What happens when one of the most accomplished biographers of our time decides to examine the life of one of the most controversial figures of the 19th century? The answer is acclaimed author T.J. Stiles' latest work, Custer's Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America. While the book doesn't focus on the most well-known part of Custer's life — June 25, 1876, at the Little Bighorn, the day his famous luck ran out — its publication late last year came just shy of the 140th anniversary in 2016 of the notorious battle commonly known as Custer's Last Stand.
The death at age 36 of the flamboyant golden-haired West Point “goat” grad and famed Civil War “Boy General” stunned the country. And it has captivated us ever since. But it was the larger story of the real man rather than the myth that captivated Stiles.
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