Whatever else George Armstrong Custer may or may not have
been, even in the twenty-first century, he remains the great lightning rod of
American history. For almost one hundred
and fifty years, Custer has been a Rorschach test of American social and
personal values. Since his death along
the bluffs overlooking the Little Bighorn River, in Montana, on June 25, 1876,
over five hundred books have been written about the life and career of George
Armstrong Custer, this book ranks among the worst.
To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, the
book is both good and original. Unfortunately, the parts that are good are not
original, and the parts that are original are not good.
The good parts involve the author’s heavy use
of secondary sources such as the writings of Robert Utley, and James Donovan
when actually talking about Custer’s career.
The original parts, including the author’s peculiar decision to
virtually ignore the Battle of the Little Big Horn while spending page after
page on Custer’s finances, are very bad indeed.
The author meanders tediously
through 19th century American politics, finance, and racial affairs, writing in
a self- indulgent, turgid academic style.
Stiles can simply not forgive Custer, his wife Elizabeth, or the people
of 19th century America, for being, well…19th century Americans, living in the
19th century and having 19th century attitudes toward race, feminism,
sexuality, and nationalism.
These people
should obviously have had the foresight to have been born in the enlightened
21st century.
If you like your history with
heavy, self-righteous lashings of 21st century political correctness, you will
love this book.
If not, you may wish to
spare yourself this pompous lecturing.
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