Black Hills: A Novel

Black Hills: A Novel by Simmons, Dan. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780316006989.

When Paha Sapa, a young Sioux warrior, "counts coup" on General George Armstrong Custer as Custer lies dying on the battlefield at the Little Bighorn, the legendary generals ghost enters him - and his voice will speak to him for the rest of his event-filled life. Seamlessly weaving together the stories of Paha Sapa, Custer, and the American West, Dan Simmons depicts a tumultuous time in the history of both Native and white Americans. Haunted by Custers ghost, and also by his ability to see into the memories and futures of legendary men like Sioux war-chief Crazy Horse, Paha Sapas long life is driven by a dramatic vision he experienced as a boy in his peoples sacred Black Hills. In August of 1936, a dynamite worker on the massive Mount Rushmore project, Paha Sapa plans to silence his ghost forever and reclaim his peoples legacy-on the very day FDR comes to Mount Rushmore to dedicate the Jefferson face.