Comanches: The History of a People

by T.R. Fehrenbach

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400030498
• ISBN13: 9781400030491
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 592 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Why are we here?

Fantastic book. Easy to read and has a lot of details. A must for history buffs who like Native American history. Will leave you reeling with this question: what is our purpose here on earth? How do the Comanches fit in to that question? Also, if you want to know why the Anglo Saxons are hard to beat, this is the book for you.

WD in Texas

An outstanding work of narrative history. Fehrenbach occasionally refers to works he has cited but most often presses forward with the story uninterrupted by footnotes. A bibliography is included following the text. This is a wide-ranging look at the Comanche spanning their first known origins and their ethnic, cultural, and environmental evolution into the ultimate horse Indians. The tribe's history is set in the context of the history of the land they occupied. First, Fehrenbach lays out the Spanish conquest of northern Mexico, and the imperial policies that governed their frontier, and delineates how those policies and practices fostered the advance of Comanches as a horse culture built on raiding and marauding. Then with the demise of the Spanish as a power, he juxtaposes the Comanche against the advancing Anglo-Texan population. Not only does this paint a complete picture of the Comanche, it provides an overview of the history of the region and great insight into the differing approaches to empire among the Spanish, French, and Anglos and the results those policies produced on the ground. Not dull stuff at all the way he tells it. Fehrenbach's writing style is fluid and transparent, designed to tell the story not to draw undue attention to himself as a writer. He has a novelitst's sense of pace and drama that never allows the story to bog down. He also has an eye for character and detail that deftly draws together the telling elements that make his vignettes poignant and memorable. Most of all, however, he formulates deductive historical insights that pinpoint the causative factors shaping the direction of history. And all this in a text as readable as a finely crafted novel.

An Impressive History of An Impressive People

If it's possible to write five hundred pages of historical non-fiction without bias, Fehrenbach has done it in Comanches. The book is devoid of rhetoric, overstatement, or preaching. He is a man absolutely committed to fact. What he presents in Comanches is a sweeping tome on the origins and ultimate destruction of a fascinating culture.Vast in scope, Comanches begins with an anthropological study of the warring tribe's development and domination of rival Indians. They were nomadic people, living in harmony with the plains, sustained by the seemingly-infinite buffalo herds. More than anyone else, the Comanches are responsible for America's English-from-the-East-coast heritage rather than what would have been domination by the Spaniards coming north out of Mexico. The Comanches' fierce resistance delayed European domination of the West by several centuries.Fehrenbach's treatment of the Comanche's adoption of the horse, introduced to North America by the Spaniards, is brilliant. Anyone who has ever ridden a horse bareback knows how difficult it is to stay aboard, and can't help but be in awe of the "horse people's" ability to ride at full gallop and accurately shoot arrows or, later, rifles.The book finishes with the sad destruction of the Comanche culture by the relentless and overwhelming advance of European "civilization" from the East.In a word, Fehrenbach's scholar-level book leaves you with a deep respect for the Comanches. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.

The Comanches -- The Destruction of a People

An excellent book!In this book, Mr. Fehrenbach provides a valuable service in this day and age when he describes, unflinchingly, the utter savagery employed by Indian tribes' particular brand of "warfare" - not warfare at all really but more of a rite of passage for males in the band. A rite in which the systematic rape, mutilation and gruesome torture of one's helpless captives was considered perfectly acceptable - and not limited to only white men, women and children either - other enemy Indian tribes were just as imperiled. He also pulls no punches with regard to the reciprocating treachery, hatred and savagery employed Europeans settlers. But, more important than anything that could be construed as fault-finding, he highlights the underlying cultural ethos that were at work when describing the clash of cultures that occurred between red men and white and brings home the inevitableness of this clash and the hopelessness of accommodating the Indian's way of life amid the title wave of immigration and settlement that occurred throughout the 19th century.This book should be required reading in all our Colleges and Universities.

Early Texans at their very best.

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.