Synopses & Reviews
The little known story of the unlikely friendship of two famous figures of the American West — Buffalo Bill Cody and Sitting Bull — told through their time in Cody’s Wild West show in the 1880s.
It was in Brooklyn, New York, in 1883 that William F. Cody — known across the land as Buffalo Bill — conceived of his Wild West show, an “equestrian extravaganza” featuring cowboys and Indians. The idea took off. For four months in 1885 the Lakota chief Sitting Bull appeared in the show. Blood Brothers tells the story of these two iconic figures through their brief but important collaboration.
Blood Brothers flashes back to 1876, when the Lakota wiped out Custer’s 7th Cavalry unit at the Little Big Horn. Sitting Bull did not participate in the “last stand,” but was nearby — and blamed for killing Custer. The book also flashes forward to 1890, when Sitting Bull was assassinated. Hours before, Cody rushed to Sitting Bull’s cabin at Standing Rock, dispatched by the army to avert a disaster.
Deanne Stillman unearths little told details about the two men and their tumultuous times. Their alliance was eased by none other than Annie Oakley. When Sitting Bull joined the Wild West, the event spawned one of the earliest advertising slogans: “Foes in ’76, Friends in ’85” — referring to the Little Big Horn. Cody paid his performers well, and he treated the Indians no differently from white performers. During this time, the Native American rights movement began to flourish. But with their way of life in tatters, the Lakota and others availed themselves of the chance to perform in the Wild West. When Cody died in 1917, a large contingent of Native Americans attended his public funeral.
An iconic friendship tale like no other, Blood Brothers is truly a timeless story of people from different cultures who crossed barriers to engage each other as human beings. And it foretells today’s battle on the Great Plains.
Review
“Embedded near the heart of this surprising friendship lies an amazing portrait of the man who is arguably the greatest military/civilian leader in all American history — Tatanka Iyotake, Sitting Bull.” Doug Peacock, author of In the Shadow of the Sabertooth
Review
"Thoughtful and thoroughly well-told — just the right treatment for a subject about which many books have been written before, few so successfully.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Review
“Blood Brothers is a story of sorrow and triumph — the sorrow of Sitting Bull’s murder in 1890 and the triumph, barely understood at the time, of Buffalo Bill Cody’s central role in preserving the robust culture of the Lakota and Cheyenne people whom Sitting Bull had led in war. Deanne Stillman tells the dramatic story of these two men — enemies first, then showmen, and friends at the last.” Thomas Powers, author of The Killing of Crazy Horse
Review
“Deanne Stillman’s Blood Brothers is a thrilling and elegantly written saga anchored around the strange friendship between Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill Cody. By puncturing the mythology of the Wild West, Stillman proves once again that fact is always more surprising than fiction. A landmark achievement in American history!” Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History at Rice University, CNN Presidential Historian, and author of The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America
Synopsis
Winner of the 2018 Ohioana Book Award for Nonfiction "Deanne Stillman's splendid Blood Brothers eloquently explores the clash of cultures on the Great Plains that initially united the two legends and how this shared experience contributed to the creation of their ironic political alliance." --Bobby Bridger, Austin Chronicle
The little known story of the unlikely friendship of two famous figures of the American West--Buffalo Bill Cody and Sitting Bull--told through their time in Cody's Wild West show in the 1880s.
It was in Brooklyn, New York, in 1883 that William F. Cody--known across the land as Buffalo Bill--conceived of his Wild West show, an "equestrian extravaganza" featuring cowboys and Indians. The idea took off. For four months in 1885 the Lakota chief Sitting Bull appeared in the show. Blood Brothers tells the story of these two iconic figures through their brief but important collaboration.
Blood Brothers flashes back to 1876, when the Lakota wiped out Custer's 7th Cavalry unit at the Little Big Horn. Sitting Bull did not participate in the "last stand," but was nearby--and blamed for killing Custer. The book also flashes forward to 1890, when Sitting Bull was assassinated. Hours before, Cody rushed to Sitting Bull's cabin at Standing Rock, dispatched by the army to avert a disaster.
Deanne Stillman unearths little told details about the two men and their tumultuous times. Their alliance was eased by none other than Annie Oakley. When Sitting Bull joined the Wild West, the event spawned one of the earliest advertising slogans: "Foes in '76, Friends in '85"--referring to the Little Big Horn. Cody paid his performers well, and he treated the Indians no differently from white performers. During this time, the Native American rights movement began to flourish. But with their way of life in tatters, the Lakota and others availed themselves of the chance to perform in the Wild West. When Cody died in 1917, a large contingent of Native Americans attended his public funeral.
An iconic friendship tale like no other, Blood Brothers is truly a timeless story of people from different cultures who crossed barriers to engage each other as human beings. And it foretells today's battle on the Great Plains.
About the Author
Deanne Stillman is a widely published, critically acclaimed writer. Her books include Blood Brothers, Desert Reckoning (winner of the Spur and LA Press Club Awards for nonfiction), and Mustang, a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. In addition, she wrote the cult classic, Twentynine Palms, a Los Angeles Times bestseller that Hunter Thompson called, “A strange and brilliant story by an important American writer.” She writes the “Letter From the West” column for the Los Angeles Review of Books and is a member of the core faculty at the UC Riverside-Palm Desert MFA Low Residency Creative Writing Program.
Deanne Stillman on PowellsBooks.Blog
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