This is the dramatic story of the most crucial year in the history of the American West, 1876, when the wars between the United States Government and the Indian Nations reached a peak. Telling a great deal about Indian cultures, history, beliefs and personality, this is the first book to cover the whole year, rather than simply its components. 16-page photo insert. 3 maps. The Sioux battle cry is Hoka Key!, or "It's a good day to die!" The year to die, 1876, is the pivotal year in the Sioux wars, when record numbers of soldiers and Native Americans died; it is also the year of Custer's defeat, causing a newly aware and outraged public to demand an accelerated war against the Natives. Robinson (Bad Hand: A Biography of General Ronald S. Mackenzie, LJ 3/1/93) traces battles, describes rivalries and self-promotion by officers, and discusses the press and public opinion at this crucial time, debunking mythology. His well-founded overview of the Sioux wars, drawn from manuscripts, archaeology, military records, and newspapers, joins other recent recommended works such as Jerome Greene's Yellowstone Command (LJ 4/1/92), a military history of Gen. Nelson Miles's command, and Robert M. Utley's The Lance and the Shield (LJ 6/15/93), a biography of Sitting Bull. Recommended for public libraries.?Margaret W. Norton, J. Sterling Morton H.S., Berwyn, Ill. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. Narrative history does not get much better than this. Too many books on the Great Sioux War of 1876 focus on the late, lamentable George Armstrong Custer. Robinson covers in ample but not excessive detail all the circumstances--broken treaties, gold rushes, and corrupt Indian agents among the foremost--that led to the war. He then describes the course of the war, which was fought as much against climate and terrain as against human foes and in which every degree of skill and courage, from the highest to the totally nonexistent, was exhibited by both sides. We learn that Crazy Horse was not a real generalissimo for the Sioux, that George Crook was not always as good as he has been painted, that the decisive victory of the campaign was probably won by the almost unknown Ranald McKenzie. Throughout, we are entertained while being informed. Superlative. Roland Green dramatic story of the most crucial year in the history of the American West, 1876, when the wars between the United States Government and the Indian Nations reached a peak. Telling a great deal about Indian cultures, history, beliefs and personality, this is the first book to cover the whole year, rather than simply its components. 16-page photo insert. 3 maps.