Stricken Field: The Little bighorn Since 1876 (Nonfiction)

This is the first full history of the most famous battleground in the West, the Little Bighorn. After re-sketching the dramatic events of the summer of the 1876 Sioux War, Jerome A. Greene turns to Gen. Phil Sheridan’s efforts to protect the battlefield by 1879. A former park service historian, Greene elaborates on the controversies of recent years that Bob Utley touched on in his personal memoir. Besides the usual national parks conflict between preservation proponents and public-use partisans, Greene says the Little Bighorn has also suffered the effects of politically correct historical revisionism. Interpretation has shifted from saluting the losers (Custer and his troops) to acknowledging the winners (Lakotas and Northern Cheyennes). In his stellar work, though, Greene presents a balanced account of the acquisition and development of the historic site.