{"id":796,"date":"2011-05-25T05:42:18","date_gmt":"2011-05-24T23:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/?p=796"},"modified":"2011-05-25T05:42:18","modified_gmt":"2011-05-24T23:42:18","slug":"s-c-gwynnes-empire-of-the-summer-moon-great-comanche-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/2011\/05\/25\/s-c-gwynnes-empire-of-the-summer-moon-great-comanche-history\/","title":{"rendered":"S.C. Gwynne\u2019s "Empire of the Summer Moon"\u2014Great Comanche History"},"content":{"rendered":"

So if you\u2019re interested in Native American history, S.C. Gwynne\u2019s Empire of the Summer Moon<\/em> (Scribner 2010) is a great read. Most of it concerns the Comanches, who essentially ruled and terrorized the Great Plains of Texas\/Oklahoma areas during the 18th<\/sup>\/19th<\/sup> centuries, which all essentially came to a close around 1874. It\u2019s certainly a gruesome story, considering the attacks on white settlers that occurred during this period, and the Comanches dominance of other Plains tribes. But once it reaches the story of Quanah Parker, sometimes considered the last great chief of the Comanches, it provides a useful overview of Native American history at the end of the Indian Wars. There\u2019s a triumvirate of excellent histories that give a good overview of the demise of Plains Indian culture: The Journals of Lewis & Clark<\/em>, Evan S. Connell\u2019s Son of the Morning Star<\/em> (about Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn), and Gwyne\u2019s Empire of the Summer Moon<\/em>. One major contrast: On Lewis & Clark\u2019s 1804-5 journey the only violence between L&S\u2019s party and the Indians occurred very late in the trip, when some Blackfeet tried to steal some weapons, and one of the party killed an Indian. The violence then heats up as the Plains Indians realize what is happening, that they\u2019re being driven off the land, and strike back. Ultimately it seems a clash of technology, probably inevitable, although Connell\u2019s book makes the most persuasive argument for how it could have happened another way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So if you\u2019re interested in Native American history, S.C. Gwynne\u2019s Empire of the Summer Moon (Scribner 2010) is a great read. Most of it concerns the Comanches, who essentially ruled and terrorized the Great Plains of Texas\/Oklahoma areas during the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-the-west"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t