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.
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