Well written on a topic still very much needed to be covered. It's a little dry so might not fit my library the best, but would recommended to those seeking more info on the subject.

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. What a great read I couldn't put it down and highly recommend.

Sitting Bull, Geronimo, and Crazy Horse are probably the three most well-known Native American chiefs, yet little is taught about them in schools. The only thing I knew about Sitting Bull is that he killed Custer in the battle of Little Big Horn. With that said, I really appreciated the respect with which Utley wrote this book.

I enjoyed learning about Sitting Bull’s early years and why/how he became so incredibly respected by his people. It’s not difficult to have compassion for an entire people forced off their land and confined to small reservations carved out of their own lands. We’ve probably all seen the same picture of Sitting Bull - the one on this cover. Regal, straight back, serious expression. But Utley did a wonderful job of giving a life to that face. We get a glimpse into what drove Sitting Bull. The passion he had for his people, the weight of the entire Sioux nation on his shoulders. The difficult challenges in dealing with both the US and Canadian governments, and deciding who could be trusted and how far.

The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 was because the Kindle version was missing items. Maps maybe? There were a few wonky parts and some errors that I’m sure will be corrected in the final edit process. Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book does what it set out to do: tell the story of the last years of Sitting Bull's life. It does it well, but as someone educated in the American school system, I felt as if I were reading the epilogue to a story I was never told. This is no fault of the author - just a note for any future readers.

In THE LAST SOVEREIGNS, Robert M Utley covers a period of history that has been missing in the historical narratives of the life on Sitting Bull, chief of the free Lakotas during their escape to Canada following the Battle at Big Horn with Gen Custer. This was the last time his small tribe would be free to follow their traditions. As they slowly surrendered their way of life, the Army, as a representative of the American Government, would place them on reservations under governmental oversight. Utley's book contains so much information on their lives, it's clear he researched and committed a huge piece of his life into insuring Sitting Bull's story was shared. An absolutely wonderful reading experience for anyone interested in Native American history. This could easily be used as a reading assignment in a home schooler's history class, too.

Sitting Bull quickly became known as a great leader and a fearless warrior, and he became leader of the Hunkpapa. The final years of Sitting Bull's life were spent mainly in Canada after he led the Hunkpapa into Canada following run-ins with the American government. Sitting Bull wished to live out his final years there but clashes with the Canadian government over their policies, and disagreements with the Native Canadian groups over the resources available, meant that Sitting Bull and his people faced uncertainty and starvation. His return to American soil unfortunately led to his death on the Standing Rock Reservation in 1890.

This book examines the final four years of Sitting Bull's life and his friendship and working relationship with Major James Walsh of the North-West Mounted Police in Canada. This is a period of history that I know little about, and it was interesting, but I found that at the end of it, I didn't feel as if I got to know much about Sitting Bull himself, as it was more about the events that happened. Yes it is a non fiction account but an author can make the characters 'come alive' off the page whereas this felt like a very remote perspective. Many of the other people in the book were not fleshed out and the Lakota women barely featured at all.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers, University of Nebraska Press/Bison Books, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Review: The Last Sovereigns: Sitting Bull and the Resistance of the Free Lakotas by Robert M. Utley

I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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I was very much looking forward to learning about Native American History and finally get to know Sitting Bull better, whose name is known in Europe but his life and the historical context is largely unknown. Much like other important American indigenous figures, Sitting Bull is known through colonialist perspectives from Western movies and other cowboy vs. “Indians” popular media.

Sadly, the book did not meet my expectations. The focus is on Sitting Bull’s years in Canada after defeating White settler colonialists (I refuse to say Americans because that is the perspective of the coloniser) at Little Big Horn and the struggle of the Lakotas for survival. Mainly, it’s about how White settlers in Canada and America tried to force Sitting Bull to surrender and live in a reservation.
I must say that for a story filled with conflict, diplomacy, politics and survival, the author writes incredibly dull. 99% of the time he just lists things chronologically, with lots of info on the exact date and geographical place and then going down a list of who said what. The thing that makes historical writing sciences is lacking, namely: interpretation and analysis.
Sure, Utley does give a historian’s view here and there and fills in some gaps but more often, he focuses on listing things as if it were a Wikipedia article and offers no insight into the greater context.

What is particularly shocking is how Utley repeats White colonialist perspectives uncritically and uses “positive” stereotypes to talk about Native Americans. Be it vocabulary (mixed-blood), concepts or interpretations of a situation, Utley continually uses the language and thought process of White colonialists. Many situations and the few interpretations he offers, are drenched in imperialist and colonialist discourse and are never critically addressed.
The role of a historian is to question the sources and to give proper historical context. He likes to call those White colonialists who worked with Sitting Bull as “friends” or adversaries, he even has high praise for the agent who ultimately controlled the Lakota reservation but none of them were neutral or “good”, as Utley likes to position them. They were not working in the best interest of the Lakotas, they were working for colonialist Governments to control and ultimately subdue and imprison Lakotas, in the best-case scenario. Utley even briefly mentions the colonial re-educating program and the accompanying laws and has absolutely no nothing to say about its impact of these policies. It’s cultural genocide but apart from mentioning that Sitting Bull didn’t want to live a sedentary life of agriculture, Utley has nothing to say. He summarises the extermination of people, buffalos and Native American culture as if it was another bullet point and not strategic and brutal colonial policies, funded by the state and executed with cold precision.

A good example is the Epiloque which talks about Sitting Bull’s death. When Sitting Bull finally surrenders and later, he is killed, Utley doesn’t describe the consequences of this situation for the Lakotas. It’s as if they stopped existing with Sitting Bull’s death and the fate of the Lakotas was irrelevant to the story. Instead, Utley then talks about the fates of some White Canadians, again praising them and focusing more on the impact of these Canadian years on their life then on the Lakotas. Even One Bull, Sitting Bull’s nephew, is mentioned only briefly.

This book has failed as it doesn’t tell the story of the Lakotas or Sitting Bull but rather focuses on the hardships White colonialists (“Americans” or “Canadians”, doesn’t really matter) experienced in trying to convince Sitting Bull to finally give up and be shipped to a reservation. This is not only visible in the way he tells by focusing on the wrong people but also in the many small and big ways of his usage of language and perspective to perpetuate colonialist perspectives. Utley might have a more favourable view of Sitting Bull as people back then had but it’s so evident that the way he narrates history is from a White Anglo-Saxon male colonialist perspective. This is also visible in the way how women are invisible in this story. They are, if mentioned at all, background characters and in all of these stories one two women are mentioned by name: the wife of Canadian Mounty Walsh and Sitting Bull’s daughter Many Horses. Otherwise they’re just faceless, nameless women. I mean, even Sitting Bull’s mother who apparently was incredibly important is mentioned exactly ONCE at the end of the book in the Epiloque! And from the sources Utley uses I can see that he didn’t consult contemporary stories or have any interest in looking at a gendered perspective. Women are completely immaterial to the history he’s recaps.
Which is ridiculous because not only does he throw in several instances of gendered violence, which are never further discussed in any political or historical context, particularly not with an eye to sexual violence as a colonial tool; he also throws in two or three women at the last moment and just goes nowhere with it. This is especially egregious as he writes in the Epilogue – so at the complete end of the book! – that it was rumoured that Walsh (the White Canadian Mounty “in charge” of Sitting Bull and the Lakotas) was having “sexual relations with Lakota women.” And my first and immediate thought was: Of course he did and this immediately raises questions about consent because within this historical setting, I have my sincerest doubts that these “sexual relations” were done happily and not coercive if not outright forceful.
Utley spends so much time talking about Walsh and his psychology, yet he never mentions these rumours and does only so at the third to last page of the book and has zero comment on sexual violence within colonial power dynamics.
The fates of these women? Inconsequential, I guess.

This book was a disappointment because it was written so incredibly boring. It was like eating slimy, grey, tasteless porridge: nutritious but devoid of joy and it leaves you with a hatred for food.
The amount of work that went into researching this book is not reflected in the writing style as it lacks charm, narrative skill or a critical perspective. However, the constant repetition of colonialist perspectives, the lack of critical engagement and the missing wider context of colonial power dynamics and politics were the worst part of the book. I could forgive a boring writing style but I cannot forgive a lack of critical thinking and a mindless repetition of racist colonial imagination and propaganda. The lack of women and discussion of gendered violence is astounding. Women are cardboard cut-outs unless something horrific happens to them, like rape or semi-suicide/abortion via hanging over a cliff, and those who are supposedly so important for history are thrown it at the last second but only in ways that connects them to Sitting Bull: the daughter that left him, therefore leaving him sad; the counselling and influential mother that guided him but then died at old age.

The Last Sovereign merely recounts point by point how people moved from A to B, who they met and what they said. It has no historical analysis and doesn’t tie into a greater discussion of Native American history, the lives of the Lakotas, women in general or the impact of racist colonial policies. It’s just a timetable of events. That does not make for interesting, entertaining or academic research.

I had heard of sitting bull in school, but I feel like I was told virtually nothing of what he endured. This book was so informational, so encompassing. I knew our treatment of Native Americans was abysmal, but it was just so unfair. It seems like the little bit we do learn of Native American history does not justice to what actually occurred. This book was very thorough and used a ton of resources and offered many of the events as they happened in the people involved's own words. There were a couple of typos, but nothing too distracting. It was laid out in a linear fashion making it easy to follow. I liked the epilogue at the end as well that told how it ended for many of the men involved in Sitting Bull's life during his campaign for freedom for his people. Well written and very educational.

Thanks for the ARC Net Galley

I like the subject and of the Lakota in particular;ar its just there was more about who dealt with SB and where he lived than about SB himself. 4 for that.

Richard Utley’s ‘The Last Sovereigns’ claims its place among works of history which couple solid scholarship with engaging narrative. No one can study the history of the American West without knowing something about the Battle of the Little Bighorn, but most narratives end there. Utley masterfully details the Canadian Migration/Exile of the Sioux to Canada (1877-1881) under Chief Sitting Bull in order to avoid retribution for the Battle. While this episode was surely a flight from a determined foe, Utley also casts it was an attempt to hold onto a fading way of life. It also helps to remind the reader that American history was not isolated within national borders, but that there was a great fluidity.

The matter of the Sioux’s migration was met pacifically and with warmth on the part of the Mounted Police, as contrasted with American military policy. But the international debate between Great Britain, Canada and the United States was another matter – exacerbated when they began trying to negotiate with the Sioux. This is an interesting insight into how the status of Native Americans fit into the diplomacy and governance of the period, and the occasions divergence between local and national power (as well as personal bonds across groups, like the Mounted Police and Sitting Bull). Utley additionally highlights the complexity of Native American relations. The Sioux were seen as competition to indigenous tribes who relied on the dwindling buffalo population, the Sioux hunted on the reservation of another tribe, they had their horses raided but also were a draw to other fleeing American bands. Finally, the insights into the mind of Sitting Bull as he navigated and sought to balance the concerns he had for his people as well as himself in trying to determine whether they should ‘surrender’ to the Americans. This was further complicated by his relationship to American culture from his surrender to his death. These final dimensions were among the most intriguing parts of the book.

Utley’s passion for this subject is powerfully manifested, and the reader will find themselves wanting to explore his other work.

In much detail, this book chronicles the final four years of Sitting Bull’s life of freedom, (1877 to 1881.) After the battle with General Custer at Little BigHorn, Sitting Bull and his tribe are targets of the US Army, and flee to Canada. Their experiences with the Mounties are in some ways joyous and positive, but the US government was too hard to resist.

A sad tale with a stain on US history. It is not always a great nation!.

Thanks to Net Galley and Bison Books for the chance to read and review.

Living in Calgary, we have schools named after men in this book… Macleod, Irvine. I have also been to the Cypress Hills and passed by the small town of Walsh. Every time I think of the Cypress Hills, I think of Sitting Bull fleeing to Canada to keep his people safe.
This is a well-done history of the Lakota in the last years of Sitting Bull. He truly was a remarkable man. He was a warrior. He was a medicine man. He was a father and family man. He obeyed the laws of the Great Mother. He also wanted to provide for his people even learning to farm. There is not much information about Sitting Bull so this book will become a resource to those who want to learn a bit more about the man who is probably the most famous indigenous leader of all time. Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the ARC.

It's funny, although I really enjoyed this book as it isn't a subject that I know a lot about, I did rather feel like the beginning either went too fast or didn't have enough information. I wanted more in the beginning. The details started to pick up a bit later and it seems to be a very informative book. I was curious about the dialogue in the book, whether they were direct quotes that someone present had recorded. It was a bit hard for me to tell since some of the formatting was off due to it being an ARC PDF. Regardless, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone interested in Sitting Bull or what the Native's faced at the hands of Europeans. It is too bad we don't have their point of view.

On that note (and not contributing to my rating), there were grammar and punctuation issues that I assume will be fixed before publishing. There was as sentence at around 68% that had me re-reading it a few times and should def be fixed. ("Sitting Bull arrived at Willow Bunch with five hundred people arrived on April 20, 1881.) Also, I think the beginning mentioned maps, however, I wasn't able to see any maps. There were some sections with garbled text that maybe were supposed to be images of maps? I'm not sure. Maps would be helpful to help understand exactly where the tribes were roaming to and from. I could see the photos in the middle of the book, although one (#12, Sitting Bull Council) was completely upside down.

An interesting, moving account and certainly a book which I will recommend in our library for history lovers and history newbies. Thank you for the early review copy.

This book deals with the last years of Sitting Bull's life, after the Battle of the Little Big Horn. It recounts the trek to Canada and tells us of the people he has to subsequently deal with there. We learn of the various machinations of the Canadian and American governments in their attempts to get Sitting Bull and the Lakota people to surrender and return to America. The individuals were represented honestly with faults as well as strengths shown. I knew very little about Sitting Bull's last years so this filled in gaps in my knowledge. Anyone interested in this period of American History should enjoy this.

If you're looking for a biography of Sitting Bull this is probably not the place to start. There's nothing wrong with the book. It's very clear that Mr. Utley is very familiar with the subject and the research certainly appears to be complete and well rounded. And while the book does give enough background on Sitting Bull's life to keep one from getting lost (particularly if you're reasonably well versed in the history of the American West) that isn't the focus.

Utley sets out, with appropriate background, to examine Sitting Bull's time living with his Hunkpapa followers in Canada after fleeing the United States. In particular Utley looks at the relationship between Sitting Bull and John Morrow Walsh, who was a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer and Commander of Fort Walsh when Sitting Bull and his followers settled near Fort Walsh in Wood Mountain Saskatchewan. Sitting Bull and Walsh entered into a friendship and an important relationship that caused significant local and international consternation. The influx of a relatively large number of Lakota into Canada, where indigenous tribes were already struggling with the demise of the buffalo was a significant problem. Internationally, Sitting Bull had caused a black eye to the United States with the defeat of Custer and they wanted the Lakota docilely settled on allotments. Since Canada's foreign policy was still largely handled by Great Britain at the time international diplomacy was involved in the attempts to get Sitting Bull and the Lakota back to the U.S.

This has been a part of the history of Sitting Bull that tends to be glossed over in favor of the Battle of Greasy Grass (Little Big Horn), Sitting Bull's short time with Buffalo Bill's show and his assassination in 1890. And it's a topic deserving of the attention that Utley gives to it. It's just important to be aware that the other parts of Sitting Bull's life are given a fairly cursory coverage.

That said, it is again an interesting and well researched book covering a largely overlooked part of American and Canadian history.

My thanks to Net Galley, the publisher and the author for a preview copy in exchange for my reviews.

The Last Sovereigns by Robert M Utley is a historical book about the days of Sitting Bull during the time of avoiding surrender and living in Canada. Sitting Bull is more famous for the Custer event and I hadn't known too much about the Canada years. During this time, Sitting Bull avoided capture when other American Indians (I will use the Indian term in this review as that is the term Sitting Bull used) were surrendering so that they would no longer have to starve. The Indians had been pushed farther north into Canada to leave room for white settlers. Each time more land was wanted, the Indians were simply moved again. Canada didn't have enough buffalo to go around for all of the Canadians and Americans as well. The Canadian government also could not afford to feed both sets of Indians. American whites were not known for kindness or trustworthiness, therefore Indians wouldn't volunteer to go to reservations unless it was absolutely necessary.

The beginning of this book reads like a list of facts and took a little while to get flowing. I considered stopping. However, I kept going and about a quarter of the way through it picked up and started to flow in a captivating way. I learned a lot about the relations between the two governments and the two races. I admit I was a little disappointed in my race. Not a nice look. I felt horribly sorry for all of the family members of Sitting Bull that got caught up in the battle of the male egos that were fighting each other. One thing I have noticed in my various readings about struggle and notorious events is that the male ego is not usually very helpful. It can cause a lot of damage. As you can see here, males everywhere and the women and children were starving.
I received this book from netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

As with other books by the author that I have read, I found this one to be well researched and written. The author's writing style makes for an interesting read that brings history to life. This book is a biography of Sitting Bull with the primary focus on the years that he spent in Canada after the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The reality was that Canada did not want him, but he rightfully did not trust that the United States would honor their pledges if he returned. He wavered several times and finally agreed to return only to be arrested rather than left in peace as promised. I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the life of Sitting Bull or reading about another instance where our government was less than truthful in dealing with native americans.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog.

With increasing interest in oppression throughout US History, we cannot and should not forget the plight and the heartbreaking stories of Native American tribes.

The Last Sovereigns is the story of how Sioux chief Sitting Bull resisted the white man’s ways as a last best hope for the survival of an indigenous way of life on the Great Plains—a nomadic life based on buffalo and indigenous plants scattered across the Sioux’s historical territories that were sacred to him and his people.

This book details the final four years of Sitting Bull’s life of freedom, (1877 to 1881.) After the battle with General Custer at Little BigHorn, Sitting Bull and his tribe are targets of the US Army, and flee to Canada. Their experiences with the Mounties are positive, but they arwe again disappointed by givernment officials -- in this case, the Canadian government,

The ongoing privations that Sitting Bull and his people endured and their ultimately unsuccessful efforts to maintain, retain, or regain their sovereignty make for a heartbreaking story -- but one that must be told. Educators may find this story helpful in a larger curriculum on oppressed peoples.

This book is well written and very interesting. It should be mandatory for all young people to learn what happens when a Government gets too strong. When tribal people no longer have rights and a home, you have the seeds of desperation and abuse. This is fact, and its happening today IMO.
Sitting Bull was a remarkable man. A Medicine Man who fought for his family and way of life. Unfortunately IMO the good guys dont always win. It is heartbreaking to read the set back after set back the Tribes associated with sitting Bull had. I never knew the story of his life and what his youth was like but this book covers a lot of ground and much information that hasnt been shared is revealed. I read this book in two days as I think First nation People of the USA are remarkable and have more learning and knowledge than the times will admit. Their religions and ways of survival have never been duplicated in many respects, and yet their story isnt told. I read this with saddness as it all rang true. From the people I have known and who knew Men of reknown from the last century. It is all passing away and with every year gets farthur from memory. History seems to be rewritten almost daily now as truth isnt important, just politics. No matter what side you are on read this book to learn of what really happened to a proud people who didnt fit in with industrial resources and a changing world. I love this book for its truth and honesty.