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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
Frontier violence including battles, killings, and the historical brutality of the Indian Wars
Language
Some
Adult language in the period-American vernacular
Sexual Content
Some
Adult content across Jack's many lives and relationships
Substance Use
Some
Drinking in the frontier setting throughout
Emotional Intensity
Some
The moral weight of presenting the genocide of Native Americans through a picaresque — funny and devastating in equal measure — is the novel's distinctive achievement
What this book is about
Thomas Berger's comic epic novel is narrated by Jack Crabb, the alleged oldest living survivor of the Battle of Little Bighorn, who claims to have lived among the Cheyenne, served as Custer's scout, and survived the massacre. The novel is simultaneously a satire of Western myth and a genuine attempt to present Cheyenne life with dignity and specificity. The violence is significant and the humor is dark. A landmark American novel that prefigures and influences Cormac McCarthy and other revisionist Western writers.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
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