{"id":101203,"date":"2018-02-26T15:48:42","date_gmt":"2018-02-26T22:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/book-sets-the-record-straight-about-crazy-horse\/"},"modified":"2018-02-26T15:48:42","modified_gmt":"2018-02-26T22:48:42","slug":"book-sets-the-record-straight-about-crazy-horse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/book-sets-the-record-straight-about-crazy-horse\/","title":{"rendered":"Book sets the record straight about Crazy Horse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"From
From left, Spotted Tail, Dull Knife (Roaming Noise), Old Man Afraid of His Horse, Lone Horn, Whistle Elk, Pipe On Head and Slow Bull take part in the 1868 Fort Laramie treaty talks.<\/span>Courtesy of the Edward Clown Family<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

When author William Matson set out to help write Crazy Horse: The Lakota Warrior\u2019s Life & Legacy, he was trying to fulfill a death-bed promise he made to his father.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad was (in) World War II, and the drill sergeant used to ask, \u2018Who won the battle of Little Big Horn?\u2019 And he said, \u2018The Indians did.\u2019 And that was the wrong answer,\u201d he said. \u201cApparently, he held a grudge, and he passed it to his son. He was going to write a book on the Native side, but life got in the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then his father got lymphoma.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn his deathbed, he asked me to do it. It wasn\u2019t really my deal, but I said, \u2018OK,\u2019\u201d Matson said. \u201cYou can\u2019t say no.\u201d<\/p>\n

What happened next was a yearslong quest that ultimately led him to meet with members of Crazy Horse\u2019s family, who had been working on establishing their bloodlines as a result of a federal court case against the Hornell Brewing Co.<\/p>\n

The result of that meeting is the book, which Matson and Crazy Horse family members Floyd Clown and Doug War Eagle will be in Durango to talk about on Tuesday at Durango Public Library.<\/p>\n

It will be their 95th book-signing.<\/p>\n

For Matson, writing the book was not an easy task \u2013 there was the family\u2019s trust to be gained, ensuring accuracy and being able to write about the family\u2019s spiritual journey and spiritual ceremonies and being able to interpret them so people outside the culture could understand what they meant to the Lakota.<\/p>\n

But he wasn\u2019t nervous about it \u201cbecause it was my dad\u2019s request. He wanted a book. I was a documentary filmmaker, and something I felt comfortable with was doing a script, but it ended up being a book anyway. \u2026 It was almost like it was ordained the way it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Clown, the path to the book began with that case against Hornell. When research into the family\u2019s bloodlines found that the administrator of the Crazy Horse estate wasn\u2019t actually a family member, Clown was appointed administrator. And the quest for the family\u2019s truth \u2013 and undoing misconceptions about Crazy Horse \u2013 began.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause there are 3,000 of us today, we wanted to make sure that each family member heard the same story how the oral history is told. This is what we did for the family,\u201d he said. \u201cWe made this book originally for children and grandchildren so we made sure that these oral histories we were told (were accurate).\u201d<\/p>\n

Clown said that even though the book was for the family, they felt compelled to release it far beyond the 3,000 members.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we were almost done with the book, they said that because they used my grandfather\u2019s name around the world, that I would have to share it with the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For people outside the family, there are lessons in the book Clown wants people to take away.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways be truthful and honest. That\u2019s the only way we\u2019ll have trust in this world. One of my grandfathers said these few things are missing in the world \u2013 truth, honesty and trust. And then no more assumptions: It\u2019s time for truth,\u201d he said. \u201cLike one of my grandfathers said: \u2018Grandson, you have two sets of eyes, one you see with, and one, with your heart through your eyes you see the real truth. \u2026 Don\u2019t be looking with just one set of eyes at what you see; look with your heart through your eyes and see the real truth.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

katie@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

If you go<\/h4>\n

What:
\n Crazy Horse family members Floyd Clown and Doug War Eagle, along with author William Matson, will discuss and sign their book Crazy Horse: The Lakota Warrior\u2019s Life & Legacy.
\n When:<\/strong>
\n 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
\n Where:<\/strong>
\n Program Rooms 1 and 2, Durango Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave.
\n More information:<\/strong>
\n Visit
\n http:\/\/bit.ly\/2GzA3B7<\/a>
\n or call 375-3387. Book is available at
\n Maria\u2019s Bookshop<\/a>
\n , 960 Main Ave.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Durango Public Library hosting discussion with author, members of Crazy Horse family<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":101204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5843],"tags":[13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-101203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101203"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=101203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}