Comanches: The History of a People

I am surprised, or perhaps not so surprised, that several reviewers feel that this book is unsympathetic to the Comanches. In fact it is quite sympathetic to their world view and situation, but also quite realistic about what was going to happen once the Comanches found themselves opposed to Anglo settlement. There was no future for a raiding people who killed and brutalized those they preyed upon once they faced an encroaching society that would not allow them sanctuary in their homeland, Comancheria. The author makes it clear that Anglos did not understand the Comanches' view of themselves as honorable warriors or that different Comanche bands would not feel themselves bound by agreements made by others. He also makes quite clear that the Comanches did not understand the nature of Texans and Americans. (At one point after the Civil War that some Comanches actually thought that they could play one group off against the other, living on U.S. reservations but raiding into Texas, not realizing that by that time the two groups were essentially the same.)

The author is particularly harsh regarding changing Texan and American policy, or lack of policy, toward the plains Indians, which he views as having prolonged frontier violence for decades. He traces the changing effectiveness of the Texas Rangers, excoriates the failed U.S. "peace policy," punctures the myth that cowboys secured the frontier, and finds officers of the U.S. Army surprisingly respectful of Comanche courage.

This book was written before the advent of political correctness and thus uses the terms "savage" and "barbarian" without apology. Still, the author quite accurately sees the Comanche as a people who had learned to command their environment, but found it difficult to adapt when that environment was changed irretrievably by trails, settlement, the integration of Texas into the U.S., the end of the American Civil War, and the destruction of the buffalo.

This is history written by a pragmatic realist, but also one who sympathizes with the Comanche, particularly obviously in his final chapter, which depicts an attempted last buffalo hunt by Indians paroled from the reservation who find, terribly, that the buffalo are gone and their past way of life lost forever.

I read Fehrenbach's book many years ago. I remember it as a good narrative history and an entertaining read. It's not the last word on the Comanches however: from what I've seen, Kavanagh has done excellent ethnographic work on the subject, and Noyes's writings have a naturalistic flair with a strong background in firsthand accounts of Spanish/Mexican contact with the Comanches. Wallace's "Lords of the Southern Plains" is also good. I haven't read "Comanche Empire" which is a recent work, and proof that these Nermernuh, or Noomah, remain a fascinating topic. George Catlin's art and writing on the subject is fascinating.

Without going in to the realm of bodice-rippers, there have been numerous novels written specifically about the Comanche - Blakely's readable and sympathetic "Comanche Dawn" and Keith's juvenile "Komantcia". Believe it or not, "Dances With Wolves", much-maligned by reviewers with an axe to grind about portrayals of "PC" Natives or Natives in general, was actually written about the Comanche, whereas the movie swapped the Sioux into their place...and truth be told, it wasn't a very good novel. Also, there are a number of captive narrations such as that of Herman Lehmann.

Although the Comanches of the time in which the Anglo settlers encountered them were diminished by disease and constant war, they were a formidable guerrilla foe. They parlayed the still numerous buffalo herds into food and trade commodities, and a lot of their captives taken in war were sold at Southwestern slave markets or ransomed back to their families - another source of income. Reportedly they were slow to take to alcohol (which was good for them, obviously) and the firearm (a mounted Comanche was more lethal with a bow and/or lance than with a musket). All in all, a fascinating people and "a distant mirror" of our own society.

Master author T. R. Fehrenbach writes another definitive account of a historical circumstance in Comanches: A History of a People.

Fehrenbach, describes the Comanche People from their earliest days to their defeat as an independent force in the late 1870s with colorful detail. This includes their culture, alliances with other tribes, trading networks as well as their mastery of the horse. He also importantly describes their conflict with whites, first the Spanish, and later the Texans and Americans.

The author un-ashamedly describes the savage warfare of the Comanche, which includes torture of the most barbaric sort, rape, kidnapping, and murder. He also recounts the Texan response to such actions.

Delightfully free of the curse of political correctness, this book lays out the situation with a ring of truth in careful, expressive sentences. The book sweeps the reader along.

Fehrenbach explores the Comanche from the mysterious and inauspicious beginnings in Wyoming or Montana to the final days of the Quahadi on the Staked Plains of Texas. When a few horses came into their hands the tribe found a niche in history and elbowed their way into country better suited to them. They destroyed their enemies who already occupied that land from horseback, the Fara'on and Lipan Apache were extinguished. The Jicarilla Apache became a friend to the Spanish because of the Comanche of the high plains. Penatekas harried and almost overcame the ancient Tonkawans of Central Texas.
When the Penateka raid to Linnville, Texas, ended their reign the raids continued four decades until Ranald McKenzie destroyed the Quahadi horse herd. Afoot, the Comanche was lost.
This is a book you want.

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 the store 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?

Dear Sir:

Ted Fehrenbach has penned the most definitive work ever written on the history of the Comanche people and the Plains culture. In a prose that reads like a novel, Mr. Fehrenbach has traced the origins of the Comanche people from their humble and destitute way of life as mountain Shoshone to the Lords of the Plains. His way with words is not only informative but highly entertaining. I've read the book several times now and each time I come upon another interesting tidbit that is the result of Mr. Fehrenbach's painstaking research and creative writing. "Comanches, The Destruction of a People" is a masterpiece. Anyone who relishes the history of the Texas frontier of the 19 th century will find no greater record of those turbulent times than in Mr. Fehrenbach's biography of the Comanche people.

Sincerely,

Bob Mittendorf
Lago Vista, Texas

T.R. Fehrenbach's The Comanches is a wonderful, unflinching look at a powerful yet tragic tribe of Indians. The thing that separates Fehrenbach from other history writers is his use of anthropology.He explains why these and other Indians did not evolve beyond the Stone Age. For teachers like myself it helps to know why geography and culture(not race) influence different peoples' actions.

Fehrenbach tells the truth about the Comanches - as opposed to 'Dancing with Wolves' and other radical distortions.
The Comanches were a proud, savage people who adapted brilliantly to the horse and the plains. The Texans were also a proud, savage people who adapted brilliantly to the challenge of the Horse People.
Great Book. It even has the story of Cynthia Ann Parker - a legend in Texas.

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.

This book describes the history and destruction of the Commanche people in a manner that makes the book hard to put down. More importantly the story of the interactions of the Commanche people, the Spaniards, Mexicans, Texans, and Americans are portrayed in the fairest manner possible. There are no good guys, no bad guys, just people doing what they had to do to survive. Fehrenbach's insight into the Commanche ethos allows one to understand why European based cultures had to fear them, hate them, and at the same time respect them and actually feel proud that such a people existed. At the same time I have become more proud of my Texan ancestors whether they be White, Indian, or Mexican. I now understand why the Commanche people and the American or Texan peoples could not have coexisted. Tragically, one had to be exterminated.

An exhaustive history of one of the least known tribes of Indians in the development of the American West. Origins, culture, and detailed description of the Comanche nation and their intereaction with other tribes of Native Americans, the French, Spanish, Mexican and Texans.

Despite being less well known than the Northern Plains Sioux and Cheyenne, the Comanche displaced the Apache, stopped French and Spanish exploration dead in their tracks, harrassed Mexican settlers for 200 years and halted the Texan expansion into thier "Comancheria" for 85 years.

Well written and researched, worth reading for anyone interested in the history of the Southwest US.

Fine piece of historical writing -- clear-eyed, incisive and sympathetic to both sides in the brutal clash of cultures that destroyed the Comanches. Fehrenbach's military background serves him well in underscoring the pitiless human fact that the strong will conquer the weak. Excellent narrative for the general reader that ranges from the Stone Age to the 1870s, never loses pace and is intensely moving.

Honestly, this book is a tedious drag to read. Empire of the Summer Moon is much better. The endless detail about things that have nothing to do with Comanches, like what jobs the wives of soldiers could do if they traveled out west with their husbands.....geez. If you want to know the whole history of the Southwest from the Spanish prospective, from the French perspective, from the English perspective, this book is for you! For me? It was a labored bore. I read Shelby Foote's 3000 pages on the Civil war, twice, and it went by faster than this phone book. Have at it.

I've read other books about American Indians and have seen how it can be done well. This is the worst book on any group of American Indians that I have ever seen. The auther starts out with 100 or more pages of anthropological speculation that he unqualified and unfit to enter into. If you make it through this first grueling hundred pages or so you find a book that is hamstrung by the authors bias. Don't waste your money on this book.

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.

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.

This book could have been condensed into about 50 pages of actual Comanche history. It is obvious that the author never interviewed or
consulted with a Native American or as he likes to use the term "Amerindian". The author seems to be a very well educated intellectual idiot! I do not recommend this book and filed it in the recycle bin!