Black Hills

 Black Hills by Dan Simmons.

 

• Hardcover : 496 pages
• ISBN-10 : 9780316006989

 

 

Amazon Review

When Paha Sapa, a young Sioux warrior, "counts coup" on General George Armstrong Custer as Custer lies dying on the battlefield at the Little Bighorn, the legendary general's ghost enters him - and his voice will speak to him for the rest of his event-filled life.

Seamlessly weaving together the stories of Paha Sapa, Custer, and the American West, Dan Simmons depicts a tumultuous time in the history of both Native and white Americans. Haunted by Custer's ghost, and also by his ability to see into the memories and futures of legendary men like Sioux war-chief Crazy Horse, Paha Sapa's long life is driven by a dramatic vision he experienced as a boy in his people's sacred Black Hills. In August of 1936, a dynamite worker on the massive Mount Rushmore project, Paha Sapa plans to silence his ghost forever and reclaim his people's legacy-on the very day FDR comes to Mount Rushmore to dedicate the Jefferson face.

 

Another (older) book by Dan Simmons.  I find I wonder about all the research he did for this book.   Paha Sapa  is Lakota for Black Hills.

This story covers the life of Paha Sapa from a very young child up to and including a man in his 70's.   Young enough to be raised by traditional Lakota  ways , yet lives to work on Mt. Rushmore and his dreams of retaliating the white people for what they have done to their tribe and others.

If you have interest in Native Americans this is a really good book.  Many truths about their life incorporated into a fictional novel.

If you have read any book by Dan Simmons you know what a good writer he is... the choice is yours.