Empire of the Summer Moon

Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History

By: S. C. Gwynne

Narrated by: David Drummond

Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

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 listeners may be more familiar with the names Apache and Sioux, it was in fact the legendary fighting ability of the Comanches that determined just how and when the American West opened up. 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. So effective were the Comanches that they forced the creation of the Texas Rangers and account for the advent of the new weapon specifically designed to fight them: the six-gun.

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 - a historical feast for anyone interested in how the United States came into being.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2016 S. C. Gwynne (P)2016 Simon & Schuster

Great story in need of better narration

Such a fascinating dive into a distinct part of history. The only critique is it seems the narrator was emotionally disengaged from the book's content, which left more to be desired from such a powerful story.

Pride and shame

Wow, this was such a good book. I laughed, I cried, I cringed. There was good, bad and ugly but it was all real. I don’t think a book has ever given me simultaneous feelings of such pride and shame for history. I really hope someday that Quanah’s home can be restored. If you google it, it’s still there in Oklahoma but is in disrepair.

Cultural Horrors in the North American Indian Wars

Empire of the Summer Moon, researched and written by S. C. Gwynne, and narrated by David Drummon. This is the story of the most vicious of all the Indian wars fought on the North American continent; the fight between the Comanche nation, first with the Spanish in New Mexico, then the Texans (and the famous Texas Rangers), and finally, the United State of America. This is the story of the war and the required destruction of the Comanche nation.

Any Indian nation story having to do with the destruction of the North American Indian peoples is going to be measured in the shadow of the seminal, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Bury My Heart explains how the indigenous nations of North America came to realize the white migrants to their lands were far too numerous to withstand. So, as nations, entered into treaties to hopefully provide the opportunity to live in peace and preserve traditional life. Truthfully, in Summer Moon, we learn no Indian was ever going to abide by a paper agreement in any case; documents meant nothing to him/her. Also, notwithstanding the written commitments, the migrating white Americans treated the original natives as being less than human, and therefore any obligation to a savage does not require fidelity. As such, Bury My Heart and Summer Moon are filled with holocaustic undertakings; by both the white settlers against the Indians and the Indian nations against the white settlers. The debauchery, hatefulness and vehemence that is explained in Bury My Heart is fathomless.
Empire of the Summer Moon is about one of those Indian nations, the Comanche. Prepare yourself for a stunning realization; the ledger of atrocities falls more heavily upon the Comanche. Summer Moon is about common human wickedness.

In Summer Moon, S. C. Gwynne, instructs us in the very evil content of the American Indian’s nature. If Gwynne is to be believed, we come to learn of the disrespect most Indian nations, and especially the Comanche had for other humans who came to them, through theft, trade, or outright war. In fact, the Comanche’s, and other Indian nations, according to the story, have a cultural bias to be horrific to their adversaries. That is not racism. That is just an explanation of the natives' learned cultural values. The Comanche, were merchants, but included in their mode of commerce, was the acceptability of not only fair trading but duplicity, and stealing wealth from others was also very acceptable. Yet it gets worse because in that practice of taking what you can if what was taken was another human being, it was their value that torturing the captive males to death and raped, pillaged and enslavement of the taken woman were proper acts. Any children were selectively treated like the defeated men or the captured woman. No assurances which way the matter may come down for the infants. According to Summer Moon, the Comanche were not trying to be impure, it was just their cultural origins that they followed.

The Comanche’s were, for our purposes, the Mongolian hordes of Asia between 1206 and 1368. They had the same physical features, a similar societal milieu and a fierceness for fighting from mobile ponies as did the Mongols; and their nation spread as did the Mongols, through war and causing catastrophe on others. The genius of each society was their ability to learn war from a horse was strategically more potent in open plains warfare than relying on infantry.

It is anguish to read the horrors one must learn to study to understand the history told here; but If it is mankind you wish to understand, this book is a step in the right direction for cataloging the nature of our species as horrific. As harsh as its contents may be, it is told wonderfully well, as its facts and stories are an organized compilation of data that delineates the people’s origin, development, wars, tactics, and demise. Very fact-intensive, but told in short episodes focusing on individuals and their part in the overall history. Oh yes, and the story has a wonderful flip in characters at the end. The book has a surprise ending.

I have always admired our native American heritage. This book though, was a drastic realization the American Indian, is no better than then we, and we are no better than them. In effect, we still have the horror of our lack of compassion for others to overcome. Can we?

If you thought you knew how the West was won, you were misinformed!

This is book that lays bare all the stereotypes of the Western Movement, the cowboys, the Indians and the naïveté of our government in dealing with the native peoples of the plains, particularly the Comanches. It is a stark historical review of human resourcefulness and intelligence in conflict between two civilizations separated by a 2000 year gap in culture. Beautiful written, it is a sorrowful, joyous and exciting historical review of our westward expansion.

Good but rambling

A good telling of the story of the Comanches. Could have been a little more straightforward the jumps are jarring. Competent narration.

Fascinating story

Very well done story of both the Comanche and their last chief. Highly recommend this story.

great book, terrible narration

The narration is monotone and boring, it almost sounds computer generated. Absolutely no emotion. The story, while maybe a little drawn out, was very good.

Amazing Story of the Comanche Indians

Great historical accounts and narration of the Comanche Indians, of how the Texas and Oklahoma frontiers were settled by whites, and how the Parker family played such a pivotal role in this history.

Red_Shamas from Washington, D.C.

I recommend this book to anyone that wanna know about Indian culture/history.
A complete book about the American frontier and how the west was won. A book without bias and prestige...good narrator, great story, and great performance.

A riveting look into history

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which gave me a deep insight into a corner of history I knew very little to nothing about. The writer lays it out in such a way that you understand the big picture while being sucked into the stories and lives of the frontier Indians and settlers alike. I now have a much more open minded understanding of the Native Americans in the early struggles of western expansion and it eradicated and cleared up some of the preconceived notions and misconceptions I have had for many years.