The Long Knives Are Crying

A Lakota Western

By: Joseph M. Marshall III

Narrated by: Joseph M. Marshall III

Length: 19 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

The second novel in Joseph M. Marshall III's acclaimed Lakota Western series begins in 1875, as Sitting Bull gathers thousands of Lakota to face the growing problem of white incursion. What follows is a sweeping tale of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, including the days and weeks leading up to the conflict and the remarkable defeat of General George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry.

Told for the first time from the Native perspective through the eyes of Lakota warrior Cloud, the story also weaves in the lesser-known but strategically important Battle of the Rosebud and the uncertain future that faced the Lakota following victory. Once again, Marshall infuses the story with his unique voice and eye for detail, creating a page-turning Western with a style of its own.

©2008 Joseph M. Marshall III (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[Marshall] brings the story of the Battle of Little Bighorn alive through the eyes and hearts of the American Indians." ( Denver Post)
"I found myself brought into the Lakota world; Marshall does a superb job of showing how difficult things were becoming for the Lakota as their land was overtaken and the buffalo herds disappeared." ( Historical Novels Review)

Wonderfully written and told

These stories are crushing my heart. Thank you so much for writing them, they're important

Powerful, beautiful.

The narrator is very good. you will hear how he tells stories which help one come to know humble, subtle personality traits and the beautiful way of life of Lakota and other native nations'.

everyone can learn from them and greatly enrich the lives of those around them and themselves through this knowledge.

i applaud Joeseph Marshall III for what he has done and continues to do. it is an important thing and i am glad for it.

Best Book on the truth.

This outlines the truth about the lies the US Army used to get public backing and told from both sides and they match. this hands down the best

Jos. Marshall is a Masterfully Erudite Storyteller

Bringing into our lives the very real daily interactions amongst Lakota and Cheyenne individuals, Marshall's voice has a hypnotic cadence as he shares his beautifully rich novel with such easy style that it can put you on horseback alongside some wonderfully human and beloved characters. The foreground characters face with aplomb and an easy grace the life--difficulties and joys--of the people who live in the mid-19th-century horse-culture tribal families. He gives you such insight even into the daily details of the lives of a few generations of Plains Native Americans--specifically Lakota and Cheyenne men, women, and children--that you find yourself living in their presence and wanting to know them, to talk with them, to learn from them about their richly full lives--wanting to befriend them and even to help save their way of life and fight alongside them. I found myself willingly joining in their everyday life-cadence, liking--even loving--some characters; despising others; wanting to scout ahead and warn my friends (the main characters and their kith & kin) of the awful future that's relentless and headed their way.

Even though you know how the story inevitably ends you want to be there with them and, effectively, stop time to save these moments, these lives that give meaning to living--that go so far and so richly beyond mere survival. The characters are animated so beautifully and have such a natural sense of happiness through life's travails and joys that we wax nostalgic for their way of being--one that we moderns have become far too soft and technologically-impaired to find comfortable enough to embrace. I didn't have any difficulty in wanting to live that life, in wishing that I were there beside these people, in missing them as soon as the book ended.

I'll share it with my wife, and with my mother--both avid readers who have a deep affinity for historical fiction. If you find yourself in that company do NOT pass up the chance to live a different life, in a different time, told in a manner that so accurately weaves itself into and through the events of the time of the novel that its effect is one that feels of a time machine.

Marshall is a modern, wonderful, renaissance man: an educator; an author; a historian; a researcher; a linguist (you would never guess that English is not his native tongue;) a craftsman who makes bows and arrows in the traditional Lakota manner (how I would LOVE to be able to find myself the owner of one of his traditionally-crafted ash bows); and also a word-craftsman who is wonderfully adept. He is a delightfully graceful storyteller--one to whom I could listen for DAYS on end. That, I'm thankful for, is an opportunity afforded me because I have all of his available author-voiced books in my Audible library, and hard copies on my desk-bookshelf (as opposed to in the bookcase across the room.) I find myself returning again and again to Marshall's works because they fill a profound need for me in so many ways. Re-reading one of his books is something that I've often indulged, even when I have other NEW and unread books that interest me greatly, because I find myself missing his characters, his storytelling method, and his voice--I find myself missing HIM. I feel as though I'd make a friend in an afternoon were I ever lucky enough to encounter Mr. Marshall in the course of living my life. It's something I look forward to with optimism, but without any real reason--perhaps it betrays how much optimism plays a role in my current consciousness. Perhaps it betrays a shared value system--or parts shared. Perhaps it merely betrays a need to have friends of great intelligence, warmth, kindness, and fierce loyalty, who are gentle without being weak, and sophisticated without losing their earth-connection. Philámayaye mitȟákȟola.

Brilliantly narration.

Sad that the book ended and even more sad that the way of life for the Lakota people came to an end as well. The holding back of European expansion would be as easy as holding back the tide of the ocean.

Insightful History

After listening to many western expansion historical books, I find the stories overlap and corroborate each others accounts. The oral tradition of stories passed down seems to be quite accurate.

keep native culture alive

everyone should try to learn about the indigenous people of the land they reside in. if you step outside the box that you're in you may learn something profound.

True history we don’t cancel or forget, and never should we

At 70 years old, I can look back at a time when people acted normal for the morals in the culture of the day. Those who were guided by a Judeo Christian or other written or oral tradition of behavior towards other humans never wavered in their true treatment of another human . Many in the Judeo-Christian group were phonies and hypocrites, but those true believers knew what was right in the eyes of God .
All we see today is a people wanting reparations, cancellation for a minority, but we never hear how the suffering of the indigenous like we do for those that suffered in slavery. However. Unlike black slavery, there is little we hear or do today with the inHumane Way the United States government treated the indigenous people however, no credit is given to the hundreds of thousands of men killed and wounded in the U.S. Civil War FOR Whatever the initial reason the results were a continuing wave for blacks to better themselves and have their lives improved; some have but many have not ! The US GOVERNMENT still cradles them with the governments, money and handouts just like the Lakota were forced to do. It SICKENS me to see one race, creating so much damage, death destruction, disruption, hatred Fomenting more that it never ends if anyone has a complaint with how they were treated it’s the indigenous people .The casinos do nothing, for they never had interest in gold from the black mountains. Neither does money bring back their way of life, the buffalo, family and tribe life and customs. they have remained a lost Minority with the most minimal of coverage and attention and it sickens me to see 13% receive so much in a never ending parade of ugliness that I feel the Lakota and indigenous people would not be capable of displaying even after all the wrongs done to them. I thank Joseph Marshall III For his painstaking clarity and details an undertaking of momentous work.

Loved this Lakota story!

What made the experience of listening to The Long Knives Are Crying the most enjoyable?

Having the story leading up to, during, and after the Battle of the Rosebud and Little Big Horn from a Lakota perspective was certainly the most enjoyable part. Not only are the Lakota portrayed in all aspects of their humanity, good and bad, but also as supporting roles, the members of the 7th Cavalry are fairly portrayed (Benteen and Reno did, in fact, thoroughly dislike Custer).

But nearing the end, I think I realized why I really loved this story. It's because in all its honesty and simplicity, Marshall creates an image of Lakota life and war that is respectful and insightful, yet is, in its way, mundane. Perhaps this is unintentional, but the imperfection of Lakota life exposes the shortcomings, which are lacking in some revisionist histories. They have loves and fears and superstitions which are no more or less noble than the European mythology foisted upon them. The humanizing of native peoples is vastly more satisfying than perpetuating the noble stereotypes.

Have you listened to any of Joseph M. Marshall’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, I've listened to some the non-fiction Lakota histories. He has a distinctive, languid style which is soothing, but may be best if played at 1.25x or even 1.5x.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes and no. It was tempting to go through in one sitting, and I never felt like I strayed from the story. But the length of the story made it more convenient to break it into 3 or 4 shorter segments, take in and process all the personal interactions and emotions of the characters, (in full knowledge of the major events to come), and enjoy.

Great Read!

I have enjoyed two of his books now. Hundred in the Hand, and now, The Long Knives are Crying. Both were exceptionally written and narrated.