Don Coldsmith dies

Author of Novels About Plains Indians DiesDon Coldsmith, a family physician who gained fame as the author of the Spanish Bit Saga novels about the Plains Indians, has died. He was 83.

Coldsmith, 83, died Thursday at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kan., said his wife, Edna. She said he suffered a stroke June 20 after attending the Western Writers of America conference in Oklahoma City.

Coldsmith was the group's president in 1983-84. In 1990, he received its Spur Award for "Changing Wind," one of the Spanish Bit Saga series.

Coldsmith began work in the 1980s on the Spanish Bit Saga novels, which chronicle the momentous change in the lives of Plains Indians wrought by the introduction of the horse by Spanish explorers.Comment:  For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Books.