The Custer Reader

By Paul Andrew Hutton

Book Overview

"Interest in the career of George Armstrong Custer has been unflagging since his death in battle near the Little Bighorn River in 1876, and books and articles about him have flowed steadily. It is time, then, that a diligent scholar and able editor should seek out the best that has been written by and about Custer, both by contemporaries and modern scholars, and package it for those who thrive on Custeriana as well as for those who would simply like to know more about him. Mr. Hutton has done a fine job of presenting both the man and the many myths that have grown up around the boy general of the Civil War and the colorful Indian fighter of the plains."-Washington Times"[These] well-illustrated pages contain just about everything you'd want to know about the impetuous, courageous but not overly clever [Custer]. . . . Some of the most gripping reports are those of officers who actually participated in the fatal expedition and its maneuvers in the Black Hills of Dakota Territory. The Indians get their word in, too, most notably a grisly account of the 1876 battle by an eighty-year-old Cheyenne woman named Kate Bighead. . . . Certainly the dashing, war-loving Long Hair-which is what the Indians called their implacable enemy-never seemed more vivid a figure than in this unusual anthology."-Parade Magazine"Very seldom is a book a pure joy to read; The Custer Reader is such a book. It offers standard texts and fresh insights about the United States' most famous-and most maligned-military figure."-True West."May well become the definitive book on this mythical and thoroughly controversial figure."-AB Bookman Weekly.Paul Andrew Hutton, the editor, is an associate professor of history at the University of New Mexico. His books include the prize-winning Phil Sheridan and His Army (Nebraska, 1985).

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803272421
• ISBN13: 9780803272422
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Length: 585 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.3" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

The Custer Reader

I recommend this book for anyone that is interested in the life of General George Armstrong Custer. I found this book to be the most insightful reporting of his life before, during and after the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25,1876. As always anything written by two of the greatest western and Custer historians of all time, the articles by Mr. Utley and Mr. Hutton are excellent. Because of number of articles written by so many authors you get a different outlook on what Custer's life was like during and after the Civil War. I own and have read upwards of forty books and articles on Custer, having started when I was a youngster and I was greatly suprised to find this book later in my life. I don't know how it slipped by in my Custermania. If there was only one book I could say offered a little bit of everything in Custer's life this is it. People tend to forget what a great Civil War hero he was and dwell on his great defeat in Montana that fateful day.

Wonderfully eclectic

I am fairly baffled by the negative review below. This book is a great collection of materials -- both primary (19th c.) and secondary (20th c.) -- covering the whole of Custer's life. It's not a comprehensive argument, but a collection of reprints, but many of the things here are hard to find elsewhere. If you have an interest in Custer or the Indian Wars, this is a terrific resource, not only for learning the history but for understanding the mythologies that have come out of it. If there's a fault in the book it is that it could be revised with an expanded edition to include new material. How about it, Professor Hutton? A second edition? Please!

A Great Collection of Custer Material: A Truely Fun Read

This book is unique in that it provides essays on the numerous facets of Custer's life not only by the participants that knew him but from Custer himself including notable historians that know Custer best. It also covers fascinating facts such as Custer's First Stand at Trevillian Station, a Civil War Battle where Custer was surrounded by Confederate Calavary. Hutton, himself a notable Western Historian, is one of a number of well written essays on the Custer Myth including a critical look at how movies and art portrayed Custer over the years representing the pathos of the nation at that time. The change of view from Erol Flynn's "They Died with Their Boots On" to Richard Mulligan's portrayal in "Little Bighorn" takes a well versed explanation. One of my favorite parts of the book is an essay by Hutton where he explains why in movie director John Ford's "Fort Apache" version of Custer's last stand, John Wayne's character Captain York praises the gallant loss of Colonel Thursday (Custer,) who he actually hated, because York "realized that society understands little of the true motivation of heroes but still needs to idealize them as figures to emulate". This is just not an interesting read but a reflection of how changes in society change perceptions of men and history. By the way, its a fun read!