Herman J. Viola

Herman J. Viola, Curator Emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution and former director of the Smithsonian’s National Anthropological Archives, is the biographer of Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, whose Cheyenne grandfather Black Horse fought at Little Bighorn. His work with American Indians over the last twenty-five years has given him unique access to the Indian community. In 1997, he became the adopted brother of Joseph Medicine Crow, whose grandfather White Man Runs Him was one of Custer’s six Crow scouts. Dr. Viola is the author of fifteen books, including After Columbus, North American Indians, and It Is a Good Day to Die. He lives in Falls Church, Virginia, and Bozman, Maryland.