The Earth Is All That Lasts

Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and the Last Stand of the Great Sioux Nation

By: Mark Lee Gardner

Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett

A magisterial dual biography of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, the two most legendary and consequential American Indian leaders, who triumphed at the Battle of Little Bighorn and led Sioux resistance in the fierce final chapter of the ""Indian Wars.""

Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull: Their names are iconic, their significance in American history undeniable. Together, these two Lakota chiefs, one a fabled warrior and the other a revered holy man, crushed George Armstrong Custer’s vaunted Seventh Cavalry. Yet their legendary victory at the Little Big Horn has overshadowed the rest of their rich and complex lives. Now, based on years of research and drawing on a wealth of previously ignored primary sources, award-winning author Mark Lee Gardner delivers the definitive chronicle, thrillingly told, of these extraordinary Indigenous leaders.

Both Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull were born and grew to manhood on the High Plains of the American West, in an era when vast herds of buffalo covered the earth, and when their nomadic people could move freely, following the buffalo and lording their fighting prowess over rival Indian nations. But as idyllic as this life seemed to be, neither man had known a time without whites. Fur traders and government explorers were the first to penetrate Sioux lands, but they were soon followed by a flood of white intruders: Oregon-California Trail travelers, gold seek - ers, railroad men, settlers, town builders—and Bluecoats. The buffalo population plummeted, disease spread by the white man decimated villages, and conflicts with the interlopers increased.

On June 25, 1876, in the valley of the Little Big Horn, Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, and the warriors who were inspired to follow them, fought the last stand of the Sioux, a fierce and proud nation that had ruled the Great Plains for decades. It was their greatest victory, but it was also the beginning of the end for their treasured and sacred way of life. And in the years to come, both Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, defiant to the end, would meet violent—and eerily similar—fates.

An essential new addition to the canon of Indigenous American history and literature of the West, The Earth Is All That Lasts is a grand saga, both triumphant and tragic, of two fascinating and heroic leaders struggling to maintain the freedom of their people against impossible odds.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Objectivity and attention to detail

Well crafted and connected. The author places needed emphasis on context and genealogy which lends interest and ease for continued listening/reading

The struggle for freedom.

This was a fantastic book, I have listened to and read many books on this topic, and this is one of the best. The narrator did a great job portraying emotion in quotes from various people within the book. It is mind boggling that the Lakota’s are still fighting for the land that they had control of for hundreds if not thousands of years before Europeans came. It is a sad state of affairs, but their resolve is unimaginable and very inspiring. My best to the Lakota Nation and all other nations of Native Americans.

Thank you for more history on this subject than ever before.

I appreciated all the detail, most of all which has been suppressed for generations! Thank you for a fresh look at history.

A Balanced History

The most unbiased history I have read of the plains Indians. Through and very interesting.

Very well written

I think the book was very well written. I also feel that the book has very good documented events. I also believe the reader/performance was well done