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

A very exceptional beginning to an extremely well written book. I look forward to the rest of it.I come from the Bloodline of Q.Parker and have learned a lot just in this sample,can't wait to read the rest and learn even more...Thank You to the author of this book for the factual basis of this read ..Chad Parker

The Comanches have a reputation as the most feared of all the Plains Indians. This book is not a romanticized version of the Comanches history but neither does it portray them as inhuman. S. C. Gwynne gives a balanced portrayal of a war between two peoples, both trying to survive. But, it is not just a war history. His focus on Cynthia Ann Parker and her son Quanah brings the story closer to home. He starts with the attack on the Parker homestead south of today’s Dallas, when 9-year-old Cynthia Ann was taken captive. He gives a brief history of the Comanches from their early days as buffalo hunters on foot to their “discovery” of the horse. That transformed them into efficient hunters and excellent horsemen, and those same skills made them a feared war machine. They ruled a vast area covering much of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas as well parts of Nebraska, New Mexico, and Colorado. It was Comanches who stopped the Spanish advance from Mexico and the French expansion from Louisiana. While their lances and bows may have seemed primitive, they were far more effective than the single-shot rifles that whites were using in the mid-1800s. The army dismounted during battle because it was impossible to reload on a horse. Comanches could get off 5 arrows before the first hit its target and with pinpoint accuracy. They used speed and avoided unneccessary risk. In fact, a common tactic was to sneak up at night, stampede the enemy’s horses, and leave exposed in an unforgiving and unfamiliar land on foot. There is an interesting story of how John Coffee Hays lead a band of Texas Rangers in the mid-1840s to some brief success. Hays imitated some of the Comanche’s tactics and promoted the new Colt revolver as a much better weapon on horseback. Gwynne tells how he saved the company from bankruptcy when he traveled east to suggest improvements and then promoted it in Texas. But the Mexican American War (1846-1848) intervened and afterwards, Hays moved to California to search for gold, the Rangers forgot Hays’ tactics, the Army never adopted them, and the Comanches pushed the settlers back again. Meanwhile, Cynthia Ann Parker had married a chief. Her first child, Quanah, was 12 when his father was killed and his mother and sister captured by the Army. He never saw them again. She was forcibly returned to her family but kept trying to escape until her death only a few years later. Quanah became, at 21, the leader of one of the strongest bands leading the fight against the white man. After the Civil War, General Ranald Mackenzie took the task of bringing all the Plains Indians to the Oklahoma reservation. Comanches were already beginning to weaken. Bands on the edge of their territory had been decimated by disease and hunters were destroying the buffalo that they depended on. Mackenzie quickly adapted to the Comanches’ tactics and began to have some success. Gradually, many chieftains led their bands to the reservations. Quanah was the last to give up in 1875. As before, he put his heart into it. Quanah Parker became a cattle rancher and school board chairman. He acted in an early silent movie. He dressed in western clothes, though he kept his long braids. He built a large house and became friends with General Mackenzie and even President Theodore Roosevelt who had dinner at his home. He attended Roosevelt’s 1905 inauguration. Quanah became the first and last “Principal Chief of the Comanches” and lobbied for the Indians. Quanah Parker did what his mother could not. He adapted to western civilization. Quanah spoke at the Texas State Fair in Dallas just a few months before his death in February 1911, saying, “I used to be a bad man. Now I am a citizen of the United States. I pay taxes same as you do. We are the same people now." Gwynne has done painstaking research, much of it from original sources. He writes of atrocities on both sides in graphic detail (warning). Once you start, it will be hard to stop (another warning). You may endure some nights with little sleep but it will be worth it.

This is , to date, in the top two best books about the Western United States that I have ever read. The other is Cadillac Desert. I will boldly assert that if anyone reads Empire of the Summer Moon, and Cadillac Desert, they will have a better understanding of the Western U.S. than anyone who hasn't read these books. I will also assert that these two books should replace "The Grapes if Wrath" and"East of Eden" for highschool students. To be clear, I think those two Steinbeck books would be third and fourth in my list.