Counting Coup

Among the Crow people, a warrior earned standing by striking an enemy during battle and surviving the encounter, an act known as counting coup. Larry Colton borrows that idea for this nonfiction account of contemporary life on the Crow Reservation in southeastern Montana, where the Little Bighorn battlefield lies nearby.

At the center of the book is Sharon LaForge, a basketball player whose skill could carry her out of her hometown. She is also a complicated figure: temperamental, magnetic, and fiercely competitive. She descends from one of the Crow men who served as scouts for George Armstrong Custer. Colton follows her through a season in which her ambitions run up against the pressures around her.

The book looks well beyond the basketball court. Colton examines broken households, the divisions of tribal politics, and the long history of conflict between Indians and white residents of the region. He also considers a widespread belief within the community that its young people, even the most gifted, are headed for disappointment.

Readers drawn to sports writing will find a strong athletic narrative here, but Colton's real subject is the gap between what American society promises and what reservation youth are given. The book suits readers interested in Native American life, rural poverty, and the social forces that shape a young athlete's future.