Paul L. Hedren, a retired National Park Service historian and superintendent, discusses his newest book, Sitting Bull’s War: The Battle of Little Big Horn and the Fight for Buffalo and Freedom on the Plains.

Throughout the 1870s, the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne fought to preserve their home and way of life. Hedren explains how legendary Hunkpapa Lakota spiritualist Sitting Bull and like-minded chiefs rallied thousands of men, women, and children to battle a succession of invasions that came in the form of railroaders, borderland surveyors, prospectors, and ultimately the United States Army.

He describes the battles they won, like turning back Gen. George Crook at Rosebud Creek and wiping out Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer at the Little Bighorn; but how, in the end, most of their people succumbed to the pressure and demands placed on them by those who also wanted to occupy the land.

Hedren spent 10 years writing this American epic, drawing on Lakota and Cheyenne accounts, pictographic renderings, and original interviews. His books have received numerous honors, including a Spur Award from the Western Writers of America, a Western Heritage Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, and multiple Best Book awards from the Little Big HornAssociates.