Ridgeline

‘An exciting, vividly-imagined reconstruction of an extraordinary moment in the history of the American West’ Ian McGuire, bestselling author of THE NORTH WATER and INCREDIBLE BODIES

‘A highly compelling page turner; you won’t be able to put it down’ Philipp Meyer, author of THE SON and AMERICAN RUST

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 a young, ambitious nation and the Native tribes who have lived on the land for centuries. 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.

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.

Reviews

‘An exciting, vividly-imagined reconstruction of an extraordinary moment in the history of the American West’ Ian McGuire, bestselling author of THE NORTH WATER and INCREDIBLE BODIES

‘A highly compelling page turner; you won’t be able to put it down’ Philipp Meyer, author of THE SON and AMERICAN RUST

‘Punke is brilliant: an author (The Revenant, 2002), attorney, professor, former U.S. ambassador, and current vice president at Amazon Web Services. Ridgeline, a novelization of the 1866 Fetterman Fight, in which a confederacy of Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes fought a detachment of U.S. soldiers from Fort Phil Kearny in the Dakota Territory (present-day Wyoming), confirms his mastery as a writer. A foreboding sense of ruin and sadness clings to each page…Ridgeline transcends genre categorization—any sophisticated reader would appreciate this novel’ Booklist

‘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’ Publisher’s Weekly

About the author

Michael Punke is the author of The Revenant which was made into an Oscar winning movie directed by Alejandro Gonzalez starring Leonardo DiCaprio. He lives with his family in Montana. Punke is the history correspondent for Montana Quarterly magazine. Punke is also the author of a work of nonfiction, Fire and Brimstone: The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917, a finalist for the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award.