Little Big Man
by Thomas Berger
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Book Summary Information
Author: Thomas BergerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1989-09-01
ISBN: 0385298293
Number of pages: 480
Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback
Book Reviews of Little Big Man
Book Review: An Indian Fighter and the Indian Who Never Forgot He Was a White Man
Summary: 5 Stars
'Little Big Man' is Thomas Berger's classic anti-Western that tells the tale of 111-year old Jack Crabb. Actually, Berger has Crabb narrate his own story to Ralph Fielding Snell, a writer who appends his own foreword and afterword.
Crabb lived a marvelous varied and remarkable life in the Old West. He arrived in the West at age 10 and was taken captive (or volunteered due to a misunderstanding by Jack's sister) by the Cheyenne - the Human Beings. Jack moves back and forth between the Indian and the white worlds. He tended to prosper when living with Old Lodge Skins's band of Cheyenne, but he retains his white man's view of the world. As the introduction to the Delta edition by Brooks Landon states, Jack's aspirations were white, but his achievements were Cheyenne.
Berger's characters, some famously historical, but most fictional, represent many Western archetypes. He marries a Swedish immigrant, befriends the card-playing gunslinger Wild Bill Hickok, goes into business with the bunco artist Allardyce T. Merriwhether, becomes a drunk, hunts buffalo with Wyatt Earp, rescues a niece from whoredom, falls in love with Mrs. Pendrake, the wife of the proselytizing minister, and fights with Custer at his Last Stand (not in that order). In the Indian world, Berger gives us the noble Indian, the fighting Indian, and the free Indian, but mostly shows the Indians living with an entirely different moral code than the whites, whom the Indians view as being crazy. Jack also turns up at two specific events: the massacre at the Washita River and the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
Berger's use of the fictional Snelling as Crabb's editor introduces a couple elements of uncertainty as to the veracity of Jack's story. Snelling is somewhat skeptical of parts of Jack's story and after all, he is the one who interviewed Jack. And Snelling may not be all that reliable himself given that he delayed publication for ten years due to his own emotional collapse.
Berger's characters are archetypes, but not stereotypes because he gives them a twist of his own. Little Big Man is a tour through the history of the Old West, sometimes sardonic, sometimes sobering, and always entertaining. Like most people I saw the movie well before I read the book and it was impossible not to hear Dustin Hoffman's voice throughout. The movie and the book tell very similar stories in very similar but not identical ways. For once I can say that the movie is as good as the book. Read it and watch it. Highest recommendation.
Summary of Little Big Man
The story of Jack Crabbe, raised by both a white man and a Cheyenne chief. As a Cheyenne, Jack ate dog, had four wives and saw his people butchered by General Custer's soldiers. As a white man, he participated in the slaughter of the buffalo and tangled with Wyatt Earp.Historical Books
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