Not sure how I missed this when it released in October, but I’m gonna catch up now.
The Last Sovereigns is the story of how Sioux chief Sitting Bull resisted the white man’s ways as a last best hope for the survival of an indigenous way of life on the Great Plains—a nomadic life based on buffalo and indigenous plants scattered across the Sioux’s historical territories that were sacred to him and his people.
Robert M. Utley explores the final four years of Sitting Bull’s life of freedom, from 1877 to 1881. To escape American vengeance for his assumed role in the annihilation of Gen. George Armstrong Custer’s command at the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull led his Hunkpapa following into Canada. There he and his people interacted with the North-West Mounted Police, in particular Maj. James M. Walsh. The Mounties welcomed the Lakota and permitted them to remain if they promised to abide by the laws and rules of Queen Victoria, the White Mother. But the Canadian government wanted the Indians to return to their homeland and the police made every effort to persuade them to leave. They were aided by the diminishing herds of buffalo on which the Indians relied for sustenance and by the aggressions of Canadian Native groups that also relied on the buffalo.
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John van Zyl has launched a new Youtube series on African history that pushes back on the currently prevailing orthodoxy that flatly condemns the European settler-colonialist-imperialist presence in Africa.
I look forward to delving in.
Van Zyl knew Robert Ruark and his family was friends with Wally Johnson, one of the last great old-school professional hunters of Africa. Johnson was the subject of a Peter Hathaway Capstick bio.
Here’s a nice article about Johnson and his well-worn Winchester Model 70, .375 H&H.
There’s nothing I appreciate more than a rifle that has been used.
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They had me at the first glimpse of Eva Green.
STARZ will drop another visually spectacular historical epic — this one set on the New Zealand frontier — on February 14.
The Luminaries tells an epic story of love, murder and revenge, as men and women traveled across the world to make their fortunes. It is a 19th century tale of adventure and mystery, set on the Wild West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island in the boom years of the 1860s gold rush.
It looks compellingly strange…
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You’ve read a couple of my love letters to that mad, bad, wild old frontier town of Los Angeles. I spent some fun nights at The Palomino Club in seedy old North Hollywood. Apparently, somebody is giving it its due. And, for the record, I’m still in love with Emmylou Harris. Don’t worry, Marilyn knows this…
David C Wrolson says
I have Last Sovereigns sitting on the dash of my work pickup for quick snatches of reading. However, I haven’t got to it yet, because I have always had something else I grabbed from the house to go with me.
Obviously, the Africa series hits my X-Ring perfectly and I will start it now. Thanks for that.
Quixotic Mainer says
The reading list grows ever longer! I’ve always greatly enjoyed Utley’s work, he’s got a scholarly amount of information to impart with a storyteller’s voice.
I have often tried comparing and contrasting Canada’s 19th century interactions with that of the US with their western tribes. I’m oversimplifying, but I feel like the Mounties or Rocky Mountain Rangers, rather than traditional “line” units, were by far the better choices to deal with the complex issues surrounding the tribes. The scalpel rather than the cleaver, with the emphasis on miscreants within a population that rather than treating the whole population as a potential enemy.
Unsurprisingly, we share the exact opinion of well used rifles and Eva Green. Hope all is well!
JimC says
To paraphrase Tim Willocks’ Turner, “What right man would not?”
David C Wrolson says
Re-Eva Green
I did not know anything about her, so I looked her up.
Some may be interested to learn that her mother was a “Pied Noir.” Born in Algeria of French, Spanish and Sephardic Jewish heritage.
At one point in my life, I dug pretty deep into post-WW2 colonial French stuff in Indochina and Algeria so I found that cool.
JimC says
And cool it is. There is something slightly otherworldly about her that lends itself to these kinds of roles. And I mean that in a GOOD way.
Quixotic Mainer says
That’s interesting! She’s very striking, and you can’t think of many people that look like her off the top of your head.
wayne says
If The Last Sovereigns is as good as Utley’s The Lance and the Shield, I’m in.
Beverly Rampey says
I got your book Finding Daniel Boone. It’s a great read. It’s now in the public library for others to read. I saw your post on the Last Sovereigns. I’m going to get it also. I did my senior English paper on the life of Sitting Bull – using the Library of Congress military records and accounts written during his life of what was happening. He’s a very interesting man.
Jean says
thanks for the info on The Luminaries coming to Stars.
.lane batot says
I went ahead and ordered “The Last Sovereigns”–I’m sure I’ll like it! I already have Utley’s Sioux Nation book, and one of the two others specifically on Sitting Bull(“The Lance And The Shield”), so I havta wonder what more this same author can add to that subject? He certainly has been researching and writing on these subjects for some time! I’ve liked all his books, and yes, I do intend to get that other Sitting Bull title he wrote eventually, too…Like with Daniel Boone, Tecumseh, Simon Kenton, or Crazy Horse, you just cain’t read too many books on those people!
JimC says
This one offers a LOT of detail in a slim volume on the Canadian sojourn, which is usually given short shrift in American histories.
.lane batot says
Excellent!