Review: Barnett, Touched by Fire

Touched by Fire: The Life, Death, and Mythic Afterlife of George Armstrong Custer by Louise Barnett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Barnett offers a panorama of George Armstrong Custer's life and the second half of the nineteenth century; she's interested as much in what happened to Custer's image after he died as she is in his life. She also gives nearly equal billing to Libbie Bacon Custer, who was professionally Custer's widow for over 50 years, accepting at face value Libbie's portrayal of herself in her writing, as timid, vulnerable, naive, and always madly in love with Custer. (Other biographers, like T. J. Stiles, are more skeptical.) This is an excellent read.



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