Empire of the Summer Moon - S. C. Gwynne

Empire of the Summer Moon

By S. C. Gwynne

  • Release Date: 2010-05-25
  • Genre: History of the Americas
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 2,363 Ratings

*Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award*
*A New York Times Notable Book*
*Winner of the Texas Book Award and the Oklahoma Book Award*

This New York Times bestseller and stunning historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West “is nothing short of a revelation…will leave dust and blood on your jeans” (The New York Times Book Review).

Empire of the Summer Moon spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.

Although readers may be more familiar with the tribal names Apache and Sioux, it was in fact the legendary fighting ability of the Comanches that determined when the American West opened up. Comanche boys became adept bareback riders by age six; full Comanche braves were considered the best horsemen who ever rode. They were so masterful at war and so skillful with their arrows and lances that they stopped the northern drive of colonial Spain from Mexico and halted the French expansion westward from Louisiana. White settlers arriving in Texas from the eastern United States were surprised to find the frontier being rolled backward by Comanches incensed by the invasion of their tribal lands.

The war with the Comanches lasted four decades, in effect holding up the development of the new American nation. Gwynne’s exhilarating account delivers a sweeping narrative that encompasses Spanish colonialism, the Civil War, the destruction of the buffalo herds, and the arrival of the railroads, and the amazing story of Cynthia Ann Parker and her son Quanah—a historical feast for anyone interested in how the United States came into being.

Hailed by critics, S. C. Gwynne’s account of these events is meticulously researched, intellectually provocative, and, above all, thrillingly told. Empire of the Summer Moon announces him as a major new writer of American history.

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Reviews

  • Great book

    5
    By pg4700
    Awesome read so much information in a great book!!!
  • Didn’t even know I liked books like this.

    5
    By beanw6w6
    It’s a fantastic book that I found quite a quick read because I couldn’t put it down every night before bed was like a trip back in time and seeing how these Native Americans fought from obscurity to the perennial powerhouse of the west to fighting for survival…
  • Excellent

    5
    By Moses Belle
    Fabulous writing. Excellent story. Do read this Great Book. 💖💖💖 LADY GEN Freeport New York
  • Exhilarating

    5
    By kjhiuo
    Very entertaining and extremely well researched.
  • Early American Indian History.

    5
    By Tracer.
    A fascinating account of the lives of American Indians & the transition from being wild & free to roam the land to the eventual flood of white settlers that changed the way the Indians lived-forever.
  • Empire of the summer moon

    5
    By Keith Mundee
    Great book!!!
  • Empire of the Summer Moon

    5
    By Hydroshock180
    One of my most recent reads and it was riveting from start to finish.
  • If I could give it less than one star I would.

    1
    By Meblopez615
    This book is a) full of historic inaccuracies, b) is written as if in a vacuum perpetuating the idea of lack of Indian civilization focusing on the atrofies committed *even as* those same atrocities were being committed by white slave owners on blacks in the south c) this book discusses torture as something modern boys find interestingness but grow out of. If you need to revisit a 1950s version of the story of the American West where the whites are coming in to civilize the primitive backward natives this book is for you. If you are interested in understanding more about the rich history with a more nuanced and less white centric view I’d give this a skip. I wish I could get a refund on purchasing this book.
  • Extremely well written.

    5
    By ZachGM
    Wonderful book , incredibly glad I read it.
  • Compelling read

    4
    By Birdwood66
    Incredibly detailed and compelling account. Well written and informative.