Robert M. Utley in the field
Hi, friends! You have reached Robert M. Utley, a.k.a. The Old Bison. I assume most of you have enough interest in me to access this web site. You probably know of me as the author of many books and other publications dealing with various aspects of the American West.

That I am, but as a historian for my entire career (I’m now early in my eighties) I emerge from two traditions: addiction to writing about the history of the West, and a long-time career in the National Park Service logoNational Park Service, which I served as its chief historian during one of the most critical periods in its history. Even then I wrote books, and since retiring from the federal government in 1980 I have devoted myself almost entirely to writing books. I still consider myself a proud veteran of the National Park Service and keep current with its people and activities. The two traditions were not separate. I kept one foot in both traditions and another in academia and its various professional offsprings. I am a product of all those experiences.

For those who wish to know more about me and these experiences, consult my memoir, Custer and Me: A Historian's Memoir , published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 2004. If you are looking for a The cover of my memoir, Custer and Me: A Historian's Memiorparticular book, including my memoir, virtually all are still in print and available under Robert M. Utley at www.amazon.com. Less digestible but providing ample detail is my CV, as well as a list of my publications.

I now live in a retirement community in Scottsdale, Arizona, with my wife of thirty years, Melody Webb. She’s also a published author and a veteran of the National Park Service.

You may e-mail me at old.bison@ymail.com. You can’t call me because I am severely hearing impaired, though otherwise in fairly good health. I still write, with my latest book being a biography of Geronimo, recently published by Yale University Press.

Geronimo book cover

Geronimo

Part of the Lamar Series on Western History

 Now Available

at Amazon.com and other fine retailers
Bronze Western Heritage Award, The Wrangler
Winner Western Heritage Award
Wrangler for Outstanding Nonfiction

National Cowboy Museum
and Western Heritage Center

 
Winner of the Spur Award - Best Western Nonfiction-Biography
Western Writers of America
Wall Street Journal

Robert Utley peels away the legend to reveal a complex and difficult man whose life began in a world untouched by American civilization and extended into the twentieth century.
Fergus Bordewich             

New York Review of Books

Robert Utley is an accomplished and meticulous historian, with a solid grasp of the history of the American West.
Larry McMurtry             


Utley acknowledges Geronimo’s courage, determination and intelligence. But he takes vigorous issue with the romanticized image of Geronimo as a heroic defender of his homeland, popularized by a genre that includes such titles as Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Custer Died for Your Sins. “While Geronimo’s legacy in history is undying,” Utley writes, “he emerges essentially as a not very likable man.
H.W. Brands               


Geronimo is the latest book by Robert Utley, one of the greatest contemporary writers on the American west and author of an acclaimed 1993 biography of the Sioux chief Sitting Bull.
Paul Harris                 




Go to Publications page  Go to Biographical page  List Robert M. Utley's books on Amazon.com

Copyright 2013 Robert M. Utley                         Web site design by Mark Foshee                         Amazon.com is a registered trademark of Amazon.com, Inc.