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Comanches: The History of a People
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A Masterful Piece of Work
A fascinating insight
More Than a History
Unbalanced Reporting
Manifest Destiny apologist

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

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Similar Items:

The Last Comanche Chief: The Life and Times of Quanah Parker
Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans
Three Years Among the Comanches: The Narrative of Nelson Lee, the Texas Ranger
The Comanches: Lords of the South Plains (Civilization of the American Indian, Vol 34)
Nine Years Among the Indians, 1870-1879: The Story of the Captivity and Life of a Texan Among the Indians

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?

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.

Manifest Destiny apologist.......2004-08-29

I find the author's unqualified, and rather anectodal, anthropological conclusions about a 100 years out of date("barbarian" and "savage" aren't scientific terms). Rather than quoting primary sources so support his facts he seems to prefer re-interpreting them in his own bias; on occasion I happened to have read the source text and found he had grossly misrepresented it, which makes me very suspicious of the rest of his facts. The whole book is extremely biased in favour of manifest destiny - it often reads like a justification for destructions of the native peoples and their culture.

The Comanches: A History, 1706-1875 (Studies in the Anthropology of North Ame)

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The Comanches: A History, 1706-1875 (Studies in the Anthropology of North Ame)
Thomas W. Kavanagh
Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Comanches: Lords of the South Plains (Civilization of the American Indian, Vol 34)
Apaches: A History and Culture Portrait
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ASIN: 0803227302

Book Description

This is the first in-depth historical study of Comanche social and political groups. Using the ethnohistorical method, Thomas W. Kavanagh traces the changes and continuities in Comanche politics from their earliest interactions with Europeans to their settlement on a reservation in present-day Oklahoma.

The Comanches: Lords of the South Plains (Civilization of the American Indian, Vol 34)

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Sanitized facts which can be taken and twisted by the Politically Correct droolers out there
A classic Work on the Comanches

The Comanches: Lords of the South Plains (Civilization of the American Indian, Vol 34)
Ernest Wallace , and E. Adamson Hoebel
Manufacturer: University of Oklahoma Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Comanches: A History, 1706-1875 (Studies in the Anthropology of North Ame)
The Apaches: Eagles of the Southwest (Civilization of the American Indian Series)
The Last Comanche Chief: The Life and Times of Quanah Parker
The Fighting Cheyennes (Civilization of the American Indian Series)
The Crow Indians (Second Edition)

ASIN: 0806120401

Customer Reviews:

Sanitized facts which can be taken and twisted by the Politically Correct droolers out there.......2007-06-21

Yes, in this work you get all sorts of little details about Comanche habits - food preparation, preferred camping spots, etc. All very nice and quaint. As for their more notorious habits, well, these have been omitted or sanitized ( These days, authors must never be Pollitically INCORRECT by writing about uncomfortable FACTS surrounding all the lovely Native Americans of yesteryear! ) and so the reader who buys books like this is aways left in the dark about many, many things connected to the Comanches which they should know about in order to acquire a complete picture of these Indians.
For a far better overview of just what these aboriginals were like, read my reviews of Nine Years Among the Indians, 1870-1879: The Story of the Captivity and Life of a Texan Among the Indians and also Three Years Among the Comanches: The Narrative of Nelson Lee, the Texas Ranger and don't even think of missing Scalp Dance: Indian Warfare on the High Plains, 1865-1879 and Life Among the Apaches (Bison Book)
If you take the time to read my extensive reviews of these books and then purchase them, you'll easilt get much more on the Comanches than these present-day, Politically Correct, sanitized works can offer by far.

A classic Work on the Comanches.......2002-03-13

The Comanches: Lords of the South Plains, by Ernest Wallace and E. Adamson Hoebel, is a comprehensive ethnological study of the Comanches. It assesses the minutia of their origins, social structure, government as well as a history of their communal existence. An underlying tension regarding this work is the credibility of late day informates as opposed to period records. At issue is the comprehensive interpretation suggested for Comanche government and law as opposed to the meager allowance given to Comanche cosmogony. Regarding government and law, after citing very limited source data from informants, the authors suggest an extensive system of government and law. Focusing on various aspects of the Comanche social experience, they drew parallels with modern day legal code. In the end, it seems, the authors imposed a system with nomenclature upon the Comanche social culture that did not in totality exist. On the other had they are adamant that the Comanches did not maintain extensive philosophical or theological thought. Yet, the evidence they present clearly suggests they did. Comanches commitment to the "guardian spirit complex", and the "Great Spirit" in every aspect of their lives evinced an unequivocal as well as pervading theology. Nineteenth century observers of the Comanches, Dodge, Neighbors, Babb, Burnett and others noted that the Comanches maintained deep theological notions. Nonetheless, Wallace and Hoebel are skeptical and suggest that later Christian writers forced their views upon Comanche theology because descriptions of Comanche cosmology, similar to certain Christian believes, were not supported by the evidence given by informants in the 1933 Santa Fe Laboratory group. It truth, informants said very little about theology or cosmogony. Clearly, data taken from the Santa Fe Laboratory study is given credence over recorded witnesses from the period.
Despite the source issue, overall, this work is a superb study of the Comanches.

Los Comanches: The Horse People, 1751-1845

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Los Comanches: The Horse People, 1751-1845
Stanley Noyes
Manufacturer: University of New Mexico Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Los Commanches, now available in paperback, is a large, sweeping history of the Comanche Indians, who dominated the Southern Plains from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. No plains people was more feared or admired for its mastery of warfare and life in a harsh, arid environment. In this richly textured history, Stanley Noyes recounts the golden century of Comanche domination of the Southern Plains. Los Commanches is a sensitive portrait of human society and physical place. By the end of the book, we understand the Comanches both as a peerless warrior society and as an embattled people.

Three Years Among the Comanches: The Narrative of Nelson Lee, the Texas Ranger (Western Frontier Library)

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Pretty good read...but take with a grain of salt
First Hand.
Good period piece, taken with a grain of salt
First Hand Account of the West and its dangers
Blows Politically Correct Dogma right out of the water!

Three Years Among the Comanches: The Narrative of Nelson Lee, the Texas Ranger (Western Frontier Library)
Nelson Lee
Manufacturer: Univ of Oklahoma Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Scalp Dance: Indian Warfare on the High Plains, 1865-1879
Nine Years Among the Indians, 1870-1879: The Story of the Captivity and Life of a Texan Among the Indians
Life Among the Apaches (Bison Book)
Captured by the Indians: 15 Firsthand Accounts, 1750-1870
The Captured: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier

ASIN: 0806123397

Book Description

In this reprint of a classic Indian Captivity Narrative from the 19th century, Nelson Lee recounts his adventures and his narrow escape from the Comanches in tales nearly too tall to be true. From South America to Texas, he finds adventure everywhere. Lee emerges from one hairy situation only to ride into another daring adventure with the coolness of a Hollywood hero. For three years he is held captive among the Comanches. Tortured by his captors, this Texas Ranger survives to tell others about what he observes and learns about the Comanche tribe, and publishes one of the best descriptions of the life of the Texas Rangers.

Customer Reviews:

Pretty good read...but take with a grain of salt.......2007-01-14

The author relates actual events in Texas Ranger history as though he was present. However, the Texas State Historical site has no record of him ever being on Ranger rolls.

First Hand........2006-07-15

I have read the book and most of the negative comments as well.
As an author and a person that have lived among the Indians,I am familiar with a lot of what Lee has declared. Indian culture, no matter the tribes, has a great deal of weired beleifs, witchcraft included. They like smoking the weed and getting high.I suggest you buy the story, I assure it walks with truth.

Good period piece, taken with a grain of salt.......2006-05-22

Interesting anecdotes of a white man living among the indians, the hardships and struggles, but it's obviously a biased tale. Quite a stretch for the reader to believe that a man- Texas Ranger no less- would be unable to "escape" before 3 years. Personally I don't believe it. Anyway, while one reviewer highlights a particular commanche torture to an infant, it's best to keep everything in perspective and acknowledge the extreme brutality whites displayed against all tribes in the western hemisphere- for example, Sand Creek, Wounded Knee. That said, if you like stories similar to this, try Nat Love's autobiography.

First Hand Account of the West and its dangers.......2006-01-23

Nelson Lee's straightforward account of his life as a Texas Ranger and then an Indian captive is enthralling. He also offers a valid critique of how the US govt was misguided in their approach to the Indian problem. Moreover, he pleads for the govt. to do something about those still in captivity. Fewer people might have gone West had they known what was really going on and the dangers ahead. This first-hand account is highly recommended.

Blows Politically Correct Dogma right out of the water!.......2005-11-02

This book as well as "Life Among The Apaches" forms the perfect antidote to the politically correct drivel out there that certain people relentlessly try to pass off as accurate accounts of Frontier History.

Don't be misled by the back cover. I can't imagine who at the publisher ok'd that content, but once you read the book you'll find that the narrator did not "take a Comanche for a bride" out of any fond affection. This is a wonderful book through and through. It shows the Indian prior to reservation life as just what he was and no less.Take the Comanche habit of cutting a slit between the lower jaw of infants that their captives had when the Comanches felt that the infant was crying too much. After the slit was cut, the baby was hung alive on a broken tree branch, which would pierce through the slit and stick into the mouth under the tongue. Then the baby was left to die - hanging on the tree suspended from the broken branch.....all great sport and entertainment for the Comanches, as you'll find out when you read this startling and epic account of captivity and escape/evasion from Indian captors by a true Frontiersman and survivor.

GET THIS BOOK AND GET "LIFE AMONG THE APACHES" also available right here at amazon.com! You'll get a real, honest-to-goodness EYE OPENING about life on the early western frontier.

Cynthia Ann Parker: Cautiva De Los Comanches (Primary Sources of Famous People in American History.)

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Cynthia Ann Parker: Cautiva De Los Comanches (Primary Sources of Famous People in American History.)
Tracie Egan , and Tomas Gonzalez
Manufacturer: Editorial Buenas Letras
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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