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shaynescheuermann's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
booksnooksandcooks's review against another edition
4 month wait at the library and I didn’t finish my hold in time. Interesting premise but overdramatic writing.
multipletrees's review against another edition
Racist as hell.
The author chooses to use very different narrative techniques and language to depict how each side treated prisoners. Guess which side got what kind of treatment?
The author also says shit like barbarian and stone age and primitive about the Comanches. The story sounded interesting but these choices make it clear that the author cannot be trusted to relay history accurately.
The author chooses to use very different narrative techniques and language to depict how each side treated prisoners. Guess which side got what kind of treatment?
The author also says shit like barbarian and stone age and primitive about the Comanches. The story sounded interesting but these choices make it clear that the author cannot be trusted to relay history accurately.
bergsteiger's review against another edition
3.0
I appreciated how Gwynne had a larger perspective of America, both from a Native and Settler point of view. I quite enjoyed the early Comanche history, pre-European as well as Spanish Colonial. As a narrative, I felt it degenerated somewhat after that. There are several parts where the history bogs down in over-detailed accounts that add little to the overall perspective. There are also tangential threads that are snipped short, with no attempt to weave them back into the tapestry of Gwynne's work. The title itself is misleading as the "Empire" of the Comanches is nothing more than loosely grouped tribes that fought some minor guerilla clashes with westward moving Anglos and were not overcome sooner due more to limited focus on the area than Comanche might. Then the story lingers with the Reservation life of Quanah Parker that does provide some insight into what life was like after defeat for several plains tribes, but seems incongruous with the rest of the book. I enjoyed learning about something I knew little about but after the early chapters I progressively lost interest until it finally ended. If the topic interests you then go ahead and pick this up but beware it is not a fluid read.
connorstory's review against another edition
A little too nostalgic of its old western heroes who slaughtered many innocents. However, the book still serves as an engaging and enlightening view of Comanche struggles through the 19th century and contains some few powerful moments in which it honestly confronts the atrocities these people not only endured, but perpetrated on others, Native and Whites alike.
lduquette's review against another edition
Explicit white male bias
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, and War
harlando's review against another edition
5.0
This is a fascinating story and a much better and more complete understanding of the late Indian wars than I ever received in school.