Swinehart on Philbrick’s ‘The Last Stand’

Writing for The New Republic, Kirk Swinehart, assistant professor of history, reviews The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the new book by best-selling author Nathaniel Philbrick. Swinehart says the book attempts to look beyond the myths surrounding this iconic battle, and reveals that both General Custer and Sitting Bull desperately hoped conflict could be avoided and were searching for face-saving alternatives to a battle. Swinhart says, “according to Philbrick, ‘the tragedy of both their lives is that they were not given the opportunity to explore those alternatives.’ In this otherwise fine book, historical perspective goes wanting. Custer and Sitting Bull make unlikely peaceniks indeed.”