After Custer Loss and transformation in Sioux country

In this thoughtful narrative, award-winning author Hedren (retired National Park Service superintendent) moves beyond existing studies of the 1876-77 Great Sioux War to examine the fundamental changes that followed that conflict on the northern plains. Here, the analysis builds on Robert Utley's The Lance and the Shield (CH, Dec'93, 31-2314) and encourages readers to move away from seeing the region as Indian Country and toward viewing it as part of US national expansion. To do this, Hedren shows how once the Indians had moved onto reservations, the government worked to open the plains for development. While the author discusses federal efforts, those of the US Army, and the resulting construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad, he hesitates to link them to debates about either colonialism or Manifest Destiny. Rather, he emphasizes the often-unplanned settlement of the area by cattlemen. Yet the growth of large-scale ranching depended on the slaughter of the buffalo herds, hardly random activity. The clearly written prose combines a wealth of primary evidence and the author's obvious familiarity with the latest scholarship about settling the northern plains. Summing Up: Recommended. Most levels/libraries. R. L. Nichols University of Arizona

Hedren, a retired National Park Service superintendent, presents what is effectively his life's work in this historical-geographic analysis of the Black Hills region after the watershed 1876 Battle of the Little Big Horn, which gave an astounding yet momentary victory to the Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne in the epic struggle for their homelands in the Northern Plains. If this is read with Hedren's Great Sioux War Orders of Battle: How the United States Army Waged War on the Northern Plains, 1876-1877, readers will come away with a full account of the Great Sioux War that encompasses not only the military history, but an assessment of the cultural consequences of the war for the Sioux and Cheyenne, the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and the destruction of the last of the immense buffalo herds, which directly enabled the "Beef Bonanza" ranching empires to grow. Military historians will appreciate Hedren's attention to the memorialization of the Little Bighorn Battlefield and the role of the army after the actual fighting ended. VERDICT Strongly recommended for academic and general readers seeking a balanced, authoritative perspective on the aftermath of the Great Sioux War.-Nathan E. Bender, Albany Cty. P.L., Laramie, WY (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.