A review by pirateenthusiast
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

1.25

A well researched book. I learned a lot, but this is where the positives end. The language used in this book is repeatedly and horrendously racist. I'm not sure if this was the authors intention or not, but he portrays the Comanches and Native Americans as a whole as "backward stone age hunters". Gwynne claims to be providing an unbiased neutral book that shows both sides in an accurate light. He certainly succeeds in not straying away from the violence of the Comanches with his brutal and graphic descriptions, yet when he describes the violence of the other side, the terms are much more vague, giving the reader the wrong impression. Here is a list of words used in this book and the frequency that they appeared.

Native: 32
Indian(s): 1,177
Savage: 28
Primitive: 19
Redskin: 3
Squaw: 25
Indigenous: 1

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Torture, War, Colonisation, Gore, Kidnapping, and Genocide

Moderate: Rape and Racial slurs

Minor: Animal death