Quanah Parker was born in Oklahoma in the late 1840s or early 1950s, but the date is debated. He was part of the Antelope band of Comanche. His mother was a white woman who had been captured by Comanche warriors during the raid of Fort Parker in Texas. She was nine years old at the time of her capture. She eventually married to a Kwahadi warrior, who was a direct descendant of Iron Jacket. Quanah's mother and sister were captured by the United States military, and his father was killed. He was a skilled and well respected leader, even on the reservation. He was part of a raiding party that resulted in the Red River War. I will not go into detail about what happened to the Comanche people in my little summary here so that I do not ruin the book. Eventually, Quanah Parker married, learned some English, and white farming techniques. He also was key in founding the Native American Church movement. He died at age 66.

I have a few thoughts about Quanah Parker before I get into my thoughts about the book. There are several critics in the Comanche community towards Quanah Parker. They accuse him of bowing to the White Man and the government of the colonizers. Perhaps he did, because he stopped warring and adopted a lot of white things. His farming, his manner of dress, and his use of English are a few of the things he adopted. However, he did not abide by US marriage laws at had several wives at home. He also continued to keep the custom of having long hair in braids, which is apparently a really spiritual thing to Native people. I think he was a man who adapted to his circumstances in the best way that he could. I cannot imagine how difficult that must have been for him to do, and for all Native people to encounter and live through. This is just one footnote in a long story of genocide, but it is just as sad as all the others. First, I want to mention that I learned so much from this book about the Comanche. I personally live in East Tennessee, so all we ever learned about in school were the Cherokee, and that was scare information at that. I did not know anything about the Red River War or anything surrounding those events, so this book was very educational to me. I also feel that the book was very well researched. I always google things after the fact, sometimes during, because I like maps and pictures to supplement my reading, and I was able to match up a lot of the facts with outside sources and images. If you are interested in Native history, you should really make sure this book is included on your list.