Red Cloud: Warrior-Statesman of the Lakota Sioux (The Oklahoma Western Biographies)
Opponents of the "Warrior-Statesman of the Lakota Sioux" (as the subtitle dubs him) criticized Red Cloud (1822-1909) as duplicitous. In Robert Larson's sympathetic appraisal, Red Cloud's deliberate deceptiveness was part of a delaying tactic to sustain Lakota culture in an increasingly hostile environment.  Eventually concluding that the white invaders could not be stopped,  the fierce fighter became a wily negotiator who wrung some concessions from the U.S. government as he presided over his people's transition from nomadism to reservation life. It's a sad story,  told with sensitive awareness of history's painful ambiguities.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.