"The Smoky Years" moves at a blistering ,furious pace, the characterization and dialogue is classic Le may. If you like John Ford Westerns or have read other Allen leMay books then this book is exactly what you are looking for in a Western. The story is simple: 3 men make up the King Gordon cattle combine.One of the men is murdered (by the competition)after succesfully bidding on a deal that will put his old rival effectively out of comission. One of the remaing partners doesnt want to take action against the killers, the other decides to recruit the toughest gunfighters and cowboy deperados to rustle away the competitors cattle on a massive scale.A cattle rustlin war ensues...Not a whole lot of " womenly sentimentality " in this one ,folks. I really dont care for Louis L'amour as a writer of westerns, if you didnt care for him and think Westerns arent for you ,then you should buy this book and "the Searchers". You are gonna love Allen le May . (Review ends with Comanche war cackle..)

This book will hold the interest of adults and children alike. Teachers and homeschool parents especially need to include it in a unit on the West. Mr. Rounds gives us a clear idea of what life in a sod house was really like: cramped quarters, leaky roofs, and uninvited wildlife falling through the roof. The illustrations in subdued pastels are almost childlike in their simplicity and very effectively visualize the text. I highly recommend it.

This book was fantastic! As I read it, I became engrossed in the history of the "Elk-Dog People". This is historical fiction at is best, as it takes you inside the lives, thoughts, and cultures of the tribe. I would recommend this to anyone who's interested in American tribes, or history! :) Five Stars!

I loved having three stories in one book. It covers three different families beyond the story line in the individual books. This book really completes the stories. I would be reading along, trying to think who this story was about, and I would get so excited that my guesses where correct, that I could hardly put the book down

This 4-vol. set includes 2 volumes of narratives in Arikara with interlinear translation and two volumes of freer translation of the texts. A set of two audio cassettes is also available from University of Nebraska Press (and presumably from Amazon.com if you ask about it). _Traditional Narratives_ is really almost beyond criticism or praise. What Parks has done here is not just to present scholars and American Indians with a gold mine of Plains Indian traditional culture. He has given us and the Arikaras by far the most substantial, most accurate, and easily accessible collection of material in the Arikara language by some of its last fully fluent custodians (all of the informants for _Traditional Narratives_ are now deceased). For linguists, this is the largest corpus we will ever have of a beautiful and amazingly intricate language, now, like many other American Indian languages, edging toward extinction.

This book is fabulous in that in that it not only charts the tour sites of the Great Sioux was with excellent maps, directions and fantastic pictures but also provides excellent mini-histories on what occurred at each site including bios on the main participants. Just reading this book gives you a good historical perspective for the great plains war with chapters that categorize the historical sites by period starting with the Gratten marker in Wyoming. The Gratten monument was for a Lt. and his company that threatened Conquering Bear's village over the alleged theft of a cow resulting in his death and his companies (1856). This book proceeds with sites and histories flowing the Red Cloud War of 1866, through the Little Bighorn Campaign period and aftermath, the summer and winter campaigns. Also includes historical sites after 1877 such as sitting Bull's Canadian sites with descriptions of the sites and pictures. Hedren covers every major historical site from old forts, some of which have been reconstructed and some have actual structures that he describes and has pictures of. You can virtually follow the expeditions of the army or find exact locations of significant village sites. This book adds an extra dimension to any trip as Hedren shows you additional sites, some obscure, right next door to the more publicized sites. A great example is Little Bighorn, just 30 miles away is the pristine Rosebud Battlefield site where Crook encountered the Sioux and Cheyenne in a desperate and critical battle a week before Custer. In addition, the Powder River Battlefield where Crook's forces struck first but lost the initiative in March is just further west of the Rosebud Battlefield. This book provides so much information and easy directions including those that are on private property (includes caution to seek permission) that an adventurous traveler can seemingly so it all in a long week but perhaps two. The book's pictures are better than many books that are dedicated to a specific battle. The pictures of the massive Bear Butte Mountain are incredible as its mass is seen along a flat plain. The also book includes pictures of the main participants and their places of rest. A book that Walter Camp would be proud of as he documented many of these sites almost 100 years ago before they were lost to obscurity. I wish I had this book when I visited the Little Bighorn two years ago; however, there is so much great information I would have had to stay west another week.

Teresa Gowanlock, a cousin of this writer, records in a diary-like format, her escape from death at the hands of Chief Poundmaker and his fellow Cree. Dragged helpless through endless miles of western overburden, she and her companions are portrayed as the hapless victims of the Natives. It is a book full of emotional-blood letting and a must read for all "family" members and those who would know the full extent of what happened to cause this monumental event in Canadian History. Teresa is not vindictive in her words but neither is she forgiving. She and her family suffered much but were the pawns of a government which held little love for any "force" which stood in its way. Upon her rescue she informed the authorities of her trial and soon set to telling her tale. Like her cousin Laura Secord, she became a part of the historical Canadian fabric and a noble example of all that was the strength of our early ancestors. Another topical book is, "Blood Red, The Sun" which gives a more general view of the massacre and the events surrounding it.

West examines relations between Native Americans, Americans, bison and the environment of the Great Plains. His explanation of environmental factors in depletion of the buffalo herds is very valuable in understanding what was happening on the Plains during the middle of the 19th century.

This book held my constant attention from the first time I picked it up. Ms. Matthews gives a very even-handed account of what I call "The Dilemma on the Great Plains." She thoughtfully explains the Buffalo Commons plan for the restoration of the plains. She introduces Frank and Deborah Popper, New Jersey academics from Rutgers University, who came up with the Buffalo Commons plan. I was riveted because I once lived in South Dakota, near the Montana and Wyoming borders and could empathize with the issue. The Poppers came up with the Buffalo Commons idea in the late 1980s as a way to "save" the plains. It has been very controversial, to say the least. The plains way of life and the emotions of the issue are handled brilliantly by Ms. Matthews. I was able to see both sides throughout the book. This issue has an importance to our nation. Read this book to know the issues about the decline in our Great Plains.

This books covers, in exquisite detail, the ins and outs of identifying, gathering and preparing wild fruits and grasses found on the plains. The authors also include wonderful, hard to find recipes, such as wild plum jelly.