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A Novel
by Michael Punke
The thrilling, long-awaited return of the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Revenant.
In 1866, with the country barely recovered from the Civil War, new war breaks out on the western frontier―a clash of cultures between the Native tribes who have lived on the land for centuries and a young, ambitious nation. Colonel Henry Carrington arrives in Wyoming's Powder River Valley to lead the US Army in defending the opening of a new road for gold miners and settlers. Carrington intends to build a fort in the middle of critical hunting grounds, the home of the Lakota. Red Cloud, one of the Lakota's most respected chiefs, and Crazy Horse, a young but visionary warrior, understand full well the implications of this invasion. For the Lakota, the stakes are their home, their culture, their lives.
As fall bleeds into winter, Crazy Horse leads a small war party that confronts Colonel Carrington's soldiers with near constant attacks. Red Cloud, meanwhile, wants to build the tribal alliances that he knows will be necessary to defeat the soldiers. Colonel Carrington seeks to hold together a US Army beset with internal discord. Carrington's officers are skeptical of their commander's strategy, none more so than Lieutenant George Washington Grummond, who longs to fight a foe he dismisses as inferior in all ways. The rank-and-file soldiers, meanwhile, are still divided by the residue of civil war, and tempted to desertion by the nearby goldfields.
Throughout this taut saga―based on real people and events―Michael Punke brings the same immersive, vivid storytelling and historical insight that made his breakthrough debut so memorable. As Ridgeline builds to its epic conclusion, it grapples with essential questions of conquest and justice that still echo today.
"Punke is brilliant...[Ridgeline] confirms his mastery as a writer...The day of the battle is described in unflinching detail. The devastation feels real. Punke deeply respects Native American tribal history, and explains how an uneasy tribal allegiance led to battle victory...Ridgeline transcends genre categorization―any sophisticated reader would appreciate this novel." ―Booklist (starred review)
"[An] engrossing account of the violence and horror of a Wyoming massacre...Punke makes the battle vivid, and draws deep characterizations of individuals on both sides, exploring Crazy Horse's fear of impending change, U.S. soldiers' indifference to fighting, and a captain's lament of the breakdown of discipline and reason within the battalion's leadership. This is historical fiction at its best." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Richly detailed…fast paced…expansive, vivid…A nuanced story of conflict between Native people and Whites on the 19th-century American frontier." ―Kirkus Reviews
"Ridgeline is an exciting, vividly-imagined reconstruction of an extraordinary moment in the history of the American West. The novel is scrupulously researched, and its account of the major figures on both sides of a vicious conflict―their fears and desires, their strengths and their weaknesses―is insightful and thoroughly revealing." ―Ian McGuire, author of North Water and The Abstainer
"Like The Revenant, Ridgeline tackles another huge legend of the west and sets it right. With a memorable cast of characters, Punke tells the story of the Fetterman massacre, one of the final and most significant Native American victories over the US Army. A highly compelling page turner; you won't be able to put it down." ―Philipp Meyer, author of The Son and American Rust
This information about Ridgeline was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Michael Punke is the author of several books including The Revenant, a #1 New York Times bestseller and basis for the Academy Award–winning film. In his diverse professional career, Punke has served as the US ambassador to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, history correspondent for the Montana Quarterly, and an adjunct professor at the University of Montana. As a high school and college student, he worked summers as a living history interpreter at Fort Laramie National Historic Site in Wyoming. He lives with his family in Montana and is an avid outdoorsman.
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