My West Coast education offered little in the way of detail on the American Indian Wars. If memory serves, I was offered vague notes on the reservation system and a line or two about Little Big Horn. Native American figures like Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull were not part of the curriculum.

Needless to say, I came to Gardner's work a blank slate and was grateful to discover it so accessible. I'd worried my lack of familiarity with the tribes and the military units they encountered would prove a hindrance, but I found Gardner's work easy to follow and enlightening.

In preparation for a momentous trip out west to visit many of the sites involving Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull I read as many books as possible on the subject. This book was a surprise review copy I got just before departing Florida. It is fitting I finished reading it just as I was about to exit South Dakota and head for the wooded plains of Minnesota and northern Michigan for personal reasons. On this trip with my wife of almost forty years we visited, in conjunction with my Lakota Sioux study, the states of Nebraska and South Dakota including points of interest that numbered Fort Robinson, The Black Hills, Wounded Knee, and The Badlands. I have written quite extensively in my blog about the pertinent places pertaining to these men. As I write this review from my trailer parked in the Left Trailrace Campground in Fort Thompson I still feel pangs of sadness and shame associated with our side trip to Wounded Knee, the very last place we visited associated with this book.

Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse are both American heroes to me. These two brave men held out, never signing any treaties, and never wanting anything less than their people to continue on with their sacred way of life on the lands they had always hunted on. Of course, that did not happen, and both men were hideously assassinated and abused after they surrendered. Mark Lee Gardner provided much of the same information I had already covered in my prior reading and his words were in agreement with everything I had come to believe as the truth regarding the history of these two leaders. But Gardner added a few more details and both men became more alive to me in his retelling. Walking the same grounds in which Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull both fought and lived was an experience my wife and I will never forget. Adding to this rich experience were the many buffalo now roaming free-ranged and rightfully restored to their native land. Seeing the buffalo up close was heartwarming and exhilarating to witness firsthand.

I do not think my wife and I will ever get over the injustices, not to mention the political and monetary greed, used against these two great leaders. But their heroic acts and genuine care and compassion for their own people will forever be written upon us. This was an honest book, well-written, and one all of us should read.

This is an excelled dual biography of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. It covers their early upbringing and the experiences that led to their names and concludes with their deaths. Neither died a peaceful death due to the prevailing cultural attitudes at the time. Contained within the biographies is a clear description of the successes and gradual decline of the Sioux Nation. This is an excellent book for those interested in learning more about the two main individuals and what happened to the Sioux.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Facebook and my nonfiction book review blog.

I'm sure that many people will enjoy this book, and that the author did a great deal of research, but it didn't match well with my preferences. For me, it was too much of a military history with a "You Are There" kind of feel. I wasn't interested in page after page of blow by blow (literally) accounts of battles, or in which and how bodies were mutilated. I was hoping for more focus on the bigger issues.

Thanks to Mariner Books and NetGalley for the advance copy.

My thanks to both NetGalley and Mariner Books for an advanced copy of this Native American biography and history.

The story of America is one of hardship, deception, self- deception, lies damned lies and omission. History is not only written by the winner, but by the group that controls the narrative, a battle that is currently taking place in our libraries, and in our media. The voice of non- whites throughout history, as been ignored or maligned, though without non- white who would have picked the cotton, or watched the children of plantation owners, built the railroads before being excluded, or in the case of the people in this book, the noble savage, whose land was stolen away. Books telling their story is the least we owe any of these groups, and having a very good writer like Mark Lee Gardner is a very good thing. The Earth Is All That Lasts: Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and the Last Stand of the Great Sioux Nation is a dual biography of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, warrior and mystic and their fight to keep their way of life against the inevitable.

The book begins with the many promises made by the United States Government, promises that since so many tribes had different languages and different sets of values, probably made no sense to either side that "signed" treaties. Promises lasted until people came for grazing land, or that wonderful rock that drives white men to fever gold. From there the book goes to the childhood of both men, following both as they are born, and ascend in both power and respect. Both Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were brave, not only in battle, but for what they thought was right, no matter who got was upset. They were leaders to their people in different ways, but in the end even their greatest victories would lead them and their people to a sad fate, and leave both men to die not on the plains, but in captivity.

The book is very well- written and extremely well- sourced. Sadly this does not happen in many of the history books that come out, usually written by reporters who it seems have forgotten how to source a story. If something is written in this book, there is a note telling you where it was from. If two stories contradict each other, Mr. Garndner will print both, and explain in the notes. The writing in powerful, and draining in some places, the reader knows how the story ends for both men and their people, and yet the reader hopes and hopes that somehow it will be different. The general history and the history of the tribes is well done, and very informative.

Highly recommended for history buffs and people who don't want to forget the stories of the people who truly make up the fabric of America. A very good book that will be a great gift for Father's day or for a library or two just to make sure people can read them. There are no heroes in this book, everyone well mostly everyone did horrible things in the name of their people, but this is still an important tale that needs to be told.

Very informative a lot of information on the Wild West and Indian Chiefs. I would rate this really 4.5 stars excellent read.

An excellent look into the life and times of two of the greatest Indian chiefs of the Wild West. Their stories are inspirational and moving. A truly good read!

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Ever since Dee Brown's Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee, history told from the point of Native Americans has become more popular and widely written. A new addition to our understanding of Washington's effect on the people who had already been forced to move to the American West and Midwest, this book is a sad tale, but one that places Native resistance to whites in the prominent place it deserves.

Pair with The Earth is Weeping by Peter Cozzens.

A story of betrayal and unimaginable circumstances. Thats my opinion of what happened to the tribes that had the misfortune of finding The Great Father in Washington has them in his sights. After reading this I had a new appreciation of how the Tribes were treated and how their culture was destroyed and lives ruined. The extent of their culture and its complete abiltiy to live and thrive in nature are rarely discussed .This book gives an explanation of their move from the east to the plains. The Lakota or Sioux as they were called had a long history in the woodlands of Minnesota and the neighboring areas, They were a stron group of tribes that moved rather than be taken captive. They held out as long as possible as disaster after disaster took their ability to move freely and live their way of life. Mr Gardner explains the feelings the indigenous people had for the earth and the nature of their tribal ways. This story has to be told and learned.