Synopses & Reviews
Dan O’Brien’s earlier award-winning novel, The Contract Surgeon,introduced readers to Valentine McGillycuddy, the U.S. Army contract surgeon who became a friend of the great war chief Crazy Horse. Through McGillycuddy’s eyes, the novel recounted the friendship that so deeply impacted history. It also chronicled the great Sioux Wars, one of the most violent periods in this nation’s history.
The Indian Agent is the riveting sequel to The Contract Surgeon. After Crazy Horse’s death, McGillycuddy went on to become the youngest agent in history for the Red Cloud Agency, renamed the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, of the Oglala Lakota band of the Sioux. Red Cloud and McGillycuddy have diametrically opposing views, though they have more in common than either knows. They both love the land and they both love the past. The politics and the enormous tensions of the early days on the reservation are depicted in fascinating detail, as McGillycuddy (known as “the most investigated man” in the government) urges the Sioux to adopt a life of farming. He had lived on the vast plains with them. No white man knew better what the Sioux had given up—nor understood more fully the impossibility of returning to the old life.
Full of the dynamic history of the Plains, The Indian Agent is the true story of the conversion of this land from one of free nomadic people to one of settled commerce—achieved only at an unfathomable cost. The Indian Agent is a masterpiece that leads us through one of the most painful periods of the West to the novel’s devastating climax at Wounded Knee.
Review
"A deeply humane book that looks at ranching as a sustainable enterprise, a way of life more than an economic engine. . . . There may be plenty of disappointments out on the Plains, but this book is not one of them."—Kirkus
Review
“
Wild Idea is a lyrical tribute to the idea of buffalo back on the plains, the rewards and challenges of putting them there. But it is so much more. Its about all the life on the prairie, on the hardscrabble ranches and in the small towns. With this book, Dan secures his place as our modern prairie muse.”—Tom Brokaw, NBC journalist and author
Review
“Dan O’Brien’s book strikes me as a gentle but badly needed confrontation. . . . Figuring out how to realign the way we live with the health of the ecological systems that support us is the single most important challenge of the twenty-first century, and that makes O’Brien’s book an essential meditation.”—Edward Norton, actor and UN Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity
Review
“Making strong, lasting connections between the rugged land and the strong people is a staple of life on the Great Plains. Dan OBriens gift is helping people understand this connection and the basic and difficult truth that sustainable living is not simple; it is as matted and dense as the thick fur that defines the buffalos very nature.”—Tom Daschle, former U.S. senator from South Dakota and former U.S. Senate majority leader
Review
"[Wild Idea] is a sweet little sagebrush soap opera of extended family joys and travails."—Jim Sterba, Wall Street Journal
Synopsis
In praise of
The Contract Surgeon:
"The Contract Surgeon draws a vivid portrait of Crazy Horse and gives an interesting, fresh perspective on the Great Sioux War." -Larry McMurtry
"[An] impeccably researched novel." -The New York Times Book Review
In 1999 The Contract Surgeon was published to great critical acclaim. It introduced readers to Valentine McGillycuddy, the U.S. Army contract surgeon who became a friend of the great war chief Crazy Horse. Through McGillycuddy's eyes, the novel recounts the friendship that so deeply impacted history. It also chronicles the Great Sioux War, one of the most violent and reprehensible periods in this nation's history.
THE INDIAN AGENT is the riveting sequel to The Contract Surgeon. After Crazy Horse's death, McGillycuddy went on to become the youngest agent in history for the Red Cloud Agency, renamed the Pine Ridge Indian Agency, where he served longer than any other agent before him. The politics and the enormous tensions of the early days of the reservation are depicted in fascinating detail, as are the Sioux people's painful attempts at transition to reservation life. McGillycuddy had lived on the vast plains with them. No one knew better what the Sioux had given up- or understood more fully the impossibility of returning to that life. Incredibly suspenseful and full of the texture of the Great Plains, THE INDIAN AGENT is a masterpiece that leads us through one of the most devastating periods of the West, to the book's climax-the massacre at Wounded Knee.
Synopsis
For more than forty years the prairies of South Dakota have been Dan OBriens home. Working as a writer and an endangered-species biologist, he became convinced that returning grass-fed, free-roaming buffalo to the grasslands of the northern plains would return natural balance to the region and reestablish the undulating prairie lost through poor land management and overzealous farming. In 1998 he bought his first buffalo and began the task of converting a little cattle ranch into an ethically run buffalo ranch.
Wild Idea is a book about how good food choices can influence federal policies and the integrity of our food system, and about the dignity and strength of a legendary American animal. It is also a book about people: the daughter coming to womanhood in a hard landscape, the friend and ranch hand who suffers great tragedy, the venture capitalist who sees hope and opportunity in a struggling buffalo business, and the husband and wife behind the ranch who struggle daily, wondering if what they are doing will ever be enough to make a difference. At its center, Wild Idea is about a family and the people and animals that surround them—all trying to build a healthy life in a big, beautiful, and sometimes dangerous land.
About the Author
DAN O'BRIEN, one of the West's most celebrated writers, is the author of nine books. The Contract Surgeon won the 2000 Western Heritage Award for Fiction. His collection of short stories, Eminent Domain, won the Iowa Short Fiction Award, and O'Brien is the recipient of many national awards and grants. He lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota.