Ridgeline

(Paperback)

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An exciting, vividly-imagined reconstruction of an extraordinary moment in the history of the American West Ian McGuire, bestselling author of THE NORTH WATER and INCREDIBLE BODIES

A highly compelling page turner; you wont be able to put it down Philipp Meyer, author of THE SON and AMERICAN RUST
The thrilling, long-awaited return of the #1New York Timesbestselling author ofThe Revenant

In 1866, with the country barely recovered from the Civil War, new war breaks out on the western frontier a clash of cultures between a young, ambitious nation and the Native tribes who have lived on the land for centuries. Colonel Henry Carrington arrives in Wyomings Powder River Valley to lead the US Army in defending the opening of a new road for gold miners and settlers. Carrington intends to build a fort in the middle of critical hunting grounds, the home of the Lakota. Red Cloud, one of the Lakotas most respected chiefs, and Crazy Horse, a young but visionary warrior, understand full well the implications of this invasion. For the Lakota, the stakes are their home, their culture, their lives.

Throughout this taut saga based on real people and events Michael Punke brings the same immersive, vivid storytelling and historical insight that made his breakthrough debut so memorable. AsRidgelinebuilds to its epic conclusion, it grapples with essential questions of conquest and justice that still echo today.

Reviews

An exciting, vividly-imagined reconstruction of an extraordinary moment in the history of the American West Ian McGuire, bestselling author of THE NORTH WATER and INCREDIBLE BODIES

A highly compelling page turner; you wont be able to put it down Philipp Meyer, author of THE SON and AMERICAN RUST

Punke is brilliant: an author (The Revenant, 2002), attorney, professor, former U.S. ambassador, and current vice president at Amazon Web Services. Ridgeline, a novelization of the 1866 Fetterman Fight, in which a confederacy of Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes fought a detachment of U.S. soldiers from Fort Phil Kearny in the Dakota Territory (present-day Wyoming), confirms his mastery as a writer. A foreboding sense of ruin and sadness clings to each pageRidgeline transcends genre categorizationany sophisticated reader would appreciate this novel Booklist

Punke makes the battle vivid, and draws deep characterizations of individuals on both sides, exploring Crazy Horses fear of impending change, U.S. soldiers indifference to fighting, and a captains lament of the breakdown of discipline and reason within the battalions leadership. This is historical fiction at its best Publishers Weekly

Author Bio

Michael Punke serves as the U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. He has also served on the White House National Security Council staff and on Capitol Hill. He was formerly the history correspondent for Montana Quarterly and an adjunct professor at the University of Montana. He is the author of Fire and Brimstone: The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917, and Last Stand: George Bird Grinnell, the battle to Save the Buffalo, and the Birth of the New West. His family home is in Montana.