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A review by captaincocanutty
Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne
challenging
informative
slow-paced
2.0
2.5 stars
This book is such a slog, I almost DNF'd it twice.
The first half of the book the author jumps around between the origins of the Commanches, their effect and interactions with Spanish and Mexican colonization in North America, the establishment of the Republic of Texas, the Civil War and after in an attempt to link themes and events together but it is repetitive and felt like an attempt to pad the word count. I felt like I was reading the same paragraph in different chapters. Quanah Parker doesn't even show up until over half way through the book, which is odd since the subtitle includes him specifically.
The author is a journalist, and it affects the sources and interpretation of historical events. He prefers written records to oral, which is a significant bias considering the tribe he is writing about has a strong oral tradition. The more overt bias of the times is pointed, but not the more subtle ones. For example, the Commanches take hostages, whereas Spaniards/Mexicans/Texans/Americans take prisoners.
It was interesting to read a non-academic and less biased source about Commanches and the history of the area, but some of the conclusions and analysis should be taken with a grain of salt. The half of the book following Quanah Parker was better written and better paced, which I believe is due to the fact that there was a set series of events that didn't require sequencing by the author.
This book is such a slog, I almost DNF'd it twice.
The first half of the book the author jumps around between the origins of the Commanches, their effect and interactions with Spanish and Mexican colonization in North America, the establishment of the Republic of Texas, the Civil War and after in an attempt to link themes and events together but it is repetitive and felt like an attempt to pad the word count. I felt like I was reading the same paragraph in different chapters. Quanah Parker doesn't even show up until over half way through the book, which is odd since the subtitle includes him specifically.
The author is a journalist, and it affects the sources and interpretation of historical events. He prefers written records to oral, which is a significant bias considering the tribe he is writing about has a strong oral tradition. The more overt bias of the times is pointed, but not the more subtle ones. For example, the Commanches take hostages, whereas Spaniards/Mexicans/Texans/Americans take prisoners.
It was interesting to read a non-academic and less biased source about Commanches and the history of the area, but some of the conclusions and analysis should be taken with a grain of salt. The half of the book following Quanah Parker was better written and better paced, which I believe is due to the fact that there was a set series of events that didn't require sequencing by the author.