Where Custer Fell: Photographs of the Little Bighorn Battlefield Then and Now | 
 enlarge | Authors: James S. Brust, Brian C. Pohanka, Sandy Barnard
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 47629
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 226
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 11.8 x 8.9 x 0.6
ISBN: 0806138343
Dewey Decimal Number: 973
EAN: 9780806138343
ASIN: 0806138343
Publication Date: March 30, 2007
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Product Description
The Battle of the Little Bighorn has long held an eminent position among the chronicles of the mythic West. None of the men who rode with Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer to his "Last Stand" survived to tell the tale, but this stunning photography book provides a view of the battlefield as it must have existed in 1876. The authors James S. Brust, Brian C. Pohanka, and Sandy Barnard searched for elusive documents and photographs, made countless trips to the battlefield, and scrutinized all available sources. Each chapter begins with a concise, lively description of an episode in the battle. The narratives are graphically illustrated by historical photos, which are presented alongside modern photos of the same location on the battlefield. The book also features detailed maps and photographs of battle participants and the early photographers who attempted to tell their story.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 Not for the casual reader September 7, 2008
If you enjoy reading about archaeological digs and how scientific fact may dispell myths, this book could be for you. It's an extensive catalogue of pictures and narratives that try to make sense at what happened that terrible Sunday afternoon in June, 1876, when Custer conducted his ill fated invasion north of one of the largest Indian encampments ever assembled and rode into American folklore. No pictures ever documented the battlefield until years later with most Americans wanting to forget this grim episode. But Custer, whether you respect him or not, is part of our history and this book closely traces the movement of his troops that day trying to discern exactly what happened which still today largely remains a mystery. The pictures capture not only the important battlefied sites at the time, ie Reno's defensive position and Weir's Point, but what the sites resemble today. What's remarkable is how pristine the sites have remained, even to this day. The narrative is a bit dry but informative but with some new information. Thanks to metal detectors the authors were able to surmise the final defensive positions of the troops. Much as been written about that day, but for any student of the battle, this book is a must for their collection.
Robert S.
 Then & Now lovers... July 29, 2008
Good reference book for visiting the battle field... a must for those 'THEN & NOW' types.... like me... :)
Overall good and interesting May 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In this very interesting large-format paperback, photos of the Little Big Horn battlefield taken (in some cases) within a year or so of the battle are compared to photos taken as nearly as possible from the same spot and with the same field of view, over the past 20 years. It is amazing how little this landscape has changed, the main differences being due to erosion, changes in the course of the river, and the springing-up of large numbers of trees in what was originally a treeless, barren waste.
My main reservation about the book is that clearly, it lives and dies by the quality of the photo reproduction, and this quality is not high. "Serviceable" is the best I can say about it. Another problem is the huge, often nearly maddening, amount of sheer repetition in the text discussions. This is clearly done to make the commentary on each pair of photos as self-contained as possible, but nearly exactly the same comments, in almost exactly the same words, appear over and over.
This book makes a good companion to the recent Little Bighorn account, A TERRIBLE GLORY. It provides, based on Indian accounts and archaeological excavations, a fairly detailed discussion of the various stages of the battle involving the three companies (or whatever they were called) of cavalry who went along with Custer... details that are not present in A TERRIBLE GLORY.
The authors make a number of very interesting points, concerning for example the later confusion between the spot where Custer's body was found (at the top of the hill) and the spot where he was buried (about 100 feet down the hillside). It's clear from the photos that Custer's body was found at a spot which today is immediately in front of the later monument. Wherever Custer was buried, he might be still there, because when the graves of the officers of the 7th Cavalry were excavated so that the bodies could be reburied as the families directed (Custer was supposed to wind up at West Point), only a few scattered skeletal fragments turned up in the grave marked as his.
Unlike many university press books I have examined in the past few decades, this one has been professionally set in type, and the text looks great.
 Fantastic "Then and Now" photographs and stories April 28, 2008
I consider this an outstanding piece of work. For anyone who love early photography and comparing historical photographs with contemporary views, this is great work. Resulting in many hours of field work and re-photographing the areas in modern times, many historical facts were uncovered. It is like a fresh look at the photography of the Little Bighorn. After reading this book and viewing the old photographs, one will never see the vintage photos in the same way. As the old saying goes, "A photograph is worth a thousand words" , some of these old photographs have held some serious answers to some of the questions that were never revealed until this important study brought them to light.
Great photos, great writing March 18, 2008
As others have attested, this is a superb collection of photos, and the text is scrupulous and compelling. You have to love the battlefield to want this book, but if you do, then you can't live without this. What's great is that you emerge with a sense that the battlefield hasn't been standing still for years, but slowly changing over time. Pair this book with Greene's new "Stricken Field" and you realize that history is constantly being made before our eyes.
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