Rating: 
Summary: Both protagonists were fleshed out for me.
Review: Even though I have read Connell's "Son of the Morning Star", I felt Ambrose fleshed out both characters for me. I loved "Morning Star". I felt like I was sitting in a great old cowboy bar in Montana talking to a wonderful story teller. Like most great yarn spinners, Connell gets sidetracked easily, but unlike most, he always comes back to where he started. The side trips were always enlightening and stimulating, even if a bit distracting by their constant appearances. Ambrose's book reminded me of the best college classes I have taken-a wonderfully prepared instructor who does a marvelous job of telling his story in a linear and organized way. Having watched numerous interviews of Ambrose on TV, it was easy for me to hear his voice in his writing. I especially gained from his background of both characters. I lived near a Sioux reservation in Montana when growing up and I returned to teach on that reservation when I first left college. I know a fair bit of their history and culture. Ambrose added to my knowledge. Likewise with Custer. His early years and the time at West Point are passed over quickly by most authors, but Ambrose fleshed him out into a 3-D character. To paraphrase a bumpersticker my basketball players gave me "Custer deserved what he got", but I sure understand better how he came to be on the "Greasy Grass" thanks to Ambrose. I do not consider Connell and Ambrose to be competitors, I feel they are both major contributors to a most interesting piece of Western History.
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Summary: sourwood@home.com
Review: Guided by pure facts, spirited by the truth, Stephen Ambrose rises among all other authers with regard to this most important time in our countries history. Finally someone has given proof that "manifest destiny" was as spirited as it was wrong and that its supurfluous mentality reached to the very highest of ranks leading all the way up the ladder to President Grant. It reminds us to this day that our national leaders need to be cautioned in each and every step they make and that the military if coerced by Washington can create geniside in its simplest form. Both Crazy Horse and Custer were great Americans and Mrs Amborse has cutivated the spirit of both men, there good and bad sides, and how they coped with and were raised to be the leaders they became. Mr Ambrose shows us once again, his amazing ability to mezmerize the reader and put us in place that was once upon a time.
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Summary: An American Tragedy
Review: Historical writing doesn't get much better than this.In parallel chapters, Ambrose presents the story of these two warriors, from their births to their final tragic meeting at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Of course we know how the story ends, but it is still a fascinating study of these two great men, both fighting for what they believed in. What makes the tragedy even more profound is that we see so many places along the way where a different choice by one or the other of them could have resulted in a different outcome. If you want a good understand of the troubled relationships between whites and Indians at this time, this is a great book.
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Summary: East and West in the 1800's
Review: How much do you know about "Custer's last stand"? Crazy Horse?
Until I read this book recently, I had little in depth knowledge of either man. Stephen Ambrose is one of my favorite authors, and I want to read all his works. I finally settled down to read this American history book which is well researched, easy to read;, and thoroughly riveting throughout.
George Armstrong Custer - his life and service in the Civil War, and later in Indian wars as the west opened up to make way for trains, telegraph, and settlers - what a character he was. Crazy Horse, a courageous Indian who rebelled and took revenge on the white man, and the sad sad history of our government and the breaking of treaties with the native peoples. Also - names and habits of various Indian tribes and how they differed, what they ate, their habits and their attitudes toward the white man.
The author gives us a glimpse of what the American west looked liked when the Indians and buffalo were free. Every page is carefully written in a "fair and balanced" manner. I greatly enjoyed reading it from cover to cover and have a much better understanding of America and the westward expeditions in the 1800's.
Reading James Michener's great book "Centennial" a few years ago, may have prepared me and helped me to process the information in this interesting and factual book. I recommend it. There are many surprises and plenty of action.
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Summary: One of my favorites
Review: I enjoyed Ambrose's approach of following the lives of natural leaders in different cultures. It was interesting the see how each culture, Americans in the late 1800s and American Indians, picked their leaders. The research is thicker on Custer, due to the vastly more complete written record. The history of Crazy Horse is based more on oral history of events long since passed. Pay no attention to reviewers that say this is not "the historical book on Custer." A book does not have to be a 1200 page tome to be a great book. Ambrose makes history vibrant and meaningful, a trait lost on most academic historians.
Rating: 
Summary: This book was both historically accurate and fascinating.
Review: I found this book to be excellent for both the newer readers of these two warriors as well as the veteren historians. Ambrose, like no one else, is able to pull together various pieces of history into an intricate and completly fascinating, as well as historically accurate novel.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Intro to the Topic, From a Beginner
Review: I got this book as a gift and I just finished it recently. I have to say I loved the book...a lot. Before this book, I had absolutely no knowledge of this history and now I find myself starving for more. The reason, however, that I cannot give this 5 stars is because of the other reviews I read here. After viewing some of them, I begin to realize that Ambrose does indeed contradict himself in various points when he says things such as, "The Sioux generally had no leadership and thus was the doom of the culture as the future would show us." He then turns around and says something to the effect that, "Crazy Horse led his troops amazingly well in outflanking Custer..." You see the problem here. Ambrose does indicate enough that this was out of the ordinary for the Sioux in general. But to say that it happened only one day out of the hundreds of years of this culture's existence is certainly, as one other reviewer has mentioned, a romantic view. After reading someone say that Ambrose's book is a romantic view of the situation, I would tend to agree in part to that. But then again, Ambrose goes through great pains to not make this a biased and unfair recollection of the times and lives of these two very interesting men. He does also tell us when he is guessing. I think Ambrose is fair, knows his limits, and does a great job retelling the story that he obviously painstakingly researches. Those are my complaints about the book. On the other hand, I could not put this down. I found the book, from cover to cover, riveting and if anyone is looking for an introduction to the subject matter, this is definately the book to get. I have already ordered more material on this. I will say again that this is my first book read on the matter. In time, I may come to think of this as trash or one of the best books ever written about the subject. I cannot say. So take this review for what it is. One reviewer who gave this book 2 stars (who, by the way, was the reader who made me think twice about giving this a high and mighty rating) said that this is a good book for beginners...only if it makes you go on to read better and more accurate stuff. That is exactly what it has done for me.
Rating: 
Summary: A good, well researched read; but not his best.
Review: I liked this book, and it is well written, interesting, and well researched, but just not his best. He seems to be reaching a little bit here, and writing more for the money than for his style; which is to put you right in the middle of the action. Certainly, not one of his best.
Rating:
Summary: Brief but thorough, balanced and action-packed.
Review: I read Ambrose's "Undaunted Courage" and had to read more. "Crazy Horse and Custer" was an excellent choice. The author treats both of these men in a very balanced way, including substantial information about their wives and their motivations. Given the volumes written about both of them, this book provides a relatively brief but thorough look at two very interesting lives
Rating: 
Summary: Complete, but dull
Review: I read this book a few years ago, and it hardly lingers in my memory. I suppose I would regard it much higher had I not made the happy mistake of reading Connell's "Son of the Morning Star" first. That book is much better both in content and writing. This is just another "Last Stand" book.
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