“Somewhat recent books by Donovan, Robbins, and Fox are really good.”
Titles?
“It made it much clearer and they were not cluttered up with the DC park service politically correct tripe which I am sure has gotten worse.”
I finally got there the summer before the scamdemic was launched. I must confess that seeing the site didn’t clear things up for me as much as I thought it would.
All the park rangers were Indians when I was there. I had a nice conversation with a lady ranger (which is easier to do at my age, because the ladies know I’m not hitting on them). Some of the things she said about the battle were different from what I had read before. I think she was more reliable, though, because she pointed to places where previously unknown artifacts were discovered after the fire.
I didn’t know about several sites where a small number of troopers were killed. I don’t think anybody knew about some of them before the fire.
Here’s one by James Donovan.
A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn - the Last Great Battle of the American West
It’s recent and I got the kindle version.
He’s very balanced in his approach, which I like. Some of the Custer writers of the 50’s and 60’s were incredibly biased in their writings.
A book which I consider gold is one written in the early 1900’s by Cyrus Brady called Indian Fights and Fighters. There’s a chapter in there with Godfrey’s account of the battle and Theodore Goldin (one of the last to see Custer).
Or you could just get Godfrey’s book:
The Godfrey Diary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn
I am a two finger typist so I try to minimize what I type. I had one listed wrong so I am glad you asked.
A Terrible Glory by James Donovan
The ABC’s of Custer’s Last Stand Arthur C. Unger
Archaeology, History, and Custer’s Last Battle Richard Allan Fox,, Jr
The first gave a good overview and the background leading up to the battle. It was very informative and entertaining.
The second gave a lot of detail of the battle itself based on historical records. It had a lot of information.
The third last was the detail of the study of the battlefield after the fire in 1983. You have to be a bit of a nerd to enjoy it.
None of the books were simplistic Custer bad or good. How the hills went up and down really impacted the view. It was in a fairly small area unlike larger battles.