Alvin M. Josephy, Jr., a leading historian of the American West, was the author of many award-winning books, including The Patriot Chiefs, The Indian Heritage of America, Now That the Buffalo's Gone, The Civil War in the American West, 500 Nations, and A Walk Toward Oregon. He was a vice president and editor of American Heritage magazine, the founding chairman of the board of trustees of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, and president of the Western History Association. Josephy died in the fall of 2005.
Marvelous, original...that great, adventurous, little-known side of the Civil War...is all here for the first time: the clash of North and South set in the immense space of the West and peopled with some of the most vivid characters of that vivid time. -- David McCullough Only occasionally does one find such a felicitous pairing of author and subject as in this important new book.... Mr. Josephy again serves justice with his clear-eyed, even-handed scholarship.... The entire era is cast into a different light by this powerfully wrought narrative. <br>-- The New York Times Book Review <br> A sweeping and often surprising account of the untold stories of the war between the states. -- Los Angeles Times