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UTLEY, ROBERT M. THE LANCE AND THE SHIELD: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SITTING BULL. NEW YORK: HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY, 1993. XVII + 413 PP. ILLUSTRATIONS, NOTES, BIBLIOGRAPHY, INDEX. $25.00, CLOTH.
The contemporary reader of historical books on the American West has a great treat coming with the "new" biography of the notorious Sitting Bull. He will discover all that he always wanted to know about Sitting Bull the Savage, the Fraud, or the Saint. Robert Utley, one of the most qualified historians, has accomplished a huge compilation of known facts about Sitting Bull and his life that should be the definitive version of the life story of one of the most controversial individuals of the Indian Wars period. The reviews have been deservedly glowing and complimentary.
Stanley Vestal's (Walter S. Campbell) biographies of Sitting Bull written in 1932 and 1957 seem to have been composed in the dimming light of the past because of the long intervening years. Robert Utley's book is most timely and, with the much wider distribution of today, should once again bring the attention of the public to the story of Sitting Bull. On the second page of his preface, the author makes the following statement regarding Stanley Vestal:
The Vestal genre is not unique. He was one of a trio of scholars who presented themselves as historians but viewed the Sioux through literary lenses. The other two were Mari Sandoz, biographer of Crazy Norse and John G. Neihardt of the classic Black Elk Speaks. Like Vestal, they achieved ultimate truth in works that are good literature and bad history.
Even though the author salutes everyone later and openly admits to using Vestal's research, the conclusion "bad history" does not help our historical tradition a great deal. The author made a statement some time ago that "all Indian informants are misleading, misinformed, undependable." Is this why he did not use one American Indian as an informant, not even Vine Deloria, a recognized Indian author who also comes from the Standing Rock Reservation? Utley seems to believe that only the U. S. Army reports and the government's statements are worthy of the attention of qualified historians. Are we to cancel or discard the value of our American oral history just...