Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Little Big Man | 1964 | Thomas Berger | Buy |
| 2 | The Return of Little Big Man | 1999 | Thomas Berger | Buy |
Little Big Man, published in 1964, is Thomas Berger’s masterpiece and one of the most distinctive American novels of its era. The book is narrated by Jack Crabb, who claims to be 111 years old and the only white survivor of Custer’s Last Stand. Crabb’s rambling account of his life, spent moving between white frontier society and the Cheyenne people who raised him, is simultaneously a rip-roaring adventure story and a sharp critique of how Americans tell their own history.
The Return of Little Big Man followed 35 years later in 1999, picking up Crabb’s narrative after the Battle of the Little Bighorn and carrying it through encounters with real historical figures like Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and Buffalo Bill Cody. The sequel is looser and more episodic than the original, reading more like a series of tall tales strung together. It does not carry the same weight as the first book, but Crabb’s voice remains entertaining, and Berger clearly enjoyed returning to the character after decades away.