INDIAN FIGHTING ARMY

A spirited, virile record of incessant warfare, and a tribute to the spirit in an army that, right or wrong, did a good job according to their lights. Custer, Sheridan, Crook, Miles, Sherman -- all come in for their share; there's a vivid picture of frontier forts, of army wives, of the life in posts that were anything but easy berths. Downey knows his story, and this biography of the Indian fighting army of the West, from 1885 to 1890, reads well.