The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn - Nathaniel Philbrick

For The Last Stand (Penguin, $18), his study of the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn, Nathaniel Philbrick surveyed personal narratives and other historical documents. His compelling descriptions of the events leading up to and following the Battle show its significance as a decisive moment in the fate of American westward expansion into the frontier of the Great Plains. In telling this story, Philbrick, author of the acclaimed Mayflower and In the Heart of the Sea, also conveys the clash of personalities and the complex political forces at play among the Lakota, Cheyenne, U.S. Army, and government leaders. He finds George Custer ambitious to the point of recklessness, while Sitting Bull was both a spiritual leader and a savvy power broker..