[]
The Last Stand
  • Published: 15 June 2011
  • ISBN: 9780099521242
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 544
  • RRP: $39.99
Categories:

The Last Stand

Custer, Sitting Bull and the Battle of the Little Big Horn

Formats & editions
EBook
27 Nov 2014
Paperback
15 June 2011
Buy from…
Amazon Booktopia Dymocks QBD Readings Your Bookstore Abbeys Boomerang Find local retailers Find local retailers Collins Fishpond Gleebooks Harry Hartog Kinokuniya Robinsons The Nile Mighty Ape

The Sunday Times top ten bestseller. The ultimate mythic story of the American West: the story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull's victory and General Custer's famous last stand - featuring remarkable new archival discoveries.

This is the archetypal story of the American West. Whether it is cast as a tale of unmatched bravery in the face of impossible odds or of insane arrogance receiving its rightful comeuppance, Custer's Last Stand continues to captivate the imagination.

Nathaniel Philbrick brilliantly reconstructs the build-up to the Battle of the Little Big Horn through to the final eruption of violence. Two legendary figures dominate the events: George Armstrong Custer and Sitting Bull. Those involved are brought vividly to life, as well as the history, geography and haunting beauty of the Great Plains.

This book provides a thrilling account of what happened there - and why - at the end of June 1876.
  • Published: 15 June 2011
  • ISBN: 9780099521242
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 544
  • RRP: $39.99
Categories:

About the author

Nathaniel Philbrick

Nathaniel Philbrick grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and earned a BA in English from Brown University and an MA in America Literature from Duke University, where he was a James B. Duke Fellow. He was Brown University’s first Intercollegiate All-American sailor in 1978, the same year he won the Sunfish North Americans in Barrington, Rhode Island. After working as an editor at Sailing World magazine, he wrote and edited several books about sailing, including The Passionate Sailor, Second Wind, and Yaahting: A Parody. In 2000, Philbrick published the New York Times bestseller In the Heart of the Sea, which won the National Book Award for nonfiction. The book is the basis of the Warner Bros. motion picture Heart of the Sea, directed by Ron Howard and starring Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Benjamin Walker, Ben Wishaw, and Tom Holland. The book also inspired a 2001 Dateline special on NBC as well as the 2010 two-hour PBS American Experience film Into the Deep by Ric Burns.   Philbrick’s writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, The New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe. He has appeared on the Today show, The Morning Show, Dateline, PBS’s American Experience, C-SPAN, and NPR. He and his wife live on Nantucket.
portrait photo of Nathaniel Philbrick

Also by Nathaniel Philbrick

Second Wind
Ben's Revolution
Valiant Ambition
In the Heart of the Sea (Young Readers Edition)
Bunker Hill
Why Read Moby-Dick?
See all

Praise for The Last Stand

Philbrick excels...Philbrick has pieced together the various testimonies with commendable skill

Christopher Silvester, Daily Express

Philbrick recounts this story with the clarity, colour and pace of a first-rate movie, and Jeffrey Ward's superb maps make the twists and turns easy to follow. Custer's Last Stand was America's Isandhlwana, where the shock of defeat was redeemed by the thrill of the tale

Raymond Seitz, Literary Review

An absorbing retelling of the greatest Western of all. Philbrick is a stunningly evocative historian. It is a captivating story

The Times

Philbrick writes a lively narrative that brushes away the cobwebs of mythology to reveal the context and realities of Custer's unexpected 1876 defeat at the hands of his Indian enemies under Sitting Bull... compelling

Publishers' Weekly

A mesmerising portrait of two extraordinary individuals and a thrilling blow-by-blow account of a landmark battle, it is a terrific achievement

Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times

Philbrick's narrative gifts are such that although we know what is coming, the clash between the Sioux and the cavalry is immensely exciting... A mesmerising portrait of two extraordinary men and a thrilling account of a landmark battle, Philbrick's book stands out for sheer readability, and is a terrific achievement.

Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times

Philbrick's narrative gifts are such that, although we know what's coming, his story is still hugely exciting.

Sunday Times

Philbrick comes as close to the truth as we are likely to get in this superbly researched and dramatic account'

The Times

I greatly admired The Last Stand

Paul Theroux, Guardian,

Fine new history...Philbrick has made excellent use of archival resources... and the resulting narrative is unlikely to be bettered. There is much more to savour... it is as brilliant an example of combat reconstruction as one is likely to find in any history of this scope and ambition

Trevor Royle, Sunday Herald