Written by Thomas Berger,”Little Big Man,” is believed by many
critics to be the greatest of all western novels. The protagonist and also the
narrator, the 111-year old Jack Crabb, tells his life story to Ralph Fielding
Snell, who decides that Crabb “was either the most
neglected hero in the history of this country or a liar of insane proportions.”
Having been kidnapped by Indians as a boy and spending his
entire life moving back and forth between the two cultures, Jack meets nearly
every famous character of the Old West, from Wyatt Earp to Wild Bill Hickok
(whose murder in Deadwood Jack witnesses) to Sitting Bull and Custer. In the
end, Jack becomes the only survivor of the battle of the “Little Big Horn.”
True or not, this is a wonderful western story – a must read.
