Rating: 
Summary: Really caught my imagination
Review: I read this book back in 1990 and it absolutely floored me. The one overall impression I had then as I have now when I revisit this novel, is that of wonderment. This book is absolutely overwhelming in historical facts and knowledge, while it draws you in like a book of fiction. It is so well written that by the end, you feel like you have read a roaring western. I have read most of Ambroses books, and they continue to impress me, but this book, with its indepth knowledge into the two main characters, continues to overwhelm me.
Rating: 
Summary: Must read, entertaining history!
Review: I really enjoyed this book! In my opinion, much better than his WW2 book, "Band of Brothers" I am unfamiliar with US western history & this account left me wanting to know more. Ambrose deals with both central characters with an admirable objectivity. Rare in this type of "comparative" history. The war & battle sequences are described in a clear & exciting manner. The heavier political, social, historical developments are presented without detracting from the entertaining & fast moving account. Ambrose has a tendency towards a delivery that is occasionally too melodramatic & an over useage of colloquial language that seems slightly inappropriate for a serious history. Over all I found the book very well researched, gripping & an absolute delight to read. Highly recommended for lovers of military history. Deduct one star rating for the inclusion of the worst, smallest & almost uninterpretable maps I have encountered in print. Why did you let this happen Mr. Ambrose?
Rating: 
Summary: A misleading picture of 19th century America
Review: I was looking for a good historical understanding of Crazy Horse and Custer and what drove the two to a such disasterous confrontation. I'm still looking and very unsatisfied with his analysis of 19th century institutions and morals.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, balanced, and absorbing account of their lives and times.
Review: If you are interested in American history of the mid to late 19th century, particularly the American west but also the Civil War, this book is for you. It is a highly intellectually satisfying account of the subjects' lives as well as their times and culture. It puts to rest many myths of the two subjects as well as about the Indian wars. I was worried that it would have the usual romantic bias toward Native Americans, but I found it to be refreshingly balanced. Could not put it down! And I am not a historian, not do I often read history or other types of nonfiction
Rating:
Summary: American Warriors
Review: In Crazy Horse and Custer the Parallel Lives Of Two American Warriors, Ambrose does a very good job of telling the life stories of the two warriors. He also makes this book very readable. He does not just state the information he really tells the story of the two men.
It starts on the plains of Nebraska. Ambrose writes about the Native American lifestyle and you can begin to see why our culture and theirs clashed so much. Then he talks of the culture in the United States during the 1800's. After that Ambrose begins to tell of the two warriors during their childhood, and then each of their separate journeys to manhood.
Ambrose keeps the readers interested throughout the whole book by going into great and gruesome details about the battles that each Crazy Horse and Custer had been involved in. The climax of the book was the Battle for Little Big Horn. I just could not put down the book he started out describing the battle by stating the mistakes that Custer had made, such as underestimating the power of the Native American forces. Then Amborse explains where Custer was and where Crazy Horse was and how Custer was caught on his flank by Crazy Horse. This book really made the history of Crazy Horse and Custer come alive.
Rating:
Summary: Reveals a blind spot
Review: It's been years since I read this book, but it has stayed with me. Beyond resparking an interest in American frontier history that began in childhood, it also gave me a much more balanced view of Crazy Horse and especially Custer than I had before. Ambrose, as in his books about Lewis and Clark, WWII, and the building of the transcontinental railroad, has the ability to make you feel that you are living the history as you are reading. Some have disparaged this as "popularizing history", but I say it is a gift. To quote David McCullough, another fine historian and biographer, "There is only one secret to writing and teaching history. Tell stories." Why do you suppose that students today, even those at our finest universities are largely ignorant of history? It's either not required at all or it's taught as a compendium of names, places, and dates in a way that's so deathly dull that only the most self motivated student who is willing to do extra reading and research on his or her own would find it interesting. I've gotten way off the subject here, and for that I apologize. But that comment about "popularizing history" got to me.To get back to "Crazy Horse and Custer", it's a very fine book. The only problem I had with it is that in harping about the U.S. government's failed, if halfhearted, effort at genocide and his assertion that Native Americans were simply in the way of inevitable western expansion, Ambrose fails to differentiate between physical and cultural genocide. The physical genocide obviously failed, but cultural genocide very nearly succeeded. Despite that caveat, if you are interested in the history of the Indian wars and especially the history of these two very different and yet remarkably similar men, "Crazy Horse and Custer" is is a must read.
Rating:
Summary: A thoughtful look at the clash of two cultures
Review: It's rare to read a book about Native America that is not either distorted with Anglo-European prejudice or weighted down with naive sentimentality. This book deals sympathetically with the protagonists as products of their individual cultures while telling a story Americans never tire of hearing. This is Ambrose's best book.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful, fantastic, great rendition. Period.
Review: Just as in all of his other books, Mr. Ambrose places you in the saddle and there. He is truly a one-of-a-kind author who belongs in a class all by himself. This work is just fantastic; and as others have said,he has given me historical insight hollywood could never even approach. He is great. Thank you sir. It is wonderful to be able to still get so excited over a great book after 50 years of historical intake.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining Reading for the Previously Unenlightened.
Review: Readers who have little background in the history of Custer and Crazy Horse will find Ambrose's book entertaining. From the historical viewpoint, however, it tends to romanticize the characters in a way which only adds to the myths that have surrounded them since their tragic deaths. Ambrose unfairly maligns General Crook. He also reiterates an oft-told tale about Frank Grouard's participation in Crazy Horse's death which smacks of the same sort of conspiracy theories that have plagued the Kennedy assassination and misled many Americans about that event. Despite these failings, most readers will find this book to be a valuable addition to their collection.
Rating:
Summary: Two excellent biographies in one book
Review: Stephen Ambrose is a military historian, so it is notsurprising that he focusses on the talents of his two protagonists asleaders both on and off the battlefield. Along the way he draws comparisons between them that are quite striking. Both held considerable power in their societies at a relatively young age, were disgraced and yet were able to overcome. Both also met a tragic end, though Crazy Horse's was far more so than Custer; who at least died doing what he enjoyed. Also appreciated is Ambrose's take on the forcible relocating of the Plains tribes to reservations that is an honest assessment free from any "liberal guilt." This is an important work from one of America's best history authors.
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