Book description
Authoritative and immediate, this is a brilliant 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
makers of arrows. They lived by a strict legal code and worshipped
within a cosmology of magic. As he portrays the Comanche lifestyle,
Fehrenbach re-creates their doomed battle against European
encroachment. While they destroyed the Spanish dream of colonizing
North America and blocked the French advance into the Southwest, the
Comanches ultimately fell before the Texas Rangers and the U. S. Army
in the great raids and battles of the mid-nineteenth century.
This is a classic American story, vividly and poignantly told.
T. R. Fehrenbach was born in San Benito, Texas, in 1925 and graduated
from Princeton University in 1947. He has been a contributor to many
publications, including
Esquire, The Atlantic, The Saturday Evening
Post,
and
The New Republic
. He is the author of the best-selling
Lone Star: A History of Texas
and the Texans
and
Fire and Blood: A History of Mexico
, among other works. He lives in San Antonio, Texas, with his wife,
Lillian.
