Crazy Horse: A Lakota Life (The Civilization of the American Indian Series)
Although Crazy Horse has been a favorite subject for decades, many key aspects of his short life have remained enigmatic. In this extensively documented account, Bray utilizes a diverse array of primary sources, including contemporary Indian agent reports, personal military diaries, annual reports of the U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and surprisingly detailed oral histories recorded in interviews with Crazy Horse's contemporaries nearly 50 years after his death. Bray documents not only the chief's well-known battles but also some of the more personal elements of his life, including his mother's suicide, his marriages, his visions, and his initiation into the Strong Hearts, a Lakota isolationist group that eschewed all contact with Americans. Crazy Horse's belief in the importance of the Black Hills to Lakota survival eventually leads him on the path to the Little Bighorn in June 1876, and to his death a year later. Bray's account not only traces the major steps taken by this remarkable chief, but also places them within the context of Lakota culture, past and present.Deborah DonovanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved