The Intern Reading List

I just wanted to share with you a few of the books that Kiley, Andrew and I have been reading here at the Little Bighorn. Hopefully, they will be useful for you as well. We sell all but one of these books in the museum.


Counting Coup: Becoming a Crow Chief on the Reservation and Beyond - Joseph Medicine Crow.
All three interns have read this one. It’s a great book not only because it depicts the life of Joe Medicine Crow, but it describes his assent to chiefdom, the Crow way of life, and Crow heritage.


In His Brother’s Shadow: The Life of Thomas Ward Custer - Roy Bird.
I am reading this one. I brought this book from my home in Kansas, where Mr. Bird resides and writes. It’s nice to get a glimpse at the other brother, who was just as accomplished a soldier as his famous sibling.


The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn - Nathaniel Philbrick.
This is the newest addition to the museum, and a book that Kiley is working through right now. This is a large, 417 page comprehensive work that is the newest literature on the battle. We also sell this book on audio CD too. Here is the a link to the New York Times review: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/04/books/04book.html?scp=1&sq=%22The%20Last%20Stand%22%20%22Kakutani%22&st=cse


Tatanka-Iyotanka: A Biography of Sitting Bull - Michael Crummet.
This is a relatively brief, comprehensive background on Sitting Bull’s life. All three of the interns have read this one.

George Armstrong Custer: A Biography - Mark L. Gardner.
Like the Sitting Bull biography, this small book is a good read for someone needing a detailed, yet brief account of Custer’s life and times. All three interns have read this book as well.

Custer’s Fall: The Native American Side of the Story - David Humphreys Miller.
This work is one of our best sellers. It is a book compiled of 72 Native American first-hand accounts of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Kiley has just started this book.


The Girl He Left Behind: The Life and Times of Libbie Custer - Suzanne Middendorf Arruda.
I just completed this book. It’s a work on Libbie Custer’s life and times, mainly detailing her years spent on the plains with Custer.

My Life on the Plains: Or, Personal Experiences with Indians- General George Armstrong Custer.
Andy has just started Custer’s book. The book is compiled of Custer’s newspaper articles accounting his newly reorganized 7th Cavalry and their operation on the frontier between 1867-1869.