Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
1994
Document Type
Article
Abstract
During the summer of 1990, the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum hosted a symposium of Custer scholars and buffs. Rather than devoting their exclusive attention to the subtleties of the legendary 1876 "Last Stand," these researchers examined the life of the second most recognized soldier to emerge from the fight at Little Big Horn-Captain Myles Keogh. The product of their labors has now been published as eighteen loosely integrated essays in this oversized and expensive book that comprises volume 9 in Upton's "Montana and the West Series." Because of its dimensions, its inclusion of more than sixty photographs, and its rather esoteric nature, some critics will categorize this as a "coffee-table" publication that warrants no further attention. But to do so would be a major mistake, because the authors have provided fresh information on the frontier army, its ethnic dimensions, its social relationships, and the power of printing press and cinema in perpetuating its popular imagery.
Comments
Published in Great Plains Quarterly 14:1 (Winter 1994). Copyright © 1994 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.