Title: Huge Disappointment
Review: This book is useful as a reference to the Indian War of 1865 only. Anyone merely looking for names, dates, and places will be well-served by this title. For those looking for an engaging read, look elsewhere. Author McDermott seems to sleep-walk through Circle of Fire. It's like reading a batch of research notes. McDermott barely bothered to put them into narrative form. At 175 pages (the rest of the "book" is taken up by notes, bibliography and index), the book is WAY too short. Couple this with McDermott's teeth-grindingly annoying insistance on referring to Indian raiders as "avengers" (ostensibly for Sand Creek), and this is a book to avoid at all costs.As a counterpoint, readers might want to look at "Massacre Along the Medicine Road." Although I detest the PC sensibilities of this title, it is beautifully written and a pleasure to read. McDermott makes frequent mention of it in Circle of Fire. Unfortunately, he wasn't more successful in emulating it.
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