Larry Colton lives in Portland, Oregon, and is the author of Goat Brothers, the acclaimed story of five University
of California at Berkeley fraternity brothers and their lives since the 1960s. A former professional baseball player,
Colton has contributed to numerous publications, including Esquire, Sports Illustrated, and the New York Times
Magazine.
Summary
Winner of the Frankfurt eBook Award for Best Nonfiction Book
Also Available as an eBook
In Native American tradition, a warrior gained honor and glory by "counting coup": touching his enemy
in battle and living to tell the tale. This is a modern story of...
COUNTING COUP
In this extraordinary work of journalism, Larry Colton journeys into the world of Montana's Crow Indians and
follows the struggles of a talented, moody, charismatic young woman named Sharon LaForge, a gifted basketball player
and a descendant of one of George Armstrong Custer's Indian scouts. But COUNTING COUP is far more than just a sports
story or a portrait of youth. It is a sobering exposé of a part of our society long since cut out of the
American dream.
Along the banks of the Little Big Horn, Indians and whites live in age-old conflict and young Indians grow up
without role models or dreams. Here Sharon carries the hopes and frustrations of her people on her shoulders as
she battles her opponents on and off the court. Colton delves into Sharon's life and shows us the realities of
the reservation, the shattered families, the bitter tribal politics, and a people's struggle against a belief that
all their children-even the most intelligent and talented-are destined for heartbreak. Against this backdrop stands
Sharon, a fiery, undaunted competitor with the skill to dominate a high school game and earn a college scholarship.
Yet getting to college seems beyond Sharon's vision, obscured by the daily challenge of getting through the season-physically
and psychologically-in one piece.
As Sharon competes on the court, and her team moves toward the state championship, the pieces of her life come
together in a jarring picture. Here we meet her estranged, alcoholic mother and even more distant father. We meet
Sharon's loving but permissive grandmother. We meet other Crow, young and old, who see Sharon not as a person but
as a symbol of struggle. And here we meet Sharon's teammates and friends, Indian and white, in a cauldron of teenage
relationships, replete with illicit love affairs, betrayals, drinking, and pregnancy.
A vivid, unforgettable portrait of a little-seen part of America, COUNTING COUP dramatically chronicles the
way the sins of the past are visited upon the present. Most of all, this moving, engrossing account makes us care
deeply about Sharon LaForge: her fights, her future, and our own hope that having touched her enemies in battle,
she will live to tell the story.
