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Dec 07, 2011

Erin rated it:

The fascinating stories of Cynthia Ann Parker and Quanah Parker bookend an endless recounting of battle after battle, in depth tactics (stressed again and again - once is interesting, 10 times, not so much) and all. In finally getting to the last stage of Quanah's life, a small portion of the book, some of the anecdotes have justifications that they are "worth noting" - of course they are, they are the most interesting parts! I do think that Gwynne stresses quite well the blow that res More...

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 23, 2010

Curtis rated it:

I'm not sure that comparing the fights against the Commanche in Texas to the Sioux Wars is really a topic that will bring a universal agreement as to who fought best and so on. The description of the tactics used by the Commanche in their fights and their horsemanship are identical to accounts of the fights in the northern plains and the skills of the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne.

The Sioux and Commanche share some common things as both were horse tribes, they both drove other tribes More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 10, 2011

William Thomas rated it:

As a historian, I will rarely give a general or popular history more than 3 stars. Much the same way I will never say 'an historian'. And no matter the amount of research that goes into popular history, it hardly ever seems to merit so much praise. And that is because it answers no questions, asks no new questions, puts forth none of its own theories, and has no one singular hypothesis. This book, although a fantastic, sweeping history of the Comanche, it is not a work to be discussed as academi More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Oct 18, 2011

Kurt rated it:

It's hard to imagine the plains of the central United States as author S. C. Gwynne describes them. However, having seen many Westerns lately, I could put myself there. The level of danger that pervades the everyday lives of both Indians and White settlers is astounding. This book contains very graphic descriptions of individual acts of torture, rape, mutilation, and village massacres. Gwynne builds the story well, and readers will clearly feel the tides turn in favor of the the bluecoats, espec More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 23, 2011

Dan rated it:

Not knowing much detail of this period of regional US history, I can't attest authoritatively to the accuracy of Empire of the Summer Moon but it feels like a very well researched work. Gwynne tells the stories of both the plains Indians and the white settlers in both a compassionate and critical manner. There is much, sometimes an amazing amount of, detail about the lives on boths sides in the southern great plains and learning the realities of what spawned the American Cowboys and Indians myth More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 02, 2011

Davidwitty rated it:

This book was recommended to me by a friend, who also recommended 'The Worst Hard Time.' He mentioned he thought this book would make a great prelude to anyone else considering reading TWHT. Before the white man could move into the great and fertile plains west of the Mississippi and turn the earth upside down to create one of the greatest man-made catastrophes our country has experienced, the land had to be tamed. And taming the plains took over a hundred years to do. Taming the plains mean More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 15, 2012

Lark rated it:

Growing up in Texas, I'd heard about Quanah Parker, and been curious. BOok seems to be even handed in tone, pointing out that both Native Americans and whites were vicious and cruel. It bounced around a little date-wise and story-wise. I'd have liked it better if he'd have gone strictly by date.

This was well-researched and well-written. Didn't try to make Mr. Gwynne's personal speculation into a crappy 99% fiction - "based on a true story" fairy tale. When he's guess More...

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Jan 05, 2012

D rated it:

This is not a quick or easy read. Gwynne gets high marks from me for being a truth-teller. This is meticulously referenced work. The portrayals of major characters are both vivid and without evident bias. I found the history and cultural insights into the Comanches fascinating. He makes it clear that, given the very soul of the Comanche existence; and the background, convictions and conscious or unconscious acceptance of Manifest Destiny on the part of the whites - there could have been only one More...

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Dec 20, 2011

William rated it:

I’ve been talking about Quanah Parker in my anthropology class for years, specifically in his relationship to the Native American Church. But I feel like this book just opened up a new corner of history for me. I don’t think I ever quite understood why Spanish/Mexican imperial interests were consistently thwarted somewhere in Texas. Empire of the Summer Moon also allows an important reminder to us prehistorians - migratory nations like the Comanche can wreak havoc on the world, but are archae More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2011

Anna-Liisa rated it:

I quit reading this book after the fourth chapter. As it is one of the most racist books I have ever read, I am baffled by the glowing reviews it receives. For your consideration:

"Thus the fateful clash between settlers from the culture of Aristotle, St. Paul, Da Vinci, Luther, and Newton and aboriginal horsemen from the buffalo plains happened as though in a time warp--as though the former were looking backward thousands of years at premoral, pre-Christian, low-barbarian versio More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Nov 30, 2011

Lissa rated it:

I didn't enjoy reading this book very much, since rape, scalping and gruesome disfigurement aren't really my cuppa tea. And it goes on for pages and pages in that vein, I suspect because S.C. Gwynne is opposing the noble savage image that doesn't apply very well to the Comanches. Yet they seem decent enough to the captives they adopt, to the point where the captives don't seem to want to return to white civilization. And Gwynne points out that those who were returned, especially women, were not More...

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Nov 28, 2011

Kelly rated it:

"Empire of the Summer Moon" is a blue-ribbon account of Comanche history and culture. It loosely adheres to a narrative centered around the story of Quanah Parker, the last "Chief" of the Comanches. There is an element of bravado in the writing; a kind of thumbing-of-the-nose to popular (mis)conceptions of Indian culture and the cult of violence associated with Comanches. That said, the history is solid, and editorializing is both minimal and justified. This book is treme More...

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Nov 19, 2011

David rated it:

This is an exciting work about a chapter of American history about which I apparently knew very little. It reviews a forty-year period of Comanche history, spanning roughly 1840-1880. Although Quanah Parker - the last chief of the Comanche tribe - is the focus of many chapters, this is not really a full biography of him as the picture and text on the book cover might lead you to believe. The description of Indian culture and politics is interesting, as is the discussion of life for white peopl More...

1 comment like

Oct 24, 2011

Sarah rated it:

"Empire of the Summer Moon" vividly portrays the Comanches' rise and domination of the Plains with a relatively unsophisticated (compared with other tribes) but efficient way of life based on horses, war, and buffalo. The overall history of the Comanches is what makes this book special and riveting, with its fascinating portrayal of the "geopolitical" interplay, so to speak, of the Plains tribes (Comanches, Kiowas, Apaches, Cheyennes, et al.), the Spanish, and the Texas front More...

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Oct 06, 2011

Owen rated it:

I was transfixed by this book, starting with the fact that 'Comanche' wasn't even what they called themselves; 'Comanche' was an Apache word for the tribe that meant, roughly, 'The People Who Fight Us Always.' There was so much I didn't know, lost in the cowboy movies of the old west, my chronology was a disaster. I know that Dances With Wolves was in there somewhere and long and boring. I had no idea of either the scope of the empire nor the violence they practiced competitively across Texas More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Sep 27, 2011

Edwin rated it:

A bit dry, but a worthwhile read. Way too many names too keep track of, what with all the brigadier generals and wacky sounding Indian tribe names (the fact that I listened to this book in the car probably contributed to my confusion at times), but this a great story of stunningly quick ascension of the Comanche tribe and it's equally brutal demise.

The Comanches are portrayed not as stereotypical noble savages, but as pragmatic agents in the not so ancient history of the wild wild w More...

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Sep 26, 2011

Brendan rated it:

This book tells the history of the Comanche wars in the 1840s through the 1870s, and to an extent the history of the Comanche tribe as a whole, through the frame of telling the history of Quanah Parker -- the son of a Comanche war chief and Cynthia Ann Parker, a girl who was kidnapped at the age of 9 during the course of a deadly raid on her family's compound on the Texas frontier, and who was adopted into the Comanches.

It's probably important to understand that this is more a topic More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 16, 2011

Bill rated it:

I bought this at the airport, it looked like a good read. A chapter or two in the language and stereotypes became really disturbing. His version of human history, summed up in two pages is just bizarre.The language, and long discredited concepts that Gwynne prattles along with are apalling."Higher civilizations", of which the Plains Indians were "three to four millennia behind". And oh yes, the Native Americans were "premoral, pre-Christian, low-barbarian versions" More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 16, 2011

Emmanuel rated it:

This is the story of a clash between two civilizations. One was represented by the white settlers who migrated westward over the North American continent, with a clear intent to have it all for themselves, and who brought with them the tools, knowledge, manpower and firepower of an industrial society, even if most of them were farmers. And the other was represented by the Comanches, a few thousand people leading a nomadic existence in one of the most inhospitable areas on the continent, with an More...

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Sep 01, 2011

Patricia rated it:

This is a fascinating look at one of the most primitive, fierce Plains tribes. Their apparent enjoyment of killing and torturing their victims with no moral problem of raping women, or roasting children to death is shocking. Their society of males who dominated the Plains on horseback is juxtaposed against their love for their families and even adopted family members who are usually kidnapped from other tribes or from white farms.

You can not help but have the greatest pity for Cyntha A More...

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Aug 18, 2011

Chuck rated it:

Empire of the Summer Moon by SC Gwynne is a highly worthwhile read. It describes the history of the Texas-Comanche conflict through the the early Twentieth Century.

SC Gwynne tells a great story and has worked very hard in researching his topic. He provides a compelling view of the Comanches and how Texas and the United States interacted with them. He concentrates mostly on conflict. Despite being an unapologetic Texas partisan, he does make a significant effort to present the Coman More...

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Aug 12, 2011

Hayley rated it:

This is a fascinating account of the rise and fall of the Comanche tribe of the Great Plains. Gwynne covers the history of the Comanche, beginning with their evolution from hunter/gatherers to skilled horsemen. By combining their cultural views toward courage and warfare with their impressive horsemanship, the tribe quickly became the ruling military force of the region, much to the chagrin of both the Mexican and U.S. governments. Gwynne focuses most of his research on the height of their More...

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Aug 07, 2011

Elizabeth rated it:

I am not pleased with this book at all. I was excited to read it because it looked fascinating and I have always had an interest in 19th-century American history. In fact, this is my field of study currently (I'm majoring in history and soon to graduate.) So, with my perspective of having learned and read much about this period and about white westward expansion during this period and earlier, I was truly shocked by some of the innaccuracies and inflammatory, racist assertions that are all over More...

5 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 02, 2011

Sharon rated it:

Richly detailed and well researched; a captivating read. Empire of the Summer Moon details the Comanches in the mid-west and the impact westward expansion, the settlement of Texas, the railroads, and the Civil War, had on their lifestyle, power, and influence. He also documents the life story of Quanah Parker, the last, and perhaps the greatest, Comanche Chief. Having lived in Oklahoma and Texas, and visited a vast majority of the areas discussed, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I don't doubt th More...

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Jul 07, 2011

Maryjoamani rated it:

I loved this book about western expansion and the end of the Comanche era in the U.S. It's been so long since I've read any history books and I forgot how much I enjoy them. I was riveted by Gwynne's accounting of the U.S./Indian wars in the mid 19th century and the interesting tale of how a half-breed, the son of a captured white woman from a prominent Texas family and a Comanche chief, became the last "leader" of the Comanches. It is an amazing story of cultural contact and influe More...

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Jun 26, 2011

Libby rated it:

This is impressive scholarship combined with easy readable prose, always a win-win situation. S.C. Gwynne tells the tale of the most feared and most powerful Indian tribe in U.S. history. He hangs it on a framework of the saga of white captive Cynthia Ann Parker and her famous son Quanah Parker. His tale is both tragic and triumphant depending on point of view, but it is full of fascinating glimpses of a highly romanticized time in Texas (and US) history. Now I was a Medieval European History ma More...

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Jun 21, 2011

Mary rated it:

Incredibly well researched and detailed depiction of the Last Frontier in America and the culture clash between Comanches, and other Native American tribes, and the settlers.

Although I have never before been all that interested in the Wild West days, I found myself totally capitivated by this story and couldn't put it down. It is a very balanced account of the lines that were drawn when settlers attempted to civilize our western territories which Comanches and other tribes conside More...

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Jun 16, 2011

Michael rated it:

Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne is a book about the Comanche Indian tribe. It tells the story of how the Comanche Indians rose to power to become the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. In the 1800s American settlers started moving in to Texas(Comanche territory). The Comanches performed raids on the white settlers. These raids led to the Comanche-Texas war. These wars lasted over 50 years from 1820 to 1875. Another part of this book follows Quanah Parker, the last chief of More...

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Jun 15, 2011

Marcelle rated it:

It's interesting, I'll give it that. And I'm learning more than I thought I would. But I'm over half way through the book and Quanah Parker hasn't risen past the toddler stage. (I got so frustrated just waiting for his mother's story to finish that I googled her to cut to the chase.)

Much of it is repetitive. Chapter 1, the Comanches were bad - stab, burn, rape, kill, steal. Chapter 2, the Comanches were bad - stab, burn, rape, kill, steal. etc etc. It does nothing to move the plot forw More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jun 02, 2011

Susan rated it:

I chose this book out of curiosity, because the reviews were good, and because it only had 320 pages. Before starting, I anticipated it would elicit from me maybe a 3- star rating, as historical accounts can sometimes be a struggle to read. However, to my surprise, I could not put the book down -- an historical account -- go figure!! If only my history classes in school had been this interesting. I loved learning about the Comanches and their culture (nomadic/hunter-gatherers/almost total s More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)