A lively survey of a watershed historical period and some of its defining figures.
How an extraordinarily eventful few months shaped American history and mythography.
In his first book, Wimmer, the host of the Legends of the Old West podcast, explores a series of dramatic moments during a key transition period in frontier colonialism. The author includes intersecting commentary on the context for “three major events…the Battle of Little Bighorn, the murder of Wild Bill Hickock, and the Northfield Raid.” Along the way, Wimmer teaches us about the roles of a number of well-known figures, including Sitting Bull, Wyatt Earp, and Jesse James. As the author explains, this work is not intended as a rigorous examination of a particular historical period but rather as “an entertaining journey through the pivotal events of the summer of 1876…intentionally lean and fast-paced.” Wimmer does deliver a brisk and exciting narrative along with a good deal of intriguing—if not especially original—analysis of various “legendary” tales. Especially vivid is the author’s account of the James-Younger Gang’s last bank robbery and its miserable aftermath. On the whole, Wimmer doesn’t render Indigenous perspectives with as much insight or sensitivity as those of Anglo-Americans, though the book begins with a chapter on Red Cloud’s military strategizing and thus reminds readers, to some extent, how the biases and enormous blind spots of traditional frontier mythology have been exposed over the last several decades. The author’s practice of continually shifting narrative attention between different historical events unfolding at the same time—for example, bringing to readers’ attention that the rise of a professional baseball league took place contemporaneously with the climax of several “Indian wars”—can sometimes seem a little strained, though the multifocal approach here is often rewarding and consistently engaging. The book includes a handful of relevant maps.
A lively survey of a watershed historical period and some of its defining figures.Pub Date: May 30, 2023
ISBN: 9781250280893
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
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