Crazy Horse: Spirit of the Sioux

Danial Duda is an information services librarian in the Queen Elizabeth
II Library, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

These three works follow on the heels of Tony Hollihan’s biography of
Sitting Bull, the great Sioux leader who defeated George A. Custer at
the Little Big Horn in 1876.

Crazy Horse traces the life of a man who became one of the most
respected warriors in all of the plains tribes. Crazy Horse was Sitting
Bull’s military leader at the Little Big Horn. After the battle,
Sitting Bull moved his people across the Medicine Line (Canada–U.S.
border). Crazy Horse and his people stayed in their traditional homeland
in the Black Hills region (present-day South Dakota and Wyoming).
Eventually, he moved onto the reservation established by the American
government (Native leaders already on the reservation felt threatened by
his presence). Readers of this well-written biography will learn a great
deal of the history of the Sioux nation. The book includes a table of
contents, maps, photographs, illustrations, and a list of sources.

The two-volume Great Chiefs covers the lives of 12 Native leaders from
Canada and the United States. Volume 1 deals with Sitting Bull of the
Hunkpapa Sioux, Chief Joseph of the Wallowa Nez Perce, Quanah Parker of
the Quahadi Commanche, Red Cloud of the Oglala Sioux, Sequoyah of the
Cherokee, and Louis Riel of the Métis. Volume 2 covers Tecumseh of the
Kispoko Shawnee, Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux, Geronimo of the
Chiricahua Apache, Crowfoot of the Siksika Blackfoot, Plenty Coups of
the Mountain Crow, and Wovoka of the Northern Paiute. Each essay is a
brief biography of these men and what they did for their people. Each
volume includes a table of contents, illustrations, photographs, maps,
and a list of sources.