Rating: 
Summary: Fine Meditation on a Life
Review: This is the third Penguin Lives volume I've read and I find the series is holding up to positive first impressions. The Lives books are short, averaging around 200 pages each, but are saved from being mere outlines by creative matchmaking of subject with author. In CRAZY HORSE, Larry McMurtry, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Lonesome Dove, takes on one of the legendary Indians of the 19th century American west. Like the as yet unfinished monument of him that is being carved out of the Black Hills of the Dakotas, Crazy Horse looms large in oral tradition and is the subject of some weighty tomes, including a biography by controversial historian Stephen Ambrose. Despite the heft of the Crazy Horse canon, McMurtry says that the actual facts of his life are wispy and he chooses to devote his book to sorting the man from the fiction. In doing so, he offers up a lucid picture of the changing state of Indian culture as Manifest Destiny chewed its way across the plains. What facts do come to light reveal Crazy Horse as better suited to his culture's past, a reluctant though dutiful leader who preferred wandering alone in the hills. At one point, McMurtry makes a quiet observation of dust kicked up on a latterday trail ride, an image that becomes a central metaphor expressing the problem of retrieving a truth that has been filtered through so many biases. Some readers may be at a slight disadvantage because McMurtry assumes the reader possesses a certain amount of familiarity with the facts of Little Big Horn and the legends. Some may be disappointed that this book offers less about the man then about politics, both Indian and white, and the process of historical investigation and perspective. I think it is a fine meditation on all subjects. McMurtry is unafraid to express a controversial opinion.
Rating:
Summary: Fine Meditation on a Life
Review: This is the third Penguin Lives volume I've read and I find the series is holding up to positive first impressions. The Lives books are short, averaging around 200 pages each, but are saved from being mere outlines by creative matchmaking of subject with author. In CRAZY HORSE, Larry McMurtry, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Lonesome Dove, takes on one of the legendary Indians of the 19th century American west. Like the as yet unfinished monument of him that is being carved out of the Black Hills of the Dakotas, Crazy Horse looms large in oral tradition and is the subject of some weighty tomes, including a biography by controversial historian Stephen Ambrose. Despite the heft of the Crazy Horse canon, McMurtry says that the actual facts of his life are wispy and he chooses to devote his book to sorting the man from the fiction. In doing so, he offers up a lucid picture of the changing state of Indian culture as Manifest Destiny chewed its way across the plains. What facts do come to light reveal Crazy Horse as better suited to his culture's past, a reluctant though dutiful leader who preferred wandering alone in the hills. At one point, McMurtry makes a quiet observation of dust kicked up on a latterday trail ride, an image that becomes a central metaphor expressing the problem of retrieving a truth that has been filtered through so many biases. Some readers may be at a slight disadvantage because McMurtry assumes the reader possesses a certain amount of familiarity with the facts of Little Big Horn and the legends. Some may be disappointed that this book offers less about the man then about politics, both Indian and white, and the process of historical investigation and perspective. I think it is a fine meditation on all subjects. McMurtry is unafraid to express a controversial opinion.
Rating: 
Summary: Quick short story of one man's extraordinary achievement
Review: This nice but not lengthy booklet does some justice to the saga of Crazy Horse. It tries to make us realize just how much mystery there is to this leader of the Sioux people. A great bibliography at the end makes it a good stepping stone to further knowledge. Thanks Larry!!!AJ FAL
Rating:
Summary: A case of less is better.
Review: This was the first of the exceptional Penguin Lives series of short form biographies. What differentiates this book from the others in the series is that very little information about its subject exists outside of legend. As such, this is one of the Penguin short biography books that a lengthier story is not likely necessary. Karen Armstrong�s book on Buddha had a similar limitation, but she used the opportunity to lecture on the development and meaning of the Buddhist religion. Several years ago, I read and enjoyed Mari Sandoz�s biography on C.H., but the book left me to wonder how much of the story was truth versus fiction. The novelist, Larry McMurtry, authored this Penguin Lives version and convincingly separated the C.H. facts from fiction. Far from diminishing the character, the author gives a more appealing portrait of the man who will always be an enigmatic historical figure. I, for one, appreciate the author�s honesty and the �grayness� of the character�s story. I think it is more a sign of weakness for a biographer to invent facts to enhance the story. It is certainly disingenuous and non-academic. McMurtry gives more than one example of this form of literary excess especially when mentioning Stephen Ambrose�s biography on C.H. Interestingly, the latter�s excesses seem to now have caught up with him as shown in the plagiarism charges that have followed his more recent works. The quality of this book, though, is in the warmth and dignity that the author gives to his subject. Crazy Horse was a solitary and misunderstood figure to even his own people. His is also a story of how greed and jealousy by his people led to his early death. McMurtry does not try to make the man more than what he was or would have been. The book gives the reader the opportunity to appreciate the simplicity of Crazy Horse. By not engaging in pseudo psychoanalysis, and literary commercialism, the author gives his subject what C.H. seemed to have always wanted when alive, his privacy.
Rating:
Summary: A case of less is better.
Review: This was the first of the exceptional Penguin Lives series of short form biographies. What differentiates this book from the others in the series is that very little information about its subject exists outside of legend. As such, this is one of the Penguin short biography books that a lengthier story is not likely necessary. Karen Armstrong's book on Buddha had a similar limitation, but she used the opportunity to lecture on the development and meaning of the Buddhist religion. Several years ago, I read and enjoyed Mari Sandoz's biography on C.H., but the book left me to wonder how much of the story was truth versus fiction. The novelist, Larry McMurtry, authored this Penguin Lives version and convincingly separated the C.H. facts from fiction. Far from diminishing the character, the author gives a more appealing portrait of the man who will always be an enigmatic historical figure. I, for one, appreciate the author's honesty and the 'grayness' of the character's story. I think it is more a sign of weakness for a biographer to invent facts to enhance the story. It is certainly disingenuous and non-academic. McMurtry gives more than one example of this form of literary excess especially when mentioning Stephen Ambrose's biography on C.H. Interestingly, the latter's excesses seem to now have caught up with him as shown in the plagiarism charges that have followed his more recent works. The quality of this book, though, is in the warmth and dignity that the author gives to his subject. Crazy Horse was a solitary and misunderstood figure to even his own people. His is also a story of how greed and jealousy by his people led to his early death. McMurtry does not try to make the man more than what he was or would have been. The book gives the reader the opportunity to appreciate the simplicity of Crazy Horse. By not engaging in pseudo psychoanalysis, and literary commercialism, the author gives his subject what C.H. seemed to have always wanted when alive, his privacy.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't bother
Review: Unless you're interested in the inner musings of McMurtry, don't bother with this hefty-priced, hard-bound 'pamphlet.' I knew very little about Crazy Horse before reading this book and just as little upon finishing it. I'd like to read several of the other volumes in this series, but I feel so ripped off by this one that I won't buy another.
Rating:
Summary: A intresting Bio because of what little is Known about CH
Review: Very little history is known about this mythic man Crazy Horse, but many historians are willing embelish when there is not enough to write about. This book does not embelish, but tells the story of Crazy Horse through those who effected his life. the story shows Crazy Horse as a loner who love his privacy but was often forced to give it up for the action needed at the time. The book was well referrecned and often will state when a story may be from a questionalbe sorce. It is an easy read and covers history that is often ingnored. Crazy Horse is more a history of the Americas than a biography, but that does reduce its worth.
Rating:
Summary: McMurtry unqualified
Review: What are McMurtry's qualifications to write about Crazy Horse, one wonders? Does he know the Lakota people? Has he lived among them? Has he heard their oral tradititions? Does he have the vaguest idea of what Crazy Horse means to Crazy Horse's people? In general, James Atlas, editor of the Penuin series of short biographies, is on the right track in not seeking academic scholars and similar authorities to write these books, but SOME expertise, one would think, would not be amiss, especially in dealing with a figure so lost in myth as this compelling Oglala. The best book on Crazy Horse is STONE SONG by Win Blevins. It is a novel. McMurtry also writes novels and needs to stick to the form.
Rating: 
Summary: bloodless and frightened
Review: What was wrong with Mr. McMurtry here? This book has no blood in its veins. He circles Lakota culture without entering into it. He seems more curious than anything else. If you want to know about Crazy Horse, read Ambrose. If you want to know about the Lakota world view, read Neither Wolf nor Dog by Nerburn. McMurtry should stick to cowboys, which he does better than almost anyone else. Crazy Horse didn't want to be photographed. Maybe he didn't want to be written about either.
Rating: 
Summary: Solid history - no conjecture
Review: Why write hundreds of pages about a man who died young and shunned the public? Should one spend time to digest one author's guesswork, maybe comparing it to another author's? McMurty did us all a favor by cutting out everything not known as fact. So little is known about Crazy Horse that it can easily contained in this small volume. We are given a concise portrait of the man, his life and his aspirations. We are also given an almost poetic feel of his surroundings and the struggle to hold on to it. If you want to learn about Crazy Horse, this book will not lead you astray. If you want bells and whistles, look somewhere else.
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