Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History

This is an absolutely fascinating and incredibly well-written book about the history of the Comanches and their tremendous impact on the history of Texas and the Great Plains. I've read several of the books Mr. Gwynne used as references, T. R. Fehrenbach's The Comanches and Bill Neely's The Last Comanche Chief, but I have to put this book in a class by itself, largely because of the writing which is excellent. Both the Fehrenbach and Neely books are also superbly written, just to be clear about that, and I particularly liked the Neely book, especially because maybe a decade ago Mr. Neely took me and a mutual friend on a tour of Palo Duro canyon, a place which figures prominently in the history of the Comanches in general and Quanah Parker in particular.Empire of the Summer Moon should be of interest not only to those who are familiar with the story of the Comanches since they'll learn things they didn't know (as I did) but, moreover, to anyone with an interest in American history as this is a saga that our educational system, alas, tends to deal with only as bromides about the poor "Native Americans" who had their land stolen by those dastardly white folk. That's true, of course, but it was sadly inevitable; as I think Fehrenbach pointed out, they were doomed the day Europeans landed in North America as a stone age culture simply cannot survive against a modern one. Could we have done better in our treatment of them? You bet, and much of what was done by both individuals and successive state and Federal administrations was - and is - absolutely inexcusable. But keep in mind that the Comanches especially were a tribe which lived for war and treated the Mexicans and Texans with the same savagery as they treated the other tribes, many of which ultimately got their revenge by scouting for the cavalry.Although they didn't scout for the cavalry, ever wonder why the Apaches lived in those desolate mountains and deserts? The reason is simple: the Comanche mastered the horse like no other tribe and, as we would say in these politically correct times, "ethnically cleansed" the Apaches to the point of extinction so they retreated to places the Comanche simply didn't want. All of this and much more is effectively laid out in this fine book. You'll also learn about Ranald MacKenzie, the great cavalry leader who ultimately defeated the Comanches by following the lessons of the Texas Rangers, the first group to successfully battle the Comanches, once armed by Samuel Colt. Incidentally, there's a biography of Mackenzie called Bad Hand to which Gwynne refers and it, too, is well worth reading.Although the book is a history of the Comanches, it is particularly a history of Quanah Parker, his mother Cynthia Ann Parker, and his father, Peta Nocona, who was a chief of the Comanche bands. For those who didn't know this, the John Wayne movie The Searchers was inspired by the story of Cynthia Ann Parker, who as a child (like the Natalie Wood character in The Searchers) saw her family brutalized and murdered by the Comanches and was then raised by the tribe. It also was the inspiration for Philipp Meyer's The Son, now a series on AMC. Many of Larry McMurtry's books also deal with the Comanches and you'll soon understand why the full moon or Comanche Moon or Summer Moon, call it what you will, was a time of terror for Texans.You really should read this book. It'll give you an insight into our past that will hopefully inspire even more reading on this incredibly important but little-known part of American history.

This is by far the most interesting and comprehensive account of life in central prairies of United States from the late 17 until late 19 centuries. What is now much of Texas and parts of surrounding states was referred to as Comancheria back then. It was populated by extremely war-like peoples whose fates were intertwined in myriads of ways with populations of two growing empires, Spanish and Anglo-American. War chief of Comanche, Quanah, personified it more than anybody else - his father was famous leader of his tribe and his mother was a Texan captive, who refused to go back to her folks even when she had clear opportunity to do so.Couple of things (other than the book is well written and very well researched) I would like to single out.1. Because of Hollywood movies with John Wayne (and for those who is from former Warsaw pact areas, German movies with Goiko Mitic) life of Indians from American West seem somehow romantic and even glamorous. Author does a very good job bringing back to reality anybody who still holds such views. There was nothing romantic or glamorous to live as Comanche in those days. It was very hard and unpredictable life or Stone Age hunter-gatherers who put heavy focus on military abilities of their members and were almost in constant state of war with its neighbours. Life expectancy was very short, especially for males, and dependence on buffalo herds and horse stocks was paramount. Rules of war were very different and tortures were widespread. Although life of Comanche and other prairie tribes was, as classic put it, nasty, brutish and short, it does not make it less interesting. Not romantic but extremely interesting I would say and reader can find many remarkable details of Comanche lifestyle. Some of them may be repulsive (like tendency to catch lice and crack it with teeth), some weird (like taboo for throwing a shadow over pot with cooking meat), some blood-chilling (like all those tortures) and all of them universe away from what we accustomed to nowadays. Reading descriptions of Comanches is like looking at the very dawn of humanity with all its features brightly unfolded.2. While reading, one inevitably will pose a question - did they ever had a chance to survive and adopt? I mean, yes, technically speaking some Comanches did survive and they even have the country in Oklahoma (see Wikipedia for more) but looking broader one can't help noticing that this is not exactly survival Comanches might want. Yes, it is almost impossible to imagine peaceful coexistence of Anglo-American settlements and Comanche war culture. But after I have read the book I think such chance was there. When US president of the time established agency for dealing with Indians, where food and other stuff was supposed to be distributed and all disputes were supposed to be resolved, actual chance for making real long lasting peace with full inclusion of Comanches into American mainstream was there. It did not work though and the reason for that was powerfully banal - corruption. It may sound strange but Comanches were victims of corruption in that government agency almost as much as of notorious buffalo hunters who killed off their means of subsistence and of famous six-shooter that all Indian fighters were ultimately armed with.This is a very good book to read and contemplate upon.