Contract Surgeon

Dan O’Brien is the author of numerous novels and memoirs, including Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch, winner of the Western Heritage Award for best nonfiction in 2001 and selected as the 2009 One Book South Dakota winner. His books Stolen Horses, Equinox, and The Indian Agent are available from the University of Nebraska Press.

“This powerful story is a thinking man’s western, in which action is secondary to O’Brien’s nuanced exploration of character and the tragic dimensions of a morally fraught conflict.”—Publishers Weekly|“Draws a vivid portrait of Crazy Horse and gives an interesting, fresh perspective on the Great Sioux War.”—Larry McMurtry, author of Lonesome Dove|“Impeccably researched.”—New York Times|“The Contract Surgeon is an eerie, harrowing novel with terrifying implications. There is the aura that the ghosts of the Sioux made him write this book. It is lucid and harsh, and deftly avoids the sentimentality that mars novels that deal with our first citizens. The Contract Surgeon should bring O’Brien to the wide audience he deserves.”—Jim Harrison, author of Legends of the Fall|“A thoughtful work of fiction about historical and psychological frontiers.”—National Public Radio|“An intriguing, well-written, down-to-earth medical western.”—Booklist

• AcknowledgmentsAuthor's NoteIntroductionChronology of EventsThe Contract Surgeon [41 numbered chapters]