Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for History In this magisterial biography, T. J. Stiles paints a portrait of Custer both deeply personal and sweeping in scope, proving how much of Custer's legacy has been ignored. He demolishes Custer's historical caricature, revealing a capable yet insecure man, intelligent yet bigoted, passionate yet self-destructive, a romantic individualist at odds with the institution of the military (court-martialed twice in six years) and the new corporate economy, a wartime emancipator who rejected racial equality. Stiles argues that, although Custer was justly noted for his exploits on the western frontier, he also played a central role as both a wide-ranging participant and polarizing public figure in his extraordinary, transformational time--a time of civil war, emancipation, brutality toward Native Americans, and, finally, the Industrial Revolution--even as he became one of its casualties. Intimate, dramatic, and provocative, this biography captures the larger story of the changing nation. It casts surprising new light on one of the best-known figures of American history, a subject of seemingly endless fascination.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
ISBN-10
0307475948
ISBN-13
9780307475947
eBay Product ID (ePID)
235563129
Product Key Features
Book Title
Custer's Trials : Alife on the Frontier of a New America
Author
T. J. Stiles
Format
Trade Paperback
Language
English
Topic
United States / 19th Century, United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877), Ethnic Studies / Native American Studies, United States / State & Local / West (Ak, CA, Co, Hi, Id, Mt, Nv, Ut, WY), Historical, Military, Native American
Publication Year
2016
Genre
Biography & Autobiography, History, Social Science