Recently, an old college buddy recommended Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne, a history of the final years of the Comanche as a free and independent people. Until then, I considered myself familiar with the Wild West. Besides growing up in the southwest, I had read a few books about the western expansion to include the epic and tragic Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. So I thought my notions about the settlement of the west were comprehensive and well informed. Then Gwynne’s narrative roared through me like a prairie fire, and it burned through many of my preconceptions. His masterful prose presented the bloody struggle between the Comanche and the white man in both broad, illuminating strokes and personal, empathetic detail. What most astonished me was learning that Manifest Destiny was not just stopped in its tracks but flung backwards when settlers abandoned west Texas and southern Oklahoma at the point of the Comanche lance. Two personalities tower in this American Iliad: Quanah Parker, the last and greatest of the Comanche chiefs; and his nemesis, the brave and calculating Colonel Randall Mackenzie, who pursued and subjugated the Comanche even though Mackenzie was well aware that he was an agent of a venal, misguided, and unjust policy. After Parker surrendered, he and Mackenzie became close friends. Ironically, Parker prospered in the white man’s world while the decorated military hero Mackenzie succumbed to his demons and died insane. Gwynne’s book is both an inspiring and a heartbreaking read with its of exploits of savagery, heroism, and sacrifice.
Mario Acevedo is the author of the best-selling Felix Gomez vampire detective novels, and a faculty member at Lighthouse.
This post is part of our Lit Matters series, in which writers and readers express why supporting and elevating literary arts is meaningful to them. Lit Matters stories will be posted throughout the month of November, leading up to Colorado Gives Day on December 9. Mark your calendar for Colorado Gives Day or schedule your gift now. Thank you!
