I read this book expecting to find a well written, entertaining and historically accurate piece of fiction based on the cover blurbs. The book may have been researched, concerning McClellan saddles and post-Civil War uniforms and some battles on the northern plains. Some of the characters even ring true to their historical reputation. However, the great number of spelling errors and factual inaccuracies leave me distrustful of all the "facts" portrayed in the book. Most glaring of errors was the rising sun in the West on page 179 of the hard cover edition, followed a few pages later by the mention of "crape myrtle." The author's attempt at slave dialect left me totally cold. Perhaps I could be mistaken about the rank of Sergeant Major, but prior to June 1, 1958 the title of Sergeant Major was the designation of a position and not a rank. The designation was given to the senior noncommisioned officer of a regiment who was also the senior noncommissioned administrator of the regiment. What could have been a great book was ruined by the lack of an editor. Hopefully the next book in the series will be edited prior to printing. The steamy sex scenes added little if any to the over all effort and could have been somewhat less explicit. After reading other reviews of this book, I believe that those reviewers read a different edition.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good, fast-paced historical adventure. Lewis is a good storyteller, as well as a careful historian. The book, which tells the story of Nate Gordon, an African-American "buffalo soldier" on the western frontier, is well-plotted, action-packed, and very atmospheric, really putting you there on the ground with Nate. Lewis is also very attentive to historical detail, perhaps a bit too much so for some readers who may not want to know all of the technical and historical detail, but this is a minor quibble. More importantly, Buffalo Gordon provides us with an African-American hero of the "wild west," reminding us that it was not only the stereotypical "Marlboro (white) Man" who populated America's western frontier. Nate is a bit one-dimensional in the sense of being perhaps too perfect (he never behaves badly, always does the right thing), but that is largely what heroes are about. Lewis's writing style is not perfect - this is apparently his first novel, and he is still finding and perfecting his voice - but he is a fine storyteller, the writing is perfectly serviceable, and as the series continues, I imagine he will further hone his narrative skills. Overall, I give it five stars because I wholly enjoyed it (raced through it actually), and look forward to Nate's further adventures.

For readers who enjoy fast-paced, historical fiction, I highly recommend Buffalo Gordon. Even though the post-Civil War, American frontier does not rank high on my list of interesting historical eras, I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about it through the exciting adventures of Nate Gordon. Mr. Lewis has provided a well-researched account of this period with a fresh and dramatic fictional perspective. The book also is timely and in step with recent publications about African American military history, including Gail Buckley's AMERICAN PATRIOT. I recommend an earlier review of Buffalo Gordon by Celia DuBose on this site. She succinctly summarizes the book and provides an excellent critique of the book that is "spot on" in my opinion. I look forward to reading Mr. Lewis' sequel to Buffalo Gordon.

There is greater awareness because of the magnitude of this book and
its message. And I'll wager that there are few Americans today, Black
or White, who know about the incredible life of Cathy Williams. This
remarkable story now has a voice.

Once a slave in Independence, Missouri, Cathy Williams lived and
worked in the 'big house' as a servant to its mistress. And though
being a house servant carried greater privilege and status than
that of the field hand, Cathy began to resent the menial tasks she
performed as much as she resented her masters.

After the death of her owner, and having the good fortune of not
being sold to pay debts, Cathy realized that the fundamental premise
of slavery was a lie and this life was not her chosen destiny. So in
November 1866 she disguised herself as a man, used the name William
Cathay, and enlisted in Company A, 38th U.S. Infantry and became a
Buffalo Soldier. As the first and only African American woman to
serve in one of the six black units formed following the Civil War.
Interestingly enough, Williams was able to become a member of the
Army without detection of her sex, and it was imperative that she
keep her true identity unknown. Her adventures took her from Missouri
to the Mexican border where she served for nearly two years. After
her military career Cathy did not envision returning to her roots in
Missouri, plus her heart was now in the West. So she married and
created a life for herself on the Western frontier, as a business-
woman in Trinidad, CO.

There is much contention surrounding the validity of Cathy's story.
Historians claim Tucker's only source about Williams' alleged service
as a Buffalo soldier is based on a newspaper account published in
1876 and that there are no official records in existence to
authenticate her Civil War service. Some believe it was easy for
Williams to get discharge certificates from the 'real' William
Cathay and pass it off as her own. And that 'Far too many of the
speculations about Williams are colored by a 21st century
"politically correct" perspective'.

Yet others offer a more positive analogy, "Phillip Thomas Tucker the
prize-winning author of The Confederacy's Fighting Chaplain tells
this remarkable tale of Pvt. William Cathay of Company A, 38th U.S.
Infantry, who in fact was a big-boned, 5' 7" black woman named Cathy
Williams. This is a unique story of gender and race, time and place.

Tucker's work is a recommended read that reaches across categories,
from American, African American, and military history to Western and
women's history." -- Thomas J. Davis, Arizona State Univ.

Regardless of the controversy, this was a fascinating story presented
more in the vein of a documentary than a novel and it allows readers
to experience a non-traditional, non-typical life for a 'Colored'
woman in the 1800's. Tucker uses this storyline to captivate and
educate, and he introduces a believable character who unknowingly and
unintentionally charted a course for the role of today's women in all
branches of the military. This story vividly brings to life another
chapter of our colorful history.

Reviewed by aNN Brown
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

I found this book to be interesting and very enjoyable. It is an example of how one woman turned adversity into her triumph. I would recommend it highly.

I just finished this wonderful book....enjoyed it very much..One can see all the truly great research that went into this book...This Missouri Author Phillip Tucker has written about 25 Civil War Books..All have best good sellers...I would recommend everyone reading his books....Dr. AJ & Janet Canpbell

At the end of the excellent 400 page text/program, "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons," twenty books are recommended for children who now (according to the text) read at a second-grade level. This is the third book on the list of twenty. The fourth page of this book, "Look What I Can Do," has five words, "Look what I can do!" On page seven there are five more words, "I can do it too!" The last page has the same five words as the first page, "Look what I can do!" In between, there are a lot of pictures. If you would like for your child to read more than 15 words, you might think about getting a different book.

Two show-offs compete to come up with a better antic. This creates havoc for the animals in their paths and eventually both of them! Execellent facial expressions and a fun ending make this a book for all ages.

Callenbach demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the people who live on the Great Plains and the issues facing them. This book is very poorly researched, is full of factual errors, and consists primarily of wishful thinking. The idea that taking land from the people that own it and creating a giant buffalo park will be an economic boon and reverse the population declines the Plains has experienced for the past 60 years is ludicrous. If you're really interested in the future of the Great Plains, read some of the more recent articles by Frank and Deborah Popper. The Buffalo Commons is a useful metaphor, but nothing more.

To begin with, i haven't read this book.But the idea seems to me great. Bringing buffalos to the plains will start a new period in the life of America, only we'll have to bring indians too. They would live quietly though loudly, producing some kind of energy which was always here, and which otherways is dissolving into Nowhere.This energy is necessary for generating life all over America. Joseph Campbell tells an interesting story about how buffalos interchanged with indians in the process of buffalo-hunt. They (buffalos) said they are not against hunting them in general, but they must be asked to and treated politely. Anyway all this play is inevitable, they said (indians used to follow them to the end of the rock and made them jump into the precipice) You must only find a suitable form. Another, more human and beautiful attitude we see in the film "Bless the beasts and the children", but this is a kind of unfair play from the side of the bad guys that we see there. Anyway, America must return to It's roots, the only question is where and what these roots are? perhaps this returning is going on somewhere without us, humans, and this is for better because we would spoil everything, even the ecologists? And this process is wild and strong? And it is expressed in our personal mythologies? I had written about the russian-american connections( i am a Russian originally) as the connections of the Bear and the Buffalo, both of them are beautifully and roughly strong, but they differ very much in their behaviour. So i think they would not fight, when they meet, imagine what they would do? Bear had a strong hand, Buffalo a strong foot...no, it's hard to imagine. Dance perhaps? Do circus? So to finish with this short review of an unread book( I liked Ecotopia very much, and want to ask if somebody knows what Mr.Callenbach is doing at the moment)I would like to phantasise about returning bears to the Russian forests. There are still a lot of them, but so many were killed, and so many went to the zoo and circus. What would be Russia with bears in the streets of Moscow? Perhaps people are so tired that nobody would notice?

An excellent book. Callenbach clearing shows that he did his "homework". A must read for anyone who feels that bison should be reestablished on the American scene.

Want to feel the Vietnam experience, but are too young? No problem. This book will make you feel like you're there and "back in the world". Of course, you must experience the entire scene, so here's some acid to trip on. That's exactly what reading this book is like. You could almost hear the Doors playing in the background while reading this hallucinatory tale of madness and schizophrenia. This book definately has a "women's" touch, mixed with the ethearal feel of Pynchon. For a far superior straight fiction of Vietnam, I'd highly recommend Michael Peterson's A Time of War

Susan Fromberg Schaeffer's Buffalo Afternoon tells the story of a young man's journey from his urban ethnic neighborhood to the jungles of Vietnam and back. Unlike many popular works of fiction about the era, this book does not solely concentrate on the "blood and guts" either during the war or afterwards. It also explores the hero's complex relationships with his wife, family, and other Vietnam Vets. The men who actually served are not the only victims of this war - the wife suffers the effects of her husband's PTSD, and later, when he finally connects to other veterans, has to tolerate homeless or drug addicted or just plain strange "brothers" invading her home at all hours of the day and night, eating the food, drinking the beer, and throwing things at the TV set when the news stories displease them. Required reading for all vets, all vets families, and all vets friends

If you get all soft and runny at the mere sound of the words "fashion" or "style," and these things have the significance of religious cultism in your life - then this is for you! Otherwise, yawn...yeah, sure...zzzz.

Incredible fuss and furor over nada, but if it fills the void, it's better than heroin.

Buffalo style was an influence that's finally now getting play in tons of fashion mags. Amazing photos and heartfelt descriptions of the man behind the look. If you're into fashion, it's important to keep this tome around as a reference.

For anyone who is interested in the use of healing herbs by Native Americans, or who is interested in herbs in general, this is the wrong book to read. It's full of misinformation of every kind, so much so that one wonders if the author's informants were pulling his leg. Plant misidentification, spelling errors, incorrect herbal information...it's all there. As a herbalist, my advice is that no one should use this book as a guide!

I found this book to be fascinating reading. It contains extremely interesting information about the Native American cultures & their uses of herbs. In this day and age when so many people are turning to alternative medicine I think anyone wishing to broaden their knowledge of herbs & their uses would not be disappointed in this book. The recipe section gives great uses for herbs in the kitchen. Also, if you want to look up an ailment & find the herbal remedy for it, it's right there. I found this to be an excellent book.

A new-age book that has nothing to do with the real study of the WAY... A book for the gullible and uninformed.

Once again Master Ni has provided a book which helps to guide one to thier true self. This book is another tool to bring one not to an awareness of external spiritual trappings, but to greater alligence to one's inner-self. Well worth the time. Use it for your cultivation.

This is an interesting book about William F. Cody, known popularly as Buffalo Bill, as told by himself. Hunter, guide, scout for the U.S. Army, and ultimately a showman, he tells about his adventures in a straight descriptive style. I found the first half of the book the most interesting, as he tells of his childhood and development. The many subsequent adventures are often fascinating. His various adventures and undertakings gradually take on a similarity from one chapter to the next, and the book gradually loses momentum. Cody expresses little if any sympathy about the massive buffalo killing that took place during his time, some for pure sport rather than for food gathering. Also, in the descriptions of his participation in wars against the American Indians, I found little if any sympathy for their situation. The book must be read with the knowledge that he was, after all, a hunter and army scout, in a century when nothing was going to stand in the way of the development and expansion of the country.

This book is a product of the "back to nature" Thoreau-inspired hippy movements of the 1970s. Purportedly it is jointly authored by a married couple, but the real narrative is the voice of a German born man who pesters "old Indians" because he wants to live according to their old time ways.

The author's first wife leaves him, probably because she gets fed up with his costly infatuation with the Indians. Or maybe she just gets just tired of hauling water and taking care of a bunch of kids on her own while he traipses around to powwows browsing for a second wife.

Anyway, he meets a Blackfeet woman who hastens his inclusion in reservation social life. Thank goodness. But before he becomes related to the tribe, the reader may be shocked by the naivete and gullibility with which he falls prey to every suggestion of elderly Indians, simply because of his strong desire to become one of them.

For instance, there is a scene, within the first 60 pages of the book, in which he visits three old people who live in a poverty-stricken shack on the edge of a junkyard. They seem to have nothing to do but sit on the edge of their mattresses and look forward to a lunch made of government commodities. Their water is hauled from a well outside which is perhaps tainted from the garbage around them.

He asks for their advice regarding how to give thanks in an "old Indian" way for the fact that his young son survived a long and worrisome drive to the hospital. They confer in the Blackfeet language (which he doesn't yet know) and decide that would be best for him to purchase a powerful old medicine bundle from one of them for many, MANY "horses."

He promptly decides to sell his wilderness cabin (where his wife and children are living and presumably awaiting his return). He will set aside his half of the sale-price to buy this holy and important medicine bundle. Next thing we know, his wife has split to the nearest town. And he is back to ask a young school teacher to share the medicine bundle duty with him. After this cruel initiation, the reader hopes that he becomes less gullible about acquiring Indian knowledge.

I think it's wonderful that he happened to fall in with the Blackfeet at about the time that interest in their own tribal ways was resurfacing. His questions probably helped the Blackfeet around him to become more aware of the importance of maintaining their unique culture.

Yet, this is NOT an authentic narrative. Buffalo days were long past, and the life and adventures depicted in this book are no more than historical re-enactment and sometimes wishful thinking.
For better and more authentic accounts of historic Blackfeet ways and culture, see books by James Willard Schultz.