Dances with Wolves

Book Description

Ordered to hold an abandoned army post, John Dunbar found himself alone, beyond the edge of civilization. Thievery and survival soon forced him into the Indian camp, where he began a dangerous adventure that changed his life forever. Relive the adventure and beauty of the incredible movie, DANCES WITH WOLVES.

Customer Reviews:

The book is better, in my opinion........2006-10-11

A friend recently gave me a copy of the "Dances With Wolves" movie (one of my favorites since seeing it years ago) and the book which I had never read. After a repeat viewing of the movie, I read the book.

The main reason I normally prefer the book versions of a story is that one gets to know the thoughts and feelings of the main characters that embellish each scene and are actually sometimes needed to understand the full scope.

This reason especially applies in the case of "Dances With Wolves," written by Michael Blake. The main character is alone with only his horse, the infrequent visits of a lone wolf and his brief journalized thoughts for company until his company includes a nearby camp of Indians. As the beautiful and memorable story transpires amidst a language barrier, one is privy to a richness of behind-the-scenes depth the movie version is limited in presenting.

There are a few variations between the movie and the book, including the ending (and I prefer the ending of the book), but if you liked the movie, you will love the book.

Better than the movie.......2006-08-26

I saw the movie only once and it was good, but this book was way better! I can't wait to read Holy road.

Dances With Wolves: a review.......2006-05-31

Michael Blake's book Dances With Wolves is a great read, and one that I really enjoyed. The story is about Lt. John Dunbar, a lieutenant in the Union army during the Civil War. After being sent to an abandoned post by a drunk General Lt. Dunbar is forced to live on his own without anybody knowing that he is stationed at Fort Sedgwick, due to the fact that the guy that drove him out there was killed on the trip back, and the General was admitted into a mental hospital. Living on his own Lt. Dunbar befriends the Comanche Indians living just down the river from him, after they try to steel his horse. And that sends him on a trip through life that will cause him to change forever.
I thought that Michael Blake did an excellent job of developing the characters, especially Lt. Dunbar, Stands With a Fist, and Kicking Bird. I personally felt like I knew these characters after I was about halfway through Dances With Wolves, I was even into predicting what each character would do next. I guess the fact that I was able to do that means that the book was some-what predictable, but that doesn't change the fact that it has a good plot.
Dances With Wolves has a great theme, saying that however alone you feel or think you are, there is always somebody around that you can befriend. You can see this in Dances With Wolves when Lt. Dunbar realizes that he is alone at Fort Sedgwick and that there are no replacements coming back. Which made him feel utterly and completely alone, even pushed him into depression. Then the Comanche Indian kicking Bird found him and his camp, and this started that process of Lt. Dunbar and the Comanche Indians befriending each other.

Shook-mani-took-tonka Oh wachi.......2006-04-23

The Costner movie based on this book is one of my favorite movies ever, so it was only natural for me to pick this book when I saw it. As most would agree, the movie is NEVER as good as the book, so I quickly surmised that, since the movie was fabulous, the book must reach vast unknown limits of greatness, right? Well, not exactly. Michael Blake's writing of DANCES WITH WOLVES is certainly a good book and a wonderful story, it is Costner's ability to turn this story into such a brilliant production that is the real achievement here.

I have found that normally, if I like a movie and read the book afterwards, it serves to enhance what I saw on film. In this case, however, the book had somewhat the opposite effect for me. There are differences between the two that only seem to diminish Costner's work. A couple of things I knew already, such as Costner's use of the Indian Chief, Ten Bears, who I knew to have been a great Comanche, not a Sioux.

Well, as it turns out, the book is written to that effect. The Indians befriended by Lt. Dunbar and portrayed in the movie as Sioux, are actually Comanche. Now I can understand the alteration here, for a couple of reasons. First of all, though most Americans are notoriously ignorant of our rich history, for the most part, people do know the Comanche were the badest of the bad and it would be an increased degree of difficulty to portray the Comanche in a positive light as being rather passive and wanting only to be left alone to live in peace. Though the Sioux were hardly any more docile, their reputation is certainly not nearly as notorious. Also, for cinematic reasons, it's certainly understandable that the domain of the northern Sioux is a more picturesque backdrop that the barren plains of the Southern Comanche. Also, the Sioux language of the movie has a more poetic feel to it and is somewhat more widely recognized than the rather obscure Shoshonean spoken by the Comanche.

I hope I haven't given the wrong impression here. This is a very enjoyable read, though it is a rare occasion where the book was not nearly as enjoyable, for me at least, as was the movie.

Monty Rainey
www.juntosociety.com

Inspiring and Amazing.......2006-03-24

I don't know why there are somewhat negative remarks about this book. I seriously loved this book and recomend everyone should read it sometime during their lifetime. It's just one of the many examples of the white man and his reckless and destructive behaviour, and pains suffered by the Indians who owned this land before any body else.
I took a course in Native Americans in college and you further see the destruction, chaos and murder that we the white have perpetrated. It's a very moving book and I found it to be inspiring on one side but also sad.
Trully a remarkable book, would recommend everyone should read it.

Average customer rating:

Excellent...I Hated for it to End
Good, but not as good as Lonesome Dove
4.5 stars
Part of a huge masterpiece.
An excellent book

Comanche Moon
Larry McMurtry
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0684807548

Amazon.com

In a book that serves as a both a sequel to Dead Man's Walk and a prequel to the beloved Lonesome Dove, McMurtry fills in the missing chapters in the Call and McCrae saga. It is a fantastic read, in many ways the best and gutsiest of the series. We join the Texas Rangers in their waning Indian-fighting years. The Comanches, after one last desperate raid led by the fearsome-but-aging Buffalo Hump, are almost defeated, though Buffalo Hump's son, Blue Duck, still terrorizes the relentless flow of settlers and lawmen. As Augustus and Woodrow follow one-eyed, tobacco-spitting Captain Inish Scull deep into a murderous madman's den in Mexico, their thoughts turn toward the end of their careers and the women they love in remarkably different ways back in Austin. What's amazing about McMurtry's West is that he sees beyond the romance. Neither his Indians, his cowboys, his gunslingers, nor his women act the way they did in either Zane Grey novels or John Wayne movies. Incredible beauty and lightning-quick violence are the bookends of his West, but it is the in-between moments of suffering and boredom where McMurtry shines. The suffering is poignant and heart-rending; the boredom tempered with doses of Augustus McCrae's sharp humor. Don't be surprised if you find yourself crying and laughing on the same page.

Book Description

Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry, a brilliant and haunting novel richly capable of standing on its own, completes the author's epic four-volume cycle of novels of the American West that began in 1985 with the Pulitzer Prize -- winning masterpiece, Lonesome Dove.

We join Texas Rangers August McCrae and Woodrow F. Call in their middle years, just beginning to deal with the perplexing tensions of adult life -- Gus and his great love, Clara Forsythe; Call and Maggie Tilton, the young whore who loves him -- when they enlist with a Ranger troop in pursuit of Buffalo Hump, the great Comanche war chief; Kicking Wolf, the celebrated Comanche horse thief; and a deadly Mexican bandit king with a penchant for torture. Assisting the Rangers in their wild chase is the renowned Kickapoo tracker, Famous Shoes.

Comanche Moon joins the twenty-year time line between Dead Man's Walk and Lonesome Dove, as we follow beloved heroes Gus and Call and their comrades-in-arms -- Deets, Jake Spoon, and Pea Eye Parker -- in their bitter struggle to protect an advancing Western frontier against the defiant Comanches, courageously determined to defend their territory and their way of life.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent...I Hated for it to End.......2007-09-13

It's been a long time since I've read a book that I got so wrapped up in, that I hated to finish it. "Commanche Moon" was like that for me. Following the middle years of Gus, Call, Deets, Newt and quite a few more characters first brought to life in "Lonesome Dove" was a nice refreshing change for me. I don't want to go into too much detail regarding the story, feel free to browse several other reveiws posted here that are more than happy to spell out spoilers that are better off discovered while reading, but suffice it to say, if you are a fan of the other books in this series, you won't be disappointed with "Commanche Moon". All of the things fans love about these books are once again present here; rich characters, excellent action, some romance, comedy....everything you could want. I can't wait to go back and read the series in chronological order now. Highly recommended.

Good, but not as good as Lonesome Dove.......2007-04-27

McMurtry caught lightning in a bottle with Lonesome Dove. No book in the series came as close. I almost wish he'd left Call and McCrae's past a mystery. Still, not a bad read in its own right.

4.5 stars.......2006-11-11

I love the way McMurtry writes! This was another brilliant story about the West.

Part of a huge masterpiece........2006-06-15

Not only a great western, but also a fantastic horror book.
When I considered some of the scenes involving the evil characters of the book I didn't know where to put it in my
book collection.

An excellent book.......2006-03-28

Commanche Moon was undoubtedly the best western book I have ever read, plus it was one of the best books I have ever read period. What I especially liked about the book was the way McMurtry characterized the Indians. He made them come alive as individuals within a specific culture and a certain historical time period. I also enjoyed the Texas Rangers, but not nearly as much as I did the Indians. It was obvious to me that McMurtry has done consideralbe research on Amerindians and he has used that research well in constructing the characters in his book. I was always excited when I started a chapter and saw it was going to be about one or more of the Indian characters. Many authors sterotype the Indians of the American West, making them too cruel or too noble, but McMurtry managed to portray them as total human beings and thereby created fascinating characters to read about. There were many other parts of the book that I enjoyed, but the author's characterization of the Amerindians was easily the best.

Average customer rating:

Beautiful Story fine for Ages 4+
Five Stars from a Texan
Happy Customer
This was my favorite story when...
A sad but inspiring and very beautiful story.

The Legend of the Bluebonnet
Tomie dePaola
Manufacturer: Putnam Juvenile
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0698113594

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful Story fine for Ages 4+.......2007-01-01

Our family loves Tomie dePaola books, and this is one of his most beautiful. While I agree with one reviewer that it's not appropriate for two year olds, it really was fine for my 4 year old. As that same reviewer writes, the book's heroine, a child, sacrifices the last tangible memory of her family. However, this is shown as an heroic act of unselfish love--and her reward is that from that day on, the land is filled with tangible memories of her family's love in the form of the Bluebonnet flowers.

My four year old asked many questions as I read the story, and my answers--and of course the story itself--showed him how even a child can be heroic--and that heroism does not need to involve swords and muscle--it can simply take the form of an unselfish act.

Five Stars from a Texan.......2004-01-25

As a Texan, I had to have this book for my 4 month girl. Obviously, she is too young to understand the text, but as soon as she is old enough I will not hesitate to continue reading this book to her. It is so beautifully written and the illustrations are wonderful, as Tomie dePaola's illustrations always are. The lessons of selflessness and sacrifice are invaluable. And it gives a perfect opportunity to discuss such realities of life as being orphaned and loneliness in a non-threatening way if the proper discussion between parent and child accompanies the book.

Happy Customer.......2003-05-30

Wonderful prompt service. Couldn't be happier. Book was in wonderful condition!

This was my favorite story when..........2003-03-28

This was my favorite story when I was a child. I love how it tells of a young girl who chooses to give up something she loves for her family and people... I read this book whenever I could in school. Now that I teach pre school I get to share the beauty of this story with my class and they love it too...In Texas you see them everywhere in late March to early May. I use to think it was funny but now I have to wonder why, when you see a bluebonnet an Indian paintbrush isn't that far away?

A sad but inspiring and very beautiful story........2002-02-28

Every spring, throughout central Texas where I live, we are blessed with one of mother nature's great floral displays--Texas Wildflower Season. For three to four weeks in April and May the countryside--as far as one can see in all directions--is a rainbow of color as billions of wild flows bloom. Chief among these are the Bluebonnets, the Sate Flower of Texas.

The Legend of the Bluebonnet is the retelling of the old Indian legend of how this event came to occur. It relates the story of She-Who-is-Alone, an orphaned Indian girl being raised by her tribe during a time of extreme drought and famine. This young girl is the sole remaining member of her family--the others have all died in the famine.

The tribe calls upon the Shaman to commune with the Great Spirits to divine what it is the People must do to regain harmony with nature. The Shaman states that a "great sacrifice" needs to be made. How She-Who-is-Alone acts upon that message is how the Bluebonnets come to be ion Texas.

This is a very sad and hear-rending story in large part, though it is also incredibly heartwarming and inspiring as well.

This has always been one of my kid's favorite books--my wife's and mine as well. However, it is probably a book best left to a bit older child--say 8 and above. Once you start reading it though, you will never stop. You will read it many time to your children--and your grandchildren.

Book Description

At the age of nine, Cynthia Ann Parker was captured in an Indian raid and taken to live as a slave with the Comanche. Twenty-four years later, she is the wife of a chief and the mother of a young warrior destined to become the great chief Quanah Parker. But in 1861 Cynthia Ann Parker and her infant daughter are recaptured, and returned against their will to a white settlement. “A skillful examination of how individual identity is determined by cultural and social structures, and of what happens when these are drastically altered.”--Kirkus Reviews

Customer Reviews:

Where the Broken Heart Still Beats, the story of Cynthia Ann Parker.......2007-10-10

Book arrived quickly and in new condition. Its a good book and easily read by younger readers.

Cynthia Ann Parker has always fascinated me and her life was hard........2007-10-02

This is a wonderful book about the little white girl taken by Indians in central Texas at age 10. She was later married to Indian Chief and bore 3 children. One of her sons was Quanah Parker, famous in his own right.

Don't miss this account of her life. I could not put it down until I had finished reading it.

Historical significance.......2007-09-19

This is an interesting concept on the history of Cynthia Ann Parker, captured as a child and raised by Indians. This work is focused on the history of the episode and Parker's return and foreced residence among a family she barely remembered. Although Parker rarely communicated her history, the author postures the cruelty of her Indian Captors. One must compare how this story contradicts other works such as "Ride the Wind" by Lucia St. Clair Robson. Robson puts forth the opposite opinion and relates how good the Indians were to the children they took and raised.

book review.......2007-05-19

After we read where the broken heart still beats by Carolyn Meyer I could understand why Cynthia Ann wanted to go back with her people. I could also see why Meyer wrote this book.
Cynthia Ann thought she was a Comanche because she was captured by them when she was 9-years-old. Her family captured her 25 years later and took her in to comfort her. She didn't take to her real life that much.
I could see why she wanted to go back to her people. She lived most of her life with the comanches so she doesn't know that much about her old life. She made a family in her other life so she really really wants to go back.
You should read this book if you want an adventure. This book is really interesting and worth it if you want to read it. I recommend this book you people in middle school. Also to people that are older than 13.

Will the broken heart still beat?.......2007-05-19

After we read Where the Broken Heart Still Beats by Carolyn Meyer I could tell why Cynthia Ann wanted to go back with the Comanches. I also see why Meyer wrote this book. It makes you feel like you a really there with her and you feel how she feels. It makes you feel sometimes you wish you go and tell her Uncle just let her go back.
Cynthia Ann thought that that she was part of the Comanche tribe and they are not the ones that captured her. She thought that they were her family and her real family where the ones that captured but they rescued her. She had lived with them so long and thought she was a Comanche. She had a husband and kids there and she wanted to be with them.
I really see why she wanted to go back with the Comanche's. She had her family and wanted to see her son. She also wanted her little daughter, Topsannah, to see how they lived. She talked how they talked and acted like them she needed to be with the Comanche's.
You should read this book if you like books that go back and forth and if you like happy and sad books. I think that if you like biography you would really like this book. In some parts you will feel like you are sitting with Cynthia Ann.

The Captured: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier

Average customer rating:

Outstanding balanced heartfelt story worth 10 stars!
A colorful Texas Hill Country history
A truely amazing achievement
interesting
Very Good Read

The Captured: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier
Scott Zesch
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

ASIN: 0312317875
Release Date: 2004-10-21

Book Description

On New Year's Day in 1870, ten-year-old Adolph Korn was kidnapped by an Apache raiding party. Traded to Comaches, he thrived in the rough, nomadic existence, quickly becoming one of the tribe's fiercest warriors. Forcibly returned to his parents after three years, Korn never adjusted to life in white society. He spent his last years in a cave, all but forgotten by his family.

That is, until Scott Zesch stumbled over his own great-great-great uncle's grave. Determined to understand how such a "good boy" could have become Indianized so completely, Zesch travels across the west, digging through archives, speaking with Comanche elders, and tracking eight other child captives from the region with hauntingly similar experiences. With a historians rigor and a novelists eye, Zesch paints a vivid portrait of life on the Texas frontier, offering a rare account of captivity.

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding balanced heartfelt story worth 10 stars!.......2007-07-29

I agree with the other reviewers that this book was a pleasant surprise. Moreso, I believe this book should be nominated for a Pulitzer and a Nobel - and I am certain this will become a blockbuster movie!

Hey, take a gander and read my other 100-plus reviews. For me, Bill Anderson, to be uttering such rave exclamations about a historical account, this must be a treasure! It is. Mr. Scott Zesch has provided a book that really gets into the souls of the abducted children and their captors. He somehow does so with balance and sensitivity and refrains from cliches.

I listened to the audio version twice (bought through audible.com, back-to-back, on my iPOD while driving between job sites in Egypt. The first hearing was problematic due to traffic conditions here.

Hey, dodging microbuses and women drivers here is a bit similar to evading arrows and bullets in the old west! Anyhow, I wanted to listen again so I could commit to my soul my new realization of something I think so many researchers have failed to grasp.

Stockholm Syndrome is perhaps only part of the issue. Just as stem cells seem to adopt the particulars of their surroundings, and just as many wild critters can be raised by other species (and occasionally will suffer a confusion as to their own species), so, too, do human beings adopt those existences (sorry for a bad choice of words here) and become as their custodians, captors, siblings or peers. I realize this seems a bit, "duh, no kidding" but the import goes beyond the obvious. Further, it would seem, that any particular species is apt to more fundamentally accept, or accomodate, that which is least hampered or complicated by rules or regulations. In other words, transitioning toward simplicity is more pleasant than is adjusting to more and more complex organizations or societies.

Precisely such a lesson may be of fundamental importance when establishing any system or organization. Perhaps too much regulation or too complex the controlling body makes routine operation (especially at the commencement) will lead to seeming chaos, disorder and thence lead to revolt and to eventual failure or destruction.

And, too abrupt a change before communication to and fro could shortcut any hopes or dreams of adjustment or transition from the simple state towards the complex state.

Although these observations result from a book about Indian captives, the observations, I submit, apply as well to Iraq, Egypt, (or politics in general) but, more important, to formations of clubs, associations and corporations.

General Motors and Ford seem now to be suffering, partly, from the complexities they created while transitioning from the Great Depression through the New Deal and into the Great Society. all the while, upstart, less complex carmakers in Japan challenged from a simpler standpoint using a simpler vehicle.

And, now that Toyota et al have evolved, they may well be in danger from Hyundai and others.

Anyway, back to Captured. This is probably the best book ever authored about life among Native Americans as lived by children taken by force but who adopted the lifestyle out of love for those with whom they lived. I experienced tears of empathy in listening to Scott's discussion of visiting the cave of his distant uncle or when hearing of the reunion one 'white Indian describe his memory of the demise of his adopted 'brother' brutally massacred by a Texas Ranger.

That, alone, is a significant achievement by Scott Zesch - Bill Anderson.

A colorful Texas Hill Country history.......2007-06-22

Texas Hill Country author Scott Zesch began writing "The Captured" after finding the lonely grave of one of his reclusive and little-known relatives. His great-great-great-Uncle Adolph Korn had been kidnapped as a youth by Indians, but Zesch knew little of the details surrounding this incident. His search for answers would prove to be truly enlightening.

It was not uncommon for Indians to integrate child captives into the tribe, and Adolph spent a number of years with the Comanches living his life as a full member of the Indian community. Eventually he was released and returned to his family, although his return to white society was anything but smooth. Adolph was never able to re-adapt to civilization and he ended up living in a cave in the Texas Hill Country, a willing recluse and outcast from the environment that he had been born into.

Zesch not only chronicles his ancestor's life, but also the lives of several other Indian abductees, all of whom had strikingly similar experiences.

The book is an amazing piece of work on several levels. Author Zesch does a tremendous job of researching his work, and his source material is first-rate. The book has excellent pictures that help to add depth and reinforce the stories told between the pages.

Be aware that there are some very graphic battle and abduction scenes depicted in the book. These are definitely not for the squeamish.

Overall, this is a wonderful Texas Hill Country history that will keep you entertained for hours. Zesch is careful to treat all of his subjects with humanity. He is neither an Indian apologist nor does he demonize them. He simply states the facts as told to him by his sources and then lets the reader come to their own conclusions and judgements about the events at hand.

Highly recommeneded for anyone interested in Texana or Hill Country history.

A truely amazing achievement.......2007-06-13

Zesch's wonderful book manages to entertain & inform with equal excellence. For a history book I found it suprisingly heartbreaking.

interesting.......2007-05-14

This is a great read. I like the way the author opens up and tells his story along with the captives. He includes pictures (which is always nice). If you are interested in Native American history and/or Texas History you will like this book.

Very Good Read.......2007-01-14

Very interest information, well written. Highly recommended for the western history buff.

Nine Years Among the Indians, 1870-1879: The Story of the Captivity and Life of a Texan Among the Indians

Average customer rating:

good book in proper context
Right On
Important historical testimony
Interesting read but be careful
Nine Years Among the Indians

Nine Years Among the Indians, 1870-1879: The Story of the Captivity and Life of a Texan Among the Indians
Herman Lehmann
Manufacturer: University of New Mexico Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0826314171

Book Description

Here is a genuine Little Big Man story, with all the color, sweep, and tragedy of a classic American western. It is the tale of Herman Lehmann, a captive of the Apaches on the Southern Plains of Texas and New Mexico during the 1870s. Adopted by a war chief, he was trained to be a warrior and waged merciless war on Apache enemies, both Indian and Euro-American. After killing an Apache medicine man in self-defense, he fled to a lonely hermitage on the Southern Plains until he joined the Comanches. Against his will, Lehmann was returned to his family in 1879. The final chapters relate his difficult readjustment to Anglo life.

LehmannÂ's unapologetic narrative is extraordinary for its warm embrace of Native Americans and stinging appraisal of Anglo society. Once started, the story of this remarkable man cannot be put down. Dale GieseÂ's introduction provides a framework for interpreting the Lehmann narrative.

It is the tale of Herman Lehmann, a captive of the Apaches on the Southern Plains of Texas and New Mexico during the 1870s.

Customer Reviews:

good book in proper context.......2006-11-17

Fascinating read, yet must be read with the realization that this is a picture of a culture under intense (mostly wartime) stress and flux. The account happens at a time of major population incursions of whites into native lands and a time when native groups are being pushed into each other's subsistence territories by such incursions. It also occurs at a time when a number of destabilizing introductions (such as horses and guns) have recently come into native communities. Keep in mind that this picture of Apache & Comanche culture is about as reflective in the broader, overall sense as an German soldier's account of his life from 1916-1946 would be of overall German culture down through the ages. Read in proper historical context, this book is excellent. Read as a sweeping generalization of Apache life, it is bound to give a skewed impression.

Right On.......2006-10-27

Herman Lehmann was a name mentioned a few times within my family as a boy growing up. Others were Korn, Fisher, etc. I was born in Texas. My Mother was Choctaw, born 1902, my father,1895, a descendent from hard core Texans that fought with Sam Houston. My Mother's people were moved from Mississippi to Oklahome where some reside today. I have read many stories concerning the lives of various tribes but I think Herman hits the nail on the head when it comes to the Apachie and Comanchie, however he does not speak for them all.In the seventies,I lived as a missionary among the Navaho and others. I found that each tribe place their values of life somewhat different.
Herman's life is interesting and educational. Several college professors have used his documented eventful life as source.
A good book, buy it!

Important historical testimony.......2006-06-18

This book is a good antidote to the familiar modern view of all American Indians as proto-flower-children. The fact is that some tribes were not at all nice and, in fact, worked hard at deserving the term "savages." Unfortunately, the public is not encouraged to distinguish among tribes and cultures. There is gross irony in modern liberals and pacifists championing an idealized memory of thorough-going warrior cultures, in which the principal measure of one's stature was how many scalps hung from one's accoutrements.

Interesting read but be careful.......2006-05-24

I finished the book in just a few days and was excited to begin reading after seeing the reviews on this sight. Shortly into the story I was bothered by some of the descriptions and terms that conflicted with all the other information I have come across regarding Apache life. I don't doubt that Mr. Lehmann was taken by and lived as an Apache or Comanche but some of the information he relates is inaccurate or too generalized in my opinion. I'm not trying to rehash history but it's important that the average reader not make an opinion on all Apache tribes with the decriptions that Mr. Lehmann relates.

He describes Geronimo as a "Chief" and if this was an opinion he based on his experiences within certain Apache bands,it is historically incorrect. He describes Indian Women as "Squaws" and Warriors or males as "Bucks." I doubt either of these terms would ever be used by an Apache to describe themselves. It has always been my understanding these terms were considered highly offensive by Native Americans which indicates to me Mr. Lehmann may be choosing these terms with resentment and it is not something he learned living among The People. My Great-Grandmother always said that Apaches didn't consume bear meat or dog meat as Mr. Lehmann described (as it was taboo.) Again, all Apache tribes were not of the same clan/band and or Tribe.

The book was faced paced but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. It's definately not a pretty picture and seemed to be told by a man more from bitterness than a man reminiscant of his one time family.

Nine Years Among the Indians.......2006-03-14

A first rate true story of a young man's life among the Apaches and Comanches. A rare glimpse of how tough the life of an Indian was back in those days. If you enjoy history as told by one of the actual participants you will enjoy this book.

Ranald S. Mackenzie on the Texas Frontier

Average customer rating:

basic to understanding Mackenzie in Texas

Ranald S. Mackenzie on the Texas Frontier
Ernest Wallace
Manufacturer: Reveille Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Bad Hand

ASIN: 0890964874

Customer Reviews:

basic to understanding Mackenzie in Texas.......1999-10-19

Wallace's study is a basic source for Mackenzie in Texas but is short on his life and personality in other respects. I recommend that the interested reader check out Michael D. Pierce, The Most Promising Young Officer: A Life Of Ranald S. Mackenzie (Univ. of Okla. Press, 1993) for a scholarly study of Mackenzie's life.

Average customer rating:

The Way of the Coyote (Texas Rangers)
Elmer Kelton
Manufacturer: Forge Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

ASIN: 0312873182

Book Description

Texas is in turmoil, overrun with murderous outlaws, lawmen exacting penalties from suspected former Confederates, night-riders, and the ever-dangerous Comanche bands. In this tempestuous time and place, Rusty tries desperately to resume his pre-war life.

Average customer rating:

The Mystic Warrior of the Plains

Manufacturer: Barnes & Noble
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Fools Crow: Wisdom and Power

ASIN: 1566196574

Product Description

The Mystic Warriors of the Plains offers readers an extraordinarily detailed view of the daily activities of the peoples of the North American plains, including the Sioux, Cheyenne, Pawnee, Nez Perce, Comanche, and many others. Used by Kevin Costner as a resource text for the motion picture Dances with Wolves, this is an extraordinarily in-depth examination of the day-to-day lives of the North American plains Indians, with over one thousand illustrations and thirty-two four-color plates. Covering everything from social customs, personal qualities, and government to types of weaponry, achievement marks, and the training of Indian boys, The Mystic Warriors of the Plains is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Plains Indian lore that will delight and inform everyone interested in understanding the native peoples of the Plains. Magnificently and accurately ... conveys both the tragic ironies and splendors of the rich plains civilization. [Newsweek] - Fascinating detail that gives a better idea of the plains people than mere description can do... His combination of engrossing text and fascinating pictures makes this one of the most valuable books on Indian life ever to be published [Navajo Times] - "Sympathetic, respectul, and appreciative... a major attempr to present the Indians' own view of their life style." [University of New Mexico Press].

Average customer rating:

A Masterful Piece of Work
A fascinating insight
A Fantastic Work - Other Present-Day Writers on AmerIndians Could Take Lessons From This!!!
More Than a History
Unbalanced Reporting

Comanches: The Destruction of a People
T. R. Fehrenbach
Manufacturer: Replica Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0735101663

Book Description

Authoritative and immediate, this is the classic account of the most powerful of the American Indian tribes. T.R. Fehrenbach traces the Comanches’ rise to power, from their prehistoric origins to their domination of the high plains for more than a century until their demise in the face of Anglo-American expansion.

Master horseback riders who lived in teepees and hunted bison, the Comanches were stunning orators, disciplined warriors, and the finest makers of arrows. They lived by a strict legal code and worshipped within a cosmology of magic. As he portrays the Comanche lifestyle, Fehrenbach re-creates their doomed battle against European encroachment. While they destroyed the Spanish dream of colonizing North America and blocked the French advance into the Southwest, the Comanches ultimately fell before the Texas Rangers and the U.S. Army in the great raids and battles of the mid-nineteenth century. This is a classic American story, vividly and poignantly told.

Customer Reviews:

A Masterful Piece of Work.......2006-05-16

Unsung and unrecognized, T.R. Fehrenbach is one of America's findest historians of the Southwest. Without a doubt, his book "Comanches: The History of a People," is a masterful piece of work. Wonderfully written and reseached, I learned more about the American Plains Indians'culture in the first three chapters, than I have from any other book.

Since I have taught American history for the last thirty years, it is very difficult to discover a book as well balanced and as informative as Fehrenbach's. He is a joy to read for those who understand the difference between a serious and objective work or a book which attempts to reproduce the inaccurate images brought to us by Hollywood and the national media.

A fascinating insight.......2005-10-22

This book was fascinating and I believe is an essential read for anyone interested in Native Americans. I felt myself going through the same emotions of all of the previous amazon reviewers. However, in retrospect, some of the negative reviews are perhaps a little harsh. Yes, in this day and age one rarely refers to savages, barbarians and high barbarians; yet it does give some idea of the extent to which plains, mountain and woodland indians varied from each other. It also gives us some idea as to why some Indian nations adapted more readily to 'civilization' and others did not. This book is certainly not 'politically correct' and gives a fairly balanced view of Comanche history, together with the associated peoples (Kiowa, Apache, Caddo, Pueblos,Mexicans, Texans and European immigrants), thereby to some extent giving a broader view of Native American history. One needs to keep in mind that social anthropology is not an 'exact' science, depending very much on who wrote it and ultimately who reads it. This is evidenced by the variation in opinions from previous reviewers. For me the most fascinating part of this book was the origins of the Nermernuh (Comanches) and how this fits in with the bigger picture. As far as I know, there is not a single indian reservation left in Texas, indicating the 'uniquenes'of the Comanche/European conflict. Unlike Arizona and New Mexico, few modern Texans seem to have ever had any contact with Native Americans?

A Fantastic Work - Other Present-Day Writers on AmerIndians Could Take Lessons From This!!!.......2005-06-07

T.R. Fehrenbach wrote this book in the most historically accurate and logical manner possible - a far cry from the blatant, fanciful STORY TELLING pawned off as "historic literature" which is relentlessly churned out by other present-day writers on American Indian tribes, such as Dan L. Thrapp, Edwin Sweeney, David Roberts, etc.

Fehrenbach stands head-and-shoulders above these other writers because he simply relates FACTS and in no way attempts to sway the reader to any whimsical, Politically Correct conclusions. He, unlike Thrapp, Sweeney, Roberts, and ilk, does not write about individual leaders or warriors as if he knew them or was alive during their times. He does not pretend to know WHY the people his book deals with did what they did, he only relates what they did, how they did it, and what resulted from their activities within the time they lived. THIS IS THE PROPER, SENSIBLE, AND REALISTIC WAY TO WRITE ABOUT HISTORIC EVENTS AND SPECIFIC PEOPLES!

Equally, Fehrenback does not "sugar-coat the pill" so to speak. He does not bend to what today is the Politically Correct propaganda/party line which keeps present-day writers constantly santizing uncomfortable information about their subject matter - the long-vanished AmerIndians of the Wild Frontier.
EVERYTHING about the Comanche Indians; their culture, habits in war, their tactics, their diplomatic capacities, and their treatment of non-related peoples is ALL HERE in the most straight-forward, cold-hard-facts condition. Fehrenbach shows the reader that the Comanche were what they were. He exposes their culture for what it was. He does not insult the reader by making rash judgements or spewing out page after page of lies-in-print to make the Comanches seem what they were not. Fahrenbach relays everything to the reader in the most clear way possible. This is what makes this book so wonderful !!! The reader can definitely learn about a group of people and about what they did down through several hundred years of history, while not being bombarded with drivel and preposterous nonsense springing from the author's whimsical and illogical imagination! You get the facts and nothing but the facts - layed bare for examination. Most impressive!

Now, if you care to read ANY of the junk literature about the Apache Indians authored by the likes of Dan L. Thrapp, Edwin Sweeney, David Roberts, etc. and then read this book by Fehrenbach, you'll see EXACTLY what I mean by the difference between what an historically accurate book is and what a STORY TELLING book is. You see, STORY TELLING BOOKS simply use details about historic periods as a framework from which to hang the author's biases, fantasies, outright lies, and ridiculous and baseless conclusions on. Fehrenbach does not do this in the least. Thrapp, Sweeney, Roberts, and others do - in the extreme!

This is a marvelous book in every respect. In fact, anyone of the "Dances With Wolves" mindset should do themselves a favor and READ IT in order to experience what its like to absorb truth and untampered-with facts rather than Politically Correct programming.

I can't recommend this book enough! And as a follow-up, you should seriously consider the following two titles. They are also exceptionally well done and highly informative -

The Kiowas (Civilization of the American Indian Series)

Five Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri: Sioux, Arickaras, Assiniboines, Crees and Crows (Civilization of the American Indian Series, No 59)

By reading this masterful material of Fehrenbach's and these other two books I've recommended, you'll be well on your way to acquiring a superb and TRUE understanding of the AmerIndian of yesteryear.

More Than a History.......2004-10-23

Perhaps no author does a better job than Fehrenbach when it comes to writing a history that gives the reader an insight into the very souls of the people involved. This is the story of a tragedy, one that has been left largely untold by the movies, western fiction or the history books found in our schools. It is certainly not a romanticized version written from the Indian perspective, but it cannot help but leave one with serious questions regarding our treatment of the Comanches, Kiowas and other tribes. At the same time, the author objectively describes the forces behind the whites' usurpation of the domain of the Plains Indians. Highly recommended if you are prepared to read a history that will make you think.

Unbalanced Reporting.......2004-09-17

A fascinating history that gave me a thorough understanding of the world of the Commanche. That said, I did have some serious issues with the book, which in my opinion was racially biased. American Indians were continuously referred to as "Savages" and "Barbarians" (Cherokees having the dubious honor of being referred to as "High Barbarians"). The book illuminated the reasons why war between the Commanche and anglos was inevitable, but while atrocities were certainly committed by both sides, violence perpetrated by the indians was described in brutal, bloody, cruel, detail. In contrast, a U.S. Cavalry massacre of entire camps (typically mostly women and children) was noticeably abbreviated. In fact the author even makes a point of trying to assert that these women and children "were as dangerous as the warriors themselves" in defense of the wholesale massacres. White armed forces, who were essentially waging a war of extermination, were typically described as "valiant" and "courageous". The Indians "murderous", "bloody", and "mindless". In a war between two cultures, how one side can be "heroic" and the other " murderous" is very questionable. But then we all know that history is written by the victor. Seemingly the only Indian the author express any real admiration for is Chief Quanah Parker. But then coincidently Quanah was half white.

The book is determined to unfairly dehumanize an entire people, and succeeds in doing just that.

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