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

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Later, as a grown woman, Cynthia became famous when recaptured with her baby daughter in a brutal cavalry raid while skinning buffalo and loading meat as the wife of a chief. Her defiant resistance to return to white cultural ways captured the imagination of the American public. She refused to speak English and perpetually tried to run away to her people, eventually dying of pneumonia. A different kind of fame arose when it came out that her mixed race son, who at age 12 escaped during the raid and grew up to become the brilliant warrior and leader of the reclusive Quahadi band of the Comanche, Quanah Parker. In chapter four, Gwynne compares the Comanche warriors to the Celts, and later, in chapter five, to the Spartans. Both were war-driven cultures that prided themselves on being more fearless than their opponents. Can you think of any other historical cultures that remind you of the Comanche? Do you think it is fair to identify this tribe solely based on their ability to wage and win wars?

In the 2021 Paramount+ TV series 1883, Martin Sensmeier plays Sam, a skilled Comanche warrior loyal to Quanah Parker, who later takes Elsa as his wife. Empire of the Summer Moon spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches. Gwynne offers captivating portraits of individuals frequently left out of histories of the American West. While early history of the Comanche remains much of a mystery, Gwynne brings the Comanche into sharp focus from 1830s Texas until their ultimate surrender in the late 19th Century. Dale L. Walker (May 30, 2010). "Book review, 'Empire of the Summer Moon,' by S.C. Gwynne". Dallas Morning News. Empire of the Summer Moon is a skillfully told, brutally truthful, history. The result, the Walker Colt, was one of the most effective and deadly pieces of technology ever devised, one that would soon kill more men in combat than any sidearm since the Roman short sword.”

The White Man goes into his church house and talks about Jesus, but the Indian goes into his tipi and talks to Jesus. [12] Book Genre: American History, Biography, Historical, History, Native American History, Native Americans, Nonfiction, North American Hi…, War, Westerns Smith, Paul Chaat (2009). Everything You Know about Indians Is Wrong. U of Minnesota Press. p.146. ISBN 978-0816674022.

While he talks about “savages” and “uncivilized” he is careful to ascribe those to the attitudes of the time and to how different people felt. But Gwynne laments the fact that the historical record and reporting of events is jaded. While he may cover atrocities committed by the Comanche’s, he does not let the Texan Rangers or U.S. Military off the hook. He calls them out for their atrocities as well. The raid by a small party of fearsomely painted Comanches, riding into a poorly protected settlement or camp ~~ killing the men, raping the women, and stealing children and horses ~~ was a way of life. White Texas settlers on the north-south 98th meridian, or blood meridian, where the prairie began, were a particular threat, and bore the brunt of the Comanches' ruthless cruelty in the mid-1800s. VIRTUAL: An Evening with Historian S. C. Gwynne, Author of Hymns of the Republic". WKSU . Retrieved April 1, 2022.In the end I give this 2 stars, not because I thought it deserves 2 stars, per se, but because the wee bit of information that actually involved Quanah Parker was interesting and was the sole reason I wanted to read the book. But even those parts were a stretch. In the Comanche language, kwana means "an odor" or "a smell". Comanche warriors often took on more active, masculine names in maturity, but Quanah Parker retained the name his mother gave him, initially in tribute to her after her recapture.