The Journey Of Crazy Horse: A Lakota History (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
You read or hear about Gen. George Custer and think, "oh I know all about Little Big Horn, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse" but upon reflection you realize you do not know a damn thing about the Native American side of things...and then you go and do something about that.Joseph M. Marshall IIIThe name doesn't sound very "Native American," but Marshall is about as close as you'll get these days. According to his Wiki page he speaks Lakota and "can craft a Lakota bow in the traditional style. He was on the founding board of the tribal college, Sinte Gleska University, on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. Joseph is an enrolled member of the Sicangu Lakota of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. Joseph grew up in Horse Creek Community near White River (Maka Izita Wakpa, Smoking Earth River) on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota."He is Lakota. He studies and teaches the Lakota ways and history. What better person to tell you about one of the Lakota's greatest heroic figures of all time?Marshall's The Journey of Crazy Horse gives the reader more of an insight into the true daily life of this northern plains tribe than most depictions of Native Americans often receive. How do we know this is true? Granted, much of this is taken from oral history, since written accounts of Crazy Horse have mainly been from whites, soldiers, boastful victors and the sour defeated (funny how the US Army named their loses as "massacres" back then, isn't it? Makes it sound like they were blind-sided in a unfair fight). I'm on the side of Native Americans and their gripes about the Europeans that took their lands. If there's anyone in America with the right to complain about illegal aliens it's these guys. However, I'm not a fan of whiny losers. You fought, you lost, the victor gets your shit. That's the way war works. Were the Americans underhanded in their dealings with the Native Americans? Hell yes. Did the Romans treat the Celts kindly or did they hunt down their leaders and holy men and stamp out their culture? Did one tribe wipe out another? When they had the chance. It's the way of conquerors. Much of human history is about war. Just think about what gets recorded and retaught, the battles or the times when blood-shed was avoided? History bluffs are more apt to read/write about the strategies at Waterloo rather than poring over the notes and lab hours of Louis Pasteur. To this point, we've been a war-like people. Expect it. Don't be surprised and shocked by its disgusting ways when it shows up upon your doorstep. My point is, I have a low threshold for listening to or reading "woe is us" laments from the losing side. Genocide of a peaceful people is one thing. They can righteously complain all they want and have my heart and ear the whole way through. But a people that pride themselves upon their fighting prowess, and the Lakota certainly did, get a little less sympathy from me. So, with that rather long harangue in mind, I'm happy to say Marshall's The Journey of Crazy Horse does not go overboard with the laments. Yes, there is sorrow for the tribe and hatred for the whites, which I suppose some with a lower threshold for complaints might balk at, but I didn't have a problem with it. I've seen worse. (From a '70s anti-pollution campaign. Which bothers me, because the Native Americans were some of the worst polluters. Look into the heaping midden piles they left behind. Again, I'm on their side. I'm glad there are anti-pollution campaigns, but let's have some perspective...and less misguided melodrama, please.)As far as biographies go, this sets a good tone and pace, and it's the perfect length. I sensed that creeping feeling of boredom I get with a book that's pushing it's interest-limits coming along just as it ended. It's a tough subject to tackle. It's so much easier to research written histories from a people long-versed in writing things down. The Lakota were not that kind of people. However, they did have a long and rich oral history from which Marshall has crafted a fine biography upon a figure that would be intriguing no matter what people Crazy Horse came from.
This story is told, with the exception of a few explanatory passages, entirely in the Lakota voice. "Surely, if enough white men are killed, they will go away" is not followed by "but of course, this was not to be the case." Only the first sentence is there. The reader must then insert the second one himself. It makes for a different narrative than, say, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, which I also enjoyed. Indeed you will find the same people in both: Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, Spotted Tail, Sitting Bull. This time, however, you are given the life of Crazy Horse from birth to death, with the other names coming in to help explain his story. This is not the story of Native Americans or even the Lakota tribe. It is the story of an ordinary man, in many respects, who took it upon himself to save an entire tribe (and fail).Through it, though, and especially having read Bury My Heart, you will get the story of the white/American push westward, and what bastards they were. It's the one period in our history when I will root against the US Army. It does not sugarcoat or haze the lens when looking at either side. The book notes matter-of-factly that at one time, Crazy Horse set out to kill every single white person he came across: soldiers, miners, and their families. You also see the Lakotah repeatedly attack the Crow and other people who should have, in the face of this epoch-ending threat, become allies. The Army, which has been painted as the bad guys before, is largely painted as bad guys again. Crazy Horse adapted the Army's method of total war at the time: Don't just kill the warriors, kill their wives, children, and parents. He saw it as the only way, eventually, to rid the land of the invaders, and that the Lakotah way of fighting warrior-to-warrior, and then letting your skills and merits decide the outcome and "defeat" the enemy, did not work. Attacking and then letting the remaining force retreat did not mark you as a great man, it marked you as weak (as he saw it). You had to exterminate.I also saw in Lakotah culture that warriors, or those who wish to be considered warriors, are the same everywhere. One can easily draw parallels to American urban gangs throughout history, or smaller fighting forces, especially insurgents, globally. This is not to ascribe value or blame to any of them, just noting the similarities.
What do You think about The Journey Of Crazy Horse: A Lakota History (2005)?
This book tells the story of one of the most mythical participants in the battle between the aboriginal peoples of the North American continent and the white people that sought to take their lands. That said, it is told from the native perspective from an oral tradition indicative to Crazy Horse's own people. The reader will not only gain insights to the culture in which he was raised but insight into the man himself.This book offers a new perspective about Crazy Horse. It will provide the reader with a bigger picture of events as well as the players in those events. If you have studied Native American history at all you must read this book. Scotty Cameron
—Scotty Cameron
Interesting book on the life and times of Crazy Horse. Well written and very insightful into who Crazy Horse was, and what drove him as an individual and a leader of the Lakota. I also read "Crazy Horse and Custer" by Stephen Ambrose which contained much of the same material. This book showed a slightly different perspective on Crazy Horse, since it was written by a Lakota. The books gives you a good idea of what life was like for Crazy Horse and all the Lakotas living at that time, and trying to deal with the westward expansion of the white man, and how it changed their way of life.
—Robert Melnyk
I actually began reading this book (hardcover ed.) in 2006 and got through his childhood. Unfortunately, this was about the time that reading started to get more difficult for me and I never finished it. Recently, I purchased the audiobook edition and was able to finished his story. Anyone whose read "Moonwalking with Einstein" (hint, hint) will know that oral history was about the only means in which you might learn of stories like this one until the invention of the printing press, and even then you'd be out of luck since most people couldn't read. The art of the oral tradition has been mostly lost to us white folk, but for the native americans, it's only been about 4 generations since this was their primary way of teaching their children about people like His Crazy Hoarse (CH). During his time, us white folk mostly scoffed at oral tradition as an inaccurate means of keeping history; were in fact, for those who are skilled in the art, it can be a very accurate means of doing so. While words may change from telling to telling, the important details remain accurate. Luckily for us, this art hasn't been completely lost within the ranks of the Lakota.The fate of the hunter gatherer, when encountering a land owning culture like our own, is almost always the same. The only exception might be the desert bedouin who roams lands that no one else wants. Otherwise, the hunter gatherer culture such as the Lakota's will almost always have to capitulate (this still occurs today; Mongolia for example). CH and his followers were one of the last of the Lakota to come to that realization. I sympathize with CH and his desire to maintain his way of life. Wouldn't many of us try to do the same. Throughout our history we have done exactly that; for CH, it was no different. Joseph Marshall gives a very human account of the life of CH. The book also serves as a great source for anyone who might want to know what life was like for the Lakota in the 1860's and 70's. If you ever wanted to read just one book about the native american way of life, this wouldn't be a bad choice. That is the main reason why it got 5 stars from me. The author makes a fair attempt at showing CH as being human. I think he often predisposes himself to show the Lakota as having the moral high ground; but then, maybe it's time that some of the books our kids read tell the story from their perspective. Until recently, there haven't been too many books that did so. Most tried to demonize either the native americans, or the intrusive white man. This book, at least, tries to just tell the story of one man.A good book and I highly recommend it.
—Scott
