TEACHER'S READING LIST
 

Bodmer, Karl. Karl Bodmer’s America. Intro. William H. Goetzmann. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. Much of the art Bodmer created while traveling up the Missouri River with fur traders in 1833 is reproduced here.

Casler, Michael M., and W. Raymond Wood, eds. Fort Tecumseh and Fort Pierre Chouteau: Journal and Letter Books, 1830–1850. Pierre: South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2018. This volume features transcriptions of letters and documents from two important early-nineteenth century forts.

Chittenden, Hiram Martin. The American Fur Trade of the Far West. 2 vols. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986. Originally published in 1902, this set remains the classic study of the fur trade.

Gray, John S. Centennial Campaign: The Sioux War of 1876. Foreword by Robert M. Utley. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988. Gray’s work ranks among the most complete treatments of the Great Sioux War.

Greene, Jerome A. Fort Randall on the Missouri, 1856-1892. Pierre: South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2005. Frontier military-Indian relations are explored in this history of a strategic Missouri River outpost.

Hardorff, Richard D., comp. and ed. Lakota Recollections of the Custer Fight: New Sources of Indian-Military History. Spokane, Wash.: A. H. Clark Co., 1991. These Indian accounts add another dimension to the story of the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

Hedren, Paul L., ed. Ho! For the Black Hills: Captain Jack Crawford Reports the Black Hills Gold Rush and the Great Sioux War. Pierre: South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2013. This book includes an account of the Black Hills gold rush and the Great Sioux War.

Hedren, Paul L. Traveler’s Guide to the Great Sioux War: The Battlefields, Forts, and Related Sites of America’s Greatest Indian War. Helena: Montana Historical Society Press, 1996. Photographs, maps, and a concise text bring these historical sites to life.

Lazarus, Edward. Black Hills/White Justice: The Sioux Nation versus the United States, 1775 to the Present. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. This book provides background on the Sioux War of 1876 and the continuing conflict over the Black Hills.

McDermott, John D., comp. Gold Rush: The Black Hills Story. Pierre: South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2001. Several authors explore the gold rush era and the Custer expedition.

McLaird, James D. Hugh Glass: Grizzly Survivor. Pierre: South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2016. This book explores the life and legend of fur trader and frontiersman Hugh Glass.

McMurtry, Larry. Crazy Horse. New York: Viking, 1999. Although not a definitive history, this work by a popular western writer is highly readable.

Manfred, Frederick. Lord Grizzly. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983. Manfred retells the story of Hugh Glass’s crawl through central South Dakota in this historical novel.

Meyer, Roy W. History of the Santee Sioux: United States Indian Policy on Trial. Reprint ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993. Written about less frequently than their western relatives, the Dakota Indians and their history are treated here.

Nichols, Roger L. "Back drop for Disaster: Causes of the Arikara War of 1823." South Dakota History 14 (Summer 1984): 93-113.

Parker, Watson. Gold in the Black Hills. Pierre: South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2003. The author examines the people, places, events and legacy of the 1876 gold rush.

Paul, R. Eli, ed. The Frontier Army: Episodes from Dakota and the West., Pierre: South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2019. This essay collection explores a range of topics related to the frontier army.

Pope, Dennis C. Sitting Bull: Prisoner of War. Pierre: South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2011. Sitting Bull’s twenty months as a prisoner at Fort Randall are explored in this volume.

Utley, Robert M. The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1993. This volume interweaves the history of the times with a vivid depiction of the famous Hunkpapa leader.