The Last Sovereigns, Robert M. Utley
The Last Sovereigns, Robert M. Utley
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The Last Sovereigns
Sitting Bull & The Resistance of the Free Lakotas

Author: Robert M. Utley

Narrator: Bob Souer

Unabridged: 4 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/10/2021


Synopsis

The Last Sovereigns is the story of how Sioux chief Sitting Bull resisted the white man's ways as a last best hope for the survival of an indigenous way of life on the Great Plains—a nomadic life based on buffalo and indigenous plants scattered across the Sioux's historical territories that were sacred to him and his people.

Robert M. Utley explores the final four years of Sitting Bull's life of freedom, from 1877 to 1881. To escape American vengeance for his assumed role in the annihilation of General George Armstrong Custer's command at the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull led his Hunkpapa following into Canada. The Mounties welcomed the Lakota and permitted them to remain if they promised to abide by the laws and rules of Queen Victoria, the White Mother. But the Canadian government wanted the Indians to return to their homeland and the police made every effort to persuade them to leave. They were aided by the diminishing herds of buffalo on which the Indians relied for sustenance and by the aggressions of Canadian Native groups that also relied on the buffalo.

Sitting Bull and his people endured hostility, tragedy, heartache, indecision, uncertainty, and starvation and responded with stubborn resistance to the loss of their freedom and way of life. In the end, starvation doomed their sovereignty. This is their story.

About Robert M. Utley

Robert M. Utley is the award-winning author of more than twenty books on western American history, including Sitting Bull and Lone Star Lawmen. He made his career in the National Park Service, rising to the position of chief historian and assistant director of the service. He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Casey

As with other books by the author that I have read, I found this one to be well researched and written. The author's writing style makes for an interesting read that brings history to life. This book is a biography of Sitting Bull with the primary focus on the years that he spent in Canada after the......more

Goodreads review by Denice

In THE LAST SOVEREIGNS, Robert M Utley covers a period of history that has been missing in the historical narratives of the life on Sitting Bull, chief of the free Lakotas during their escape to Canada following the Battle at Big Horn with Gen Custer. This was the last time his small tribe would be......more

Goodreads review by Shauna

Living in Calgary, we have schools named after men in this book… Macleod, Irvine. I have also been to the Cypress Hills and passed by the small town of Walsh. Every time I think of the Cypress Hills, I think of Sitting Bull fleeing to Canada to keep his people safe. This is a well-done history of th......more