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Whether he tackles fiction (LONESOME DOVE) or nonfiction (CRAZY HORSE), there is
something constant and intensely comforting about the writings of Larry McMurtry. As we
glide through his pages, we feel as if we're curled up by the fire with a trusted old
friend; observing an artist, painting pictures with well-considered
words.
CRAZY HORSE, McMurtry's biography of the legendary Oglala Sioux leader, is no exception,
though it can't have been easy to write.
McMurtry, himself, admits, historical reference material on Crazy Horse is sketchy at
best. "His own people experienced him as a mystery while he was alive," he
writes in chapter one. "They called him Our Strange Man. In his life he would have
three names: Curly, His Horses Looking, Crazy Horse (Ta-Shunka-Witco). We know him as
Crazy Horse, but in life few knew him well; in truth it is only in a certain limited way
that we who are living now can know him at all."
Glaring historical lapses in mind, McMurtry braves the daunting task of remembering an
American legend. He faces the myth and the mystery of Crazy Horse with courage and, in the
end, presents a balanced, objective vision. We see through McMurtry's studied eyes, a man
revered by his people, feared by his enemies, and sadly martyred by unyielding
change.
Crazy Horse, according to McMurty, was a warrior without parallel. And yet his people saw
him as a lover of peace. He was a mystic, a dreamer as loyal to his own personal freedom
as he was to the battles of his tribes. He embraced both with an unwavering ferocity. And
it was that passion that set him apart.
"Crazy Horse's legend grew...from a broken people's need to remember and believe in
unbroken heroes," McMurtry says. This remarkable, intensely readable biography helps
people beyond his tribal connections understand the heroics of Crazy Horse,
too.
--- Reviewed by Kelly Milner-Halls
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