Includes bibliographical references and index.

At the flood -- The dream -- Hard ass -- The dance -- The scout -- The blue pencil line -- The approach -- The crow's nest -- Into the valley -- The charge -- To the hill -- Still point -- The forsaken -- Grazing his horses -- The last stand -- The river of nightmares.

Philbrick here takes on an oft-told tale, replete with its dashing, flawed main character, its historically doomed, noble Native chief, and a battlefield strewn with American corpses. While off his usual stride with a surfeit of unnecessary detail, bestselling author and National Book Awardwinner Philbrick (In the Heart of the Sea; The Mayflower) writes a lively narrative that brushes away the cobwebs of mythology to reveal the context and realities of Custer's unexpected 1876 defeat at the hands of his Indian enemies under Sitting Bull, and the character of each leader. Judicious in his assessments of events and intentions, Philbrick offers a rounded history of one of the worst defeats in American military history, a story enhanced by his minute examination of the battle's terrain and interviews with descendants in both camps. Distinctively, too, he takes no sides. In his compelling history, Philbrick underscores the pyrrhic nature of Sitting Bull's victoryit was followed by federal action to move his tribe to a reservation.