collection which are belived to be authentic, including the fragmentary poems. Garrison provides an introduction and notes for the individual poems, as well as four appendices on various matters ("People", "Meters", "[Poetic] Terms", and "Poetic Usage") and a complete vocabulary. In his notes, Garrison often directs the student towards the meaning without giving it away as such, preserving the comedic impact of much of the shorter poems. While no scholar could deny the obscenity of much of Catullus' poetry, Garrison sometimes shows a shyness in his notes which I found odd. I used THE STUDENT'S CATULLUS for a semester-long course at Loyola University Chicago, and thought that it served my needs well.

If there is one big downside to the book, it is the typesetting. The Latin text is fine, but the notes and commentary are all done in hideous double-columns and a typeface smaller than the Latin. This is one of the least professional-looking academic books I've come across in a while. Still, that doesn't stop the content from being useful, so THE STUDENT'S CATULLUS is worth seeking out.

This handy edition is perfect for the casual reader of Latin. Garrison's extensive notes answer most questions a reader is likely to have concerning the grammer and they also provide a considerable amount of relevent mythology. The book also contains a complete vocabulary which I have found invaluable. This is not a scholarly edition, but provides everything for the non-scholar.