Last Stand

In the last three decades of the nineteenth century, an American buffalo herd once numbering 30 million animals was reduced to twelve. It was an age that treated the West as nothing more than a treasure chest of natural resources to be dug up or shot down. The U.S. Army aided those who hunted buffalo, considering its eradication to be essential to victory in the Army’s ongoing war on American Indians.

Into that maelstrom rode young George Bird Grinnell, a scientist, journalist, hunter and conservationist. In the first national battle over the environment, Grinnell and his allies sought to preserve an American icon from extinction. Grinnell shared his adventures with some of the most famous — and infamous — characters of the day, from John James Audubon and Buffalo Bill to George Armstrong Custer and Theodore Roosevelt. Last Stand is a classic Western tale, full of adventure, danger, and a hero who helped keep the West wild.

Michael Punke is a former partner in a Washington law firm, his diverse professional experience including work on the White House National Security Council and on Capitol Hill. He is the history correspondent for Montana Quarterly magazine. His books include Fire and Brimstone: The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917, a finalist for the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award, as well a novel, The Revenant. He lives with his family in Montana.

“Last Stand is all that western history should be.” — Alan K. Simpson, Former U.S. Senator from Wyoming