The Life and Times of Sitting Bull, 1994

This book is now available in various editions. I owned the History Book Club edition and found it useful in developing an understanding of the Plains Indians as more than chiefs and Indians. Most telling is the fact that Sitting Bull was not a combatant in the war that he was known for, not a war chief leading a charge, but a spiritual advisor. His was the shamanic figure behind Gall, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse and the other Lakota that wiped out Custer’s immediate command.

Below is a documentary that has an interview with Utley, who has written an excellent history of the Indian Wars in general and a biography of Billy the Kid. Even so, Sitting Bull is still inconsistently characterized as a military leader. This prejudice probably stems from the fact that earlier leaders of the eastern woodlands with the type of stature Sitting Bull had—such as Tecumseh—were active war leaders, and predisposed whites to characterize this spiritual leader as a war chief.

I highly recommend Black Elk Speaks, a book leant to me twice, which presents many of the key aspects of Lakota life, which is quoted from in this documentary. A study of peoples who were more warlike than many of their neighbors, yet who had matriarchal home structures, must include the Plains Indians, and no study of the Plains Indians can ignore the Sioux.