Mr. Slotkin emphasizes the figure of George Armstrong Custer in his second volume on the idea of "The Frontier" in American literary and political life. He once more exposes some of the seamier uses to which the impulse to take possession of the American Continent has been put. He carefully traces the influence which Richard Gordon Bennet, and Jay Cooke had on the impressionable soldier, and his behaviour. I didn't know that Custer often was the presenter of some of his more famous exploits to the press. George Custer was a writing soldier, and in this field could have had some influence on another writing soldier, Winston Churchill. Well, the myth of Custer versus Sitting Bull is certainly carefully examined in these 600 pages. George doesn't look unaware of his own image, or unaware of the financial uses to which his career could be put.
Many Americans probably wouldn't like the political maneuvers that Custer was involved in. Or the financial ones.
Another thread in this book is the literary positioning of the Indian, moving them from the "Noble Savage" of Fenimore Cooper to the "Comanche" of Mark Twain, during this period. A dense and intelligent view of a serious part of the American mythic structure. ( )