Book Title:  A Terrible Glory:  Custer and the Little Bighorn-the Last Great Battle of the American West
Author: James Donovan
Publishing Company: Little, Brown and Company
Year:  2008
# of Pages: 528
ISBN-13:  978-0-316-15578-6 
ISBN-10:  0-316-15578-0
$26.99 U.S.
$31.25 Canada 

Reviewed By:  Deborah Ground Buckner (Kansas City Correspondent - Canada) 

On June 25, 1876, George Armstrong Custer and five companies of his renowned Seventh Cavalry were trapped by Indians of the Lakota and Cheyenne nations on a hill overlooking the Little Bighorn River.  Not a man of Custer's command survived, creating one of the all-time greatest military mysteries and romantic tales of the American West.  Hundreds of books have been written on the subject of this battle.  Military commanders have studied the information available to Custer and attempted to reach decisions on appropriate actions.  Armchair historians have debated the merits and failings of the warriors on both sides.  Little boys have recreated the battle in backyards across America. 

Author James Donovan, a literary agent for fourteen years and previously a bookstore chain buyer and trade book editor, as well as an avid researcher of Custer, is well aware of the mammoth library already in existence. 

Why, then, does the world need another book about Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn?  A subject that fascinates is worthy of repeated study and retelling.  In recent years, many of the books related to the battle have focused specifically on the battle itself or even minute details of the actions of particular soldiers in particular moments.  Some authors have offered their own speculations, often fueled by the bias that comes naturally with identifying with a particular people. 

Donovan has combined the craft of storytelling with the discipline of history to present a book that makes a worthy addition to the vast Custer library.  In his author's notes, he stresses that he has relied on primary accounts of the events of the battle "rather than secondary accounts, interpretations, or hearsay."  These primary sources include trial transcripts, letters, and interviews given to newspapers.  While Custer and his immediate command of five companies all perished, other officers and soldiers of the Seventh Cavalry were also present and engaged in battle.  The accounts of the officers and soldiers who survived have provided much of the evidence of the events leading up to Custer's Last Stand.  Descriptions of the Custer battlefield by those who found it provide other pieces of this historical puzzle, and accounts of the surviving Indian scouts and Indian forces are also included.

The dedicated student of Custeriana may believe there is nothing new to be learned, and, consequently, this book may be more popular with newcomers to a study of the battle or readers like myself who are obsessed with the life of George Armstrong Custer rather than an in-depth study of every square inch of the battlefield.  Donovan has done a splendid job of placing the battle in the context of American history.  Introductory chapters provide the history of the sad relations between Native Americans and the white settlers and a government that made promises quickly and, just as quickly, reneged on them.  Donovan discusses George Armstrong Custer's record in the American Civil War.  The youngest Brigadier General in the Union Army at the time of his appointment, respected by his superiors and adored by his command, Custer led a brigade reputed to be the best in the Union cavalry corps.  After the war, Custer was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of a new regiment, th e Seventh Cavalry.  (After the wartime Volunteer Army disbanded, Custer lost the brevet rank of Major-General of Volunteers and reverted to his Regular Army rank of Captain; contrary to the statements of critics, the appointment to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy was a promotion, not a demotion.  Military tradition allowed officers to be addressed by their brevet ranks, so Custer continued to be referred to as General.)  Donovan provides a wealth of background information on the frontier army, its composition, limited training and supplies, and experience in Indian warfare.  Custer, with one battle (an early morning surprise strike against an Indian village in winter) and a few skirmishes against the Sioux, was one of the most experienced Indian fighters in the United States Army.   

Providing all of this background, Donovan then relates the events immediately leading up to the battle and then the battle itself.  Here, he clearly states, is an area that lacks a strict historical record, for after a messenger sped away to deliver Custer's last order to Captain Frederick Benteen, "no white observer saw any man of that contingent alive again."  Donovan admits, "We will never know, without a reasonable doubt, what happened to Custer and his 210 men."  But putting together the statements of the surviving soldiers of other companies and the archaeological and forensic work of students of the battlefield, it is possible to draw conclusions regarding some of the events and actions of Custer's command. 

This work also provides a thorough examination of the aftermath of the battle, again helping to place this event within the context of history.  Donovan follows the careers of key surviving players, the actions of Elizabeth Bacon Custer and the other widows of the command, later developments in the Indian Wars, including the fateful actions of the Seventh Cavalry at Wounded Knee, and the pilgrimages to the battlefield that continue to this day.   

The result is a work that demonstrates how this particular battle came to be-perhaps had to be-and how it shaped subsequent history.  It is a telling that brings the characters to life and places the reader beside them.  I must confess that after thirty years of Custer study, I was not just in tears but sobbing as I read the account of the final moments of the battle.  While many other scholars have told me about the battle, Donovan put me there in the middle of it.

The book includes sixteen pages of black-and-white photographs of the major participants of the battle, eighty-two pages of detailed notes, a twenty-four page bibliography (providing wonderful source material for the reader who wants to continue research of the subject), and an index.