Here’s what a few people have to say about
The Widowed Ones: Beyond the Battle of the Little Bighorn
“Chris Enss and Howard Kazanjian’s inspiring history title, The Widowed Ones, is about seven women who banded together to overcome their grief. It is a compelling history text focused on women’s experiences following the Battle of the Little Bighorn.”
Foreword Clarion Review
“Readers interested in 19th-century, women’s and military history will be drawn into this thoroughly humane and sympathetic treatment of U.S. army widows.”
Library Journal
“The rigor of the scholarly research on display here is quite simply astonishing, as the authors seem to leave no stone unturned.”
Kirkus Review
“An extraordinary and inherently fascinating read from cover to cover, “The Widowed Ones: Beyond the Battle of the Little Bighorn” is an amazing and original work historical scholarship that lifts these women from an undeserved obscurity and effectively introduce them to an appreciative new generation of historians and non-specialist general readers. The true life experiences of women widowed in the aftermath of one of most famous 19th Century encounters between Native Americans and the United States military known as the Battle of Little Bighorn, “The Widowed Ones: Beyond the Battle of the Little Bighorn” is an impressively original contribution that will be enduringly valued by both academia and the general reader alike.
Enhanced with black-and-white historic photograph images, an informative Introduction, an eight page Bibliography, twelve pages of Notes, and an eight page Index, no community, college, or university library 19th Century American History can be considered comprehensive within the inclusion of “The Widowed Ones: Beyond the Battle of the Little Bighorn” into their collection.
Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, “The Widowed Ones: Beyond the Battle of the Little Bighorn” is an ideal and unreservedly recommended addition to 19th Century American Biography supplemental studies curriculums.”
Midwest Book Review
“This reviewer owns countless books on Custer and the battle at the Little Big Horn. Some are well researched. Some are well written. Few enjoy both qualities. “The Widowed Ones” scores ten in both respects.
It also presents an entirely new angle to the oft done subject matter. In other words, this is the best Custer book ever for the casual reader and the jaded western researcher. Bravo! Chris Enss. She, in collaboration with Howard Kazanjian and Chris Kortlander, gives a stunning and emotionally charged view of the women that were left behind after the historic loss of George Custer’s command in 1876.
The book weaves its way through the devastation wrought upon Libby Custer and the widowed wives of the men that wore the blue of the 7th Cavalry. Enss and Kazanjian do a terrific job detailing the women’s handling of loss; not only their husband’s demise, but also the pain of official criticism aimed to besmirch their loved ones, and their grappling with getting on with their lives without any apparent means. The path Libby et. al. took is detailed in “The Widowed Ones”, an insightful glimpse of how the survivors cope, or don’t. Each reader can measure their grit and resolute devotion to their fallen husbands. It is a marvelous story. Enss and company have filled in a neglected hole in one of the West’s greatest historical events. If you are restricted to one last book purchase, this is the one.”
Green Valley News Green Valley, Arizona
Arizona Daily Star Tucson, Arizona
