The River and the Horsemen

The most compelling account of the Little Bighorn ever written, this powerfully detailed historical novel—imagined on an epic scale with all of the grandeur of the Gilded Age in the East and the Yellowstone country in the West, vividly recreates the lives of two of the most celebrated leaders of nineteenth century, General George Armstrong Custer and Chief Sitting Bull.

Rich in detail of native Sioux spirituality and culture, as well as the American history and politics of the post–Civil War period, master storyteller Robert Skimin spins an intriguing tale of the personal and political events that led to one of the bloodiest days in western warfare—an infamous day that still captures the imaginations of men and women everywhere.

Enjoy the great love affair and wide fame of Libbie Custer and her illustrious husband, the colorful characters who inhabited their “royal family,” and the tumultuous lives of the men and women inside a divided Seventh Cavalry Regiment. Discover the sacred Way of the Sioux, the awesome spiritual powers of Sitting Bull, the lives of Crazy Horse and Gall, complete with a rich supporting cast—real and imagined.

Neither a saint nor a demon, Custer is complex, fascinating, arrogant, yet vulnerable human being. The Battle of the Little Bighorn itself, described in all of its frightening detail, is the riveting climax to the collision of two civilizations: one reaching for its manifest destiny, one struggling for survival.