Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches by SC Gwynne was an overall informative book about the Comanches. The book centered around a narrative about Quanah Parker, a half native, half white Comanche who became the unofficial, then official leader of the Comanches. Quanah Parker was a Quahadi, the only band of any tribe in North America that had never signed a treaty with the white man (Loc 5662). The book begins in 1706, which is when white settlers first wrote about Comanche encounters on the Texas frontier.
The area ruled by the Comanches was known as Comancheria, stretching from the Caprock Escarpment in Texas to parts of Colorado holding at its peak nearly 200 million acres (Loc 4564). Comancheria was ruled by 5 bands, with estimated population at its highest of 20,000. The five bands were Yamparika, who were south of the Arkansas River, Kotsoteka, who mainly inhabited the Canadian River valley in present-day Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle, the Penateka the largest band who inhabited large parts of Texas, the Nokoni, who occupied between north Texas and present-day Oklahoma, and the Quahadis, who lived in northwest Texas near the Colorado, Brazos, and Red rivers (Loc 1028). The book largely focuses on the Peneteka and Quahadis. Between 1871 and 1876, the bison of the plains were slaughtered and made nearly extinct, ultimately leading to the demise of all plains native americans.
My biggest critique of the book was its offensive pro-settler bent. The author associates 'civilization' with agrarian societies (Loc 670), even referring to the agrarian tribes as the "Five Civilized Tribes - Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Seminole" (Loc 4126). However, Comanches significantly held up America's Manifest Destiny for almost two centuries which, to me, means they couldn't have been 'uncivilized.' Additionally, Gwynne says "the Comanches had a limited vocabulary...a trait common to primitive peoples," then proceeds to describe the depth of vocabulary for horses (Loc 731). These comments felt unnecessary and narrow-minded. Comanches spoke a different language; why would they have a large English vocabulary when they didn't trade or interact with English-speaking settlers?
Further, when the tribes met with the Americans for treaties and had their speeches translated, the white participants were "astounded," (Loc 4495). The author describes the culture clash as "settlers from the culture of Aristotle..DaVinci..and Newton [with] aboriginal horsemen," calling the Comanches "pre-moral, pre-Christian, and low-barbarian...savage, filthy, inordinately fond of alcohol," and said that their practices "horrified the civilized.." (Loc971). All that, and yet, the Comanches resisted American settlement for over 170 years (Loc 90). Gwynne even goes so far as to say directly: "The pathetic little half-naked folks still constituted the greatest light cavalry on earth; no more than a handful of American or Texan soldiers were yet a match for them" Loc (1841), often describing Comanche war plans as "tactically quite brilliant," (Loc 2004). This theme of the book was frankly upsetting and contradictory: the author says they're uncivilized, yet both of Spain's greatest military defeats in the New World came from Comanches (Loc 1279).
Miscellaneous:
I loved the movie Spirit growing up and, after reading about the taming and riding style of Comanches, now realize it was a Comanche tribe being depicted.
I've slept in the Caprock Canyon and visited Palo Duro Canyon, the last stronghold of Comanche civilization, but there was no trace of that history there. Further, the man who killed Quanah Parker's father, making him an orphan at age 12, bought Palo Duro Canyon.
Beautiful, tragic quote from Chief Ten Bears as a treaty: "I was born under the prairie, where the wind blew free and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no enclosures and everything drew a free breath" (Loc 4512).
After moving to the reservation, Quanah Parker actually starred in one of the first westerns ever in 1908, the Bank Robbery. Quanah can be seen around 24:00.
Finally, the Comanche people took up peyote in the mid-nineteenth century (Loc 6158).
Thanks to my friend Jake C for the recommendation.