Desperate to put the ravages of the Civil War behind him, Joel Ryan travels west. But he soon finds that the solituded he so desperately craves is not to be his. Early in his journey he rescues a beautiful Cheyenne princess, Mourning Dove, from Henri Larocaque, a renegade Canadian who had intended to sell her to an enemy tribe. Even as Joes frees her, she frees his heart from the sorrow that has darkened it-with love so strong it will cause her to defy her people. Banished from the Cheyenne tribe, they make their home on the vast plains and have a son. But their happiness is shattered when Larocque comes to take his revenge on Joel, killing Mourning Dove. Joel's tragic loss nearly destroys him and fills him with a need for vengeance so great it will shape his life forever. He sends his son back to the Cheyenne until he can find his wife's murderer and, years later, returns defeated. He reclaims his son, now a young brave, but feeling unequal to the task of raising him alone, sends east for a mail-order bride. What he gets is Sarah Joy McClinton and her two children, running from a man whose greed killed her husband. Each hopes that the match will result in at least mutual respect and friendship. But Sarah does not know that Joel will conquer her heart so completely that she would give her life to him...or willingly lose it to him...

Ms. Finley writes of the American Southwest in this tale of a young man searching for his true identity. His encounters and new friends will amaze and entertain you to the last page. The author is a native of the locals of the story and it is evident that she has researched her subject matter. Historical fiction at its best.

I have loved all the books about Tap and Pepper. I am exceptionally grateful that Mr. Bly did not leave them at the altar. A person could be forgiven believing in the Cinderella syndrome the way most authors leave their characters. Mr. Bly does an excellant portrait of women. It is the rare male author I read that does women well. Of the Western authors I have read, I have to go back to Zane Grey to get a satisfying heroine. Usually I want the shake the heroine or the author, but Pepper comes across as a brave, level-headed woman, in keeping with the times. I look forward to the next series.

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.

This 8" by 11" volume contains illustrations of drawings by two extremely talented artists who were among the Fort Marion prisoners from 1875-1878; Making Medicine, a 33 year old Cheyenne and Zotom, a 24 year old Kiowa. The drawings are a full page size and the colors are beautiful and intense. The drawings combined with the commentary by Joe and George Horse Capture provide wonderful insights into the history of these two native nations as well as a better understanding of the Indians' experiences at Fort Marion. It also provides further awareness of the factors that motivated Col. Pratt to establish the Indian school at Carlisle.

Cheyenne Autumn is a very educational book. I learned many new things about the Cheyenne and their way of life. It was so very disturbing for me to have to learn the actual hell these people were put through. I would have enjoyed this story much more if the author had not have introduced the characters in the novel before the story actually started. When the time came for a character to be introduced, I had already forgotten who they were. The only other major problem I found was that I was very confused with the transitions of paragraphs. This novel jumped between paragraphs quit frequently. I am the type of reader who prefers to know exactly what is going on and with who. When so many things are going on that I cannot comprehend them all and understand them completely, I get frustrated. This story takes a lot of time to read because you have to always be paying attention to every small detail. In order to read this book all of the way through, you have to want to read it and you have got to be patient. This is not the type of book someone should read because they have to. Read this book because you want to be educated on the Cheyenne and their way of life. If this is your desire in reading this book, then you will enjoy it very much.

I have tried to analyze how it is that Sandoz manages to take a story, the mere facts of which I have read many times, and make it so powerfully moving that you find it haunting you long after the book is finished. Besides her expert ability to write in the language of her subjects, she develops all characters to their fullest. We follow them through their every day lives, through their hopes and fears, and most of all through their relationships to each other, until we feel we have become a part of it all. When lives end, usually tragically, we not only feel the loss ourselves, but we grieve for the pain of those left behind. When I read Sandoz's biography of Crazy Horse, I felt each loss he felt, from the death of his brother, to the agony of the decision to bring his followers into the agency. In this book, when the Cheyenne died in their last stand, I felt as their survivors must have felt, both grieved at the loss, but proud that they had died fighting in the tradition of their people, Also, once again as with Crazy Horse, I felt, as no simple telling of the facts could get across, what a great mistake it was not to let these cultures survive, and how foolish and arrogant the whites were to spend lives, money and ammunition to keep a few hundred impoverished people from returning to their homeland.

Mari Sandoz, one of the greatest American writers, amazed me once again in Cheyenne Autumn. A heartbreaking story of injustice and cruelty, Sandoz brings out the heart of the people through vivid imagery and insights that will make you feel you are on the trail with the Cheyenne.

Sandoz sees through the heart, and in this remarkable book takes the reader back in time. The book does not simply recount a tragic story, but rather reveals a people's life and their struggle to regain it. I highly recommend this book to anyone concerned with the human condition.

After sending his famous message to Benteen, "Big Village, Come Quick, Bring Packs," Custer and his men vanish from U. S. Army history. What happened thereafter was witnessed mainly by Custer's foes in the battle. Although huge numbers of Indian accounts have been collected in the roughly 125 years since Little Bighorn, historians have generally thrown up their hands at the gross contradictions, inconsistencies, confabulations and impossibilities found in the Indian accounts.

What Michno has done is to go through the published and unpublished accounts available, and fit them into a framework of time and space that actually turns out to make a fairly consistent picture of Custer's last battle. As several other reviewers have noted, there is a large piece missing from Michno's material, namely the accounts of the Indian scouts riding with the 7th Cavalry. It is very puzzling that this resource was ignored. However, that is the only real problem I found with the book. Michno uses the Indian accounts to explode a fairly large number of myths about the battle and its participants, particuarly Gall, Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. He also winds up with the only really convincing version I have read of the disposition and movements of Custer's men during the various stages leading up to the classic hilltop "Last Stand."

In the past 50 years academic historians have largely retreated completely from any desire to find out or recount what "actually" happened in any historical event. Instead, the event is used only as the thinnest of pretexts to grind various ideological axes. Custer's defeat was being used in this way almost the second Libby Custer died, more than 70 years ago. So it's doubly refreshing to find a history book where the facts are still the focus of concern.

This book is not, and is not intended to be, a complete account of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. It is best read as a companion to other standard works on the battle, such as Gray's.

Michno's work is a good effort to place the participants of the Little Big Horn on the battle field within a realistic time frame. The time-motion idea, used by Michno in Lakota Noon, was used by John Gray in Custer's Last Campaign, (another useful book on the battle). The work is an interesting read.

Michno makes a valiant effort to de-bunk a number of long-standing myths about the Little Big Horn battle; his theories are well developed and credible. They may or may not be correct, but his ideas are as valid as any forwarded yet.

There were three minor problems with this text. First, the work could have (and should have) drawn upon the testimony of the Crow participants in the battle, particularly Curley. Curley's claim that some troops (probably Companies E and F) actually made it to the mouth of Medicine Tail Coulee is is direct conflict with Michno's beliefs and he should have made an effort to acknowledge or refute this claim. Second, all of the recent writers about the Little Big Horn, including Fox, Michno, and a host of others, seem to be unable to agree as to what to call the various ravines, coulees, ridges, etc. Some unified effort needs to be made to standardize names, e.g., Luce Ridge by Michno should be the same as Luce Ridge by the Park Service. Third, all the recent writers seem to enjoy taking mean-spirited pot shots at each other's ideas. I realize that a healty discussion is important and its necessary to acknowledge differences and inconsistencies, but it should be done in a civilized and professional manner.

This fine book stands with the few really well thought out accounts of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. The Herculean task of trying to make sense of all the Indian testimony is done very well here. Michno's discussions at the end of each section helps point out what is plausible and what is not. Michno does not simply swallow as absolutely true all the Indian testimony (Indians could exaggerate and distort as well as Marcus Reno and Benteen could). The importance of this book is twofold in my opinion. It discredits (and rightly so) much of what Richard A. Fox claims in his archaeological study of battlefield shell casings, and it claims the fighting at Last Stand Hill went on a lot longer than the testimony at Reno's court of inquiry admitted. Obviously this has huge implications for Reno and Benteen, who, if true, were hardly blameless for the debacle, to put it kindly. See Lary Sklenar's analysis in "To Hell with Honor" to explore this aspect of the controversy. Just what did they see at Weir Point if Michno's theory is correct? One can only wonder. Highly recommended.

The legend of John Stranger, preacher and gunhawk, continues in this second book of the Journeys of the Stranger series. True to his writing style, Al Lacy moves the reader from one heart-pounding situation to the next, weaving the romantic tale of John Stranger and Breanna Baylor into a series of gunfights, fistfights, and hostage situations. Though this novel includes a few premature medical procedures (the Heimlich maneuver used in the post Civil War era?!?), the action-packed writing and achingly ill-fated romance keeps the reader hooked. A great read for those who choose to enjoy their westerns served "straight up", without the seemingly obligatory swear words and sex scenes.

This is the first Al Lacy book I've gotten my hands on & I'm hooked! The story was a little hard to follow at first because of all the character stories getting linked to the stranger. I wanted to read all of Al Lacy's series in the order they were published, but I'll take them as I have access to them. I'm just sorry I can't afford to buy them all!

I just loved reading this book. I have many books by Al Lacy and he is a great writer. He really knows how to send messages and to get the message across. All of the books I have read have kept my attention. I read pretty fast and I am normally done with one of your books with in the hour. I read all of the books over and over again. I just wanted to tell you that God has blessed you with a talent and you are using it in the way I would think He would like. I am reviewing this book and I just want to say that this book is one of the best books I have ever read. I love it.

Monnet's book is fine, as is Stan Hoig's, which is also mentioned below. But it's especially good to see Mari Sandoz treated with respect by the other reviewers. Although not an academic researcher, her work will be read for the next century and beyond for its beauty and honesty. She was among the first to consider Native Americans as fully formed human beings, and she was doing so in the 1930s-1950s; we're all in her debt.

Another fine book on the Cheyenne walk home is Alan Boye's fine memoir, "Holding Stone Hands." Boye walked the length of the Cheyenne trail, or as close to it as anyone could in 1998. He was accompanied much of the way by an alternating group of descendants of the survivors. His book is so good that when he arrives in Fort Robinson, you will be with him when he is greeted by Cheyenne men, women and children who have been waiting for him. Later, you'll go with him to the massacre site where the current owners, local ranchers, leave him to walk alone.

Don't miss "Holding Stone Hands."

"Tell Them We Are Going Home: The Odyssey of the Northern Cheyennes" is a solid account of the 1878 attempted exodus of about 300 Northern Cheyenne men, women and children from a reservation in the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) to their traditional homeland in the Northern Plains. The Government ordered the US Army to stop the refugees. Although author John Monnett's sympathies are openly with the Indians, he presents a balanced picture of events, recognizing that the soldiers sent in pursuit were basically men doing their duty to the best of their ability, not stereotypical villains as too often portrayed in popular media in the past few decades. Monnett also does not ignore the killing of civilian ranchers and farmers nor the rape of white women carried out by some of the young Cheyenne warriors during their trek across Kansas. In attempting to understand the motivation behind such acts, Monnett explores the traditional explanation that it was largely revenge for the killing of a group of Southern Cheyennes in the same area a few years before (this view was stressed by Mari Sandoz in her "Cheyenne Autumn" book) and casts considerable doubt on the notion. At times, Monnett veers into academic jargon (we are told that "Little Wolf died in his beloved Tongue River country, albeit reimagined according to the Euro-American vision of geographical borders") and he perhaps tries too hard to give the events great symbolic significance ("The Indians who fell in the terrible pit on Antelope Creek symbolize displaced peoples everywhere whose sense of home and desire for independence transcends the love of life"), but his book nonetheless is a readable, quite detailed narrative which ultimately remains true to the author's intent of being fair to all involved.

Inevitably, Monnet's "Tell Them We Are Going Home" must be compared to Stan Hoig's recently published "Perilous Pursuit: The U.S. Cavalry and the Northern Cheyennes" about these same events. If asked to recommend one over the other, my inclination would be to say, "Read both." Monnett and Hoig's views of the Cheyennes and their Army pursuers are much the same. Monnett's narrative perhaps contains more small details of individual experiences for a vivid story, but Hoig's book probably provides a somewhat more comprehensive picture of military operations. Neither book, unfortunately, has sufficient maps to fully follow events easily, but both contain numerous photographs of participants and locations of interest. Comparison might also be made to Mari Sandoz's "Cheyenne Autumn." However lyrically written Sandoz's book is, it cannot stand along Monnett's work (nor that of Hoig) as a reliable account of events. "Cheyenne Autumn" so closely identifies with the Indians that the white side of the story is not only inadequately presented but also distorted into almost cartoon villainy at times. "Cheyenne Autumn" is a pleasure to read, but it should not be mistaken for real history. Interestingly, in his text Monnett refers to Sandoz's book as a "novel".

To my knowledge this is the first comprehensive work on the Cheyennes trek north since Mari Sandoz's often controversial "Cheyenne Autumn." In acknowledging this in his introduction, John H. Monnett, in line with some other historians, terms Sandoz's work a novel. While I would characterize her work more as, what is now known as, creative non-fiction, I agree with Monnett when he states that "[s]uch passion often evokes intense dedication to a specific viewpoint at the dismissal of others..." (xvi)

In this book, Monnett has provided a more 'well-rounded" but only slightly less moving depiction of the Cheyennes struggle to return to their homeland. And to his credit, unlike many modern historians, he does not dismiss Sandoz's work out of hand. Indeed, anyone handling this subject would be foolish to overlook her extensive and meticulous research, much of which is based on records and oral histories no longer available. However, also included in his many sources are researchers like George Bird Grinnell (who is famous for his interviews of the Cheyennes and preserving their oral history), and more recent work by John D. McDermott who apparently turned over all of the research he was originally planning to use for a work of his own on the subject. Also, enjoyable for those of us who like following up on sources, Monnett is one of the few who are now beginning to list Internet sites in their bibliographies.

While presenting all facts in a straight forward manor, it would be difficult to call this work even handed. Indeed, I defy anyone to research this subject in depth and not come away with a strong sympathy for the Cheyennes and their cause. However, Monnett also is careful to include extensive information on the attacks by the young Cheyennes men on Kansas settlers.

If I have one criticism of this work however, it would be Monetts 'in-depth" analasys of these "depredations", and the need to somehow justify them to modern readers. This was the way American Indians fought. It was part of their culture, and, as such, it requires no justification. They did not keep standing armies who were considered the only fair game in battle, and, to the young men, at least, who faced diminishing opportunities to prove themselves as warriors, anyone encroaching on their old hunting grounds was an enemy, who had no right to be there. It is actually more amazing, as Monnett clearly points out, that the leaders, Little Wolf and Dull Knife, had the political savvy to try to discourage such raids, knowing that it would turn popular opinion against them--as it sometimes did.

This,however, is only a minor point in a work that deserves much praise. Anyone interested in Native American history, or indeed, American history in general should read this. However, I would still recommend "Cheyenne Autumn," in that it complements Monnett's work by presenting more in the way of Native culture, and being one of the first books to "humanize" the subject.