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bodaciousgaucho's review against another edition
5.0
Great information on the history of the Comanche people, the interactions between indigenous, Spanish/Mexican and Anglo/American cultures and the events and factors that contributed to the destruction of the great buffalo herds that were essential to the nomadic Plains Indians.
The book relates the good, the bad and the ugly as individuals and groups fought for domination and survival in the wilds of the plains in the 19th century.
The book relates the good, the bad and the ugly as individuals and groups fought for domination and survival in the wilds of the plains in the 19th century.
brentdot's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
damestra's review against another edition
1.0
Yikes. So I finished this book largely because I wanted to review it and that's kind of my requirement. There were a lot of failures in regards to this text.
First, the recommendation algorithm, which somehow saw I loved such wonderful amazing texts like Braiding Sweetgrass and thought I would equally enjoy this unbalanced research project.
Second, the Pulitzer committee which actually chose this text as a finalist. Third, the author himself who - as a Western non-Indigenous scholar - did a lot of research yet completely ignored, occluded, or invalidated almost all non-white perspectives while building this text. For the first section of the book, I kept wondering if the voices and thoughts/histories of the tribes mentioned would be in a later chapter, offering a competing and more fulsome understanding of the time period - but no. They just weren't present.
Finally, I failed by not looking more carefully into the text and the author before picking up this text. If I had, I would have seen that it was not only thought poorly of by the Indigenous communities, but actually condemned by many of them. The book is very one-sided. Let the time I've spent here save you the trouble so you can skip this book for something better (like the aforementioned Braiding Sweetgrass).
First, the recommendation algorithm, which somehow saw I loved such wonderful amazing texts like Braiding Sweetgrass and thought I would equally enjoy this unbalanced research project.
Second, the Pulitzer committee which actually chose this text as a finalist. Third, the author himself who - as a Western non-Indigenous scholar - did a lot of research yet completely ignored, occluded, or invalidated almost all non-white perspectives while building this text. For the first section of the book, I kept wondering if the voices and thoughts/histories of the tribes mentioned would be in a later chapter, offering a competing and more fulsome understanding of the time period - but no. They just weren't present.
Finally, I failed by not looking more carefully into the text and the author before picking up this text. If I had, I would have seen that it was not only thought poorly of by the Indigenous communities, but actually condemned by many of them. The book is very one-sided. Let the time I've spent here save you the trouble so you can skip this book for something better (like the aforementioned Braiding Sweetgrass).
shiink's review against another edition
2.0
Quanah Parker is not the central character as the title leads one to believe. The writing was a bit all-over-the-place. Interesting history of the Comanches, but poorly organized.
alainab113's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence
donnawr1's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed reading this book, even though some parts of it were pretty gruesome and I had to take it in small doses. The mutilation of people before they were killed by both the Comanches and the Texans was the difficult part. But I appreciated the detail because it made the responses of the people at the time fit the deeds that were happening. Because the Comanches were so brutal and aggressive, they were able to keep Europeans and Americans from settling on their lands for hundreds of years. I appreciate that accomplishment, although not the means.
I enjoyed learning about the transition of the Comanches from a lesser tribe to the most feared horse tribe in the West because of their superb skills being able to hunt and fight on horseback. They were much better than other tribes and terrorized them as well. The Comanche lived an entirely hunter-gatherer existence and I found it fascinating to learn about that. The author repeatedly refers to them as stone age peoples and, although some readers found this offensive, I found it to fit with details from early humanoid lifestyles I had also been learning about. It was fascinating to see the similarities, with trappings of the modern era layered on top as horses and then goods from White peoples filtered into their lifestyle. I never appreciated the vastness and fear the White settlers felt when they first encountered the plains in this region.
The author did an excellent job showing how the tribe changed over this tumultuous time period, incorporating traditions from other tribes, banding together in ways never previously done, and eventually trying to transition to life on a reservation. It was heartbreaking when several members of the tribe got permission to go on a buffalo hunt after they had lived on the reservation for years, only to find that all the buffalo were gone. They knew their previous lifestyle was gone forever.
The author also did a good job putting the interactions of whites with the Comanche into the context of other historical events, including the interactions with Mexico, Texas and the Civil War. There were three characters who were especially highlighted: Cynthia Ann Parker, a 9 year old girl captured and raised by the Comanche who became the mother of the last great chief- Quanah Parker (her son) and Raynald Slidell MacKenzie, the Civil War veteran who led the final battles which led to the surrender of the Comanche. All were fascinating to learn about in such detail. Gwynne's writing style was enjoyable for a general public history and I found he was balanced in showing how each side interpreted what was happening to them. No one was all good or all bad, and overall his sympathies probably tended more toward the Comanche.
I enjoyed learning about the transition of the Comanches from a lesser tribe to the most feared horse tribe in the West because of their superb skills being able to hunt and fight on horseback. They were much better than other tribes and terrorized them as well. The Comanche lived an entirely hunter-gatherer existence and I found it fascinating to learn about that. The author repeatedly refers to them as stone age peoples and, although some readers found this offensive, I found it to fit with details from early humanoid lifestyles I had also been learning about. It was fascinating to see the similarities, with trappings of the modern era layered on top as horses and then goods from White peoples filtered into their lifestyle. I never appreciated the vastness and fear the White settlers felt when they first encountered the plains in this region.
The author did an excellent job showing how the tribe changed over this tumultuous time period, incorporating traditions from other tribes, banding together in ways never previously done, and eventually trying to transition to life on a reservation. It was heartbreaking when several members of the tribe got permission to go on a buffalo hunt after they had lived on the reservation for years, only to find that all the buffalo were gone. They knew their previous lifestyle was gone forever.
The author also did a good job putting the interactions of whites with the Comanche into the context of other historical events, including the interactions with Mexico, Texas and the Civil War. There were three characters who were especially highlighted: Cynthia Ann Parker, a 9 year old girl captured and raised by the Comanche who became the mother of the last great chief- Quanah Parker (her son) and Raynald Slidell MacKenzie, the Civil War veteran who led the final battles which led to the surrender of the Comanche. All were fascinating to learn about in such detail. Gwynne's writing style was enjoyable for a general public history and I found he was balanced in showing how each side interpreted what was happening to them. No one was all good or all bad, and overall his sympathies probably tended more toward the Comanche.