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    Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History
    Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History
    Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History
    Audiobook15 hours

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

    Written by S.C. Gwynne

    Narrated by David Drummond

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    *Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award*
    *A New York Times Notable Book*
    *Winner of the Texas Book Award and the Oklahoma Book Award*

    This New York Times bestseller and stunning historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West “is nothing short of a revelation…will leave dust and blood on your jeans” (The New York Times Book Review).

    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 readers may be more familiar with the tribal names Apache and Sioux, it was in fact the legendary fighting ability of the Comanches that determined when the American West opened up. Comanche boys became adept bareback riders by age six; full Comanche braves were considered the best horsemen who ever rode. 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.

    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, and the amazing story of Cynthia Ann Parker and her son Quanah—a historical feast for anyone interested in how the United States came into being.

    Hailed by critics, S. C. Gwynne’s account of these events is meticulously researched, intellectually provocative, and, above all, thrillingly told. Empire of the Summer Moon announces him as a major new writer of American history.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateSep 20, 2016
    ISBN9781508229568
    Author

    S.C. Gwynne

    S.C. Gwynne is the author of His Majesty’s Airship, Hymns of the Republic, and the New York Times bestsellers Rebel Yell and Empire of the Summer Moon, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. He spent most of his career as a journalist, including stints with Time as bureau chief, national correspondent, and senior editor, and with Texas Monthly as executive editor. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife.

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    Reviews for Empire of the Summer Moon

    4.5/5

    1,076 ratings91 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Honestly, this book is pretty amazing! I listened to a podcast with the author twice, and decided to listen to the book in the midst of work and am ready to listen again. It's a truly tragic tale of the harsh reality of the world and the nature of people.
      On a personal note, after hearing the hardships of the people in this time, I'll never complain again. We live soooooooo comfortably.

      4 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Excellent book, it gives a nostalgia for the frontier and the types of men that populated it. It manages to paint a realistic Picture of the grusomeness while at the same time keeping the romance of the bygone era.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 3/5
      An awesome book but the narrator really takes you out of it. He's too stiff. It reminds me of having Siri read back something. Plus a little research on his part would have been nice. One thing in particular, the Llano Estacado is pronounced Yano. Not lano.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      First off, this review is for the AUDIO version of the book. (Note: this really is an incredible story and the author chose an excellent topic--and conveys the story impartially.) Tried as I might, I turned the audio off after Chapter 7. The narrator is insufferable. At times, I questioned whether "David Drummond" (credited as Narrator) is actually an A.I. Aside from his stiff tenor, the way he delivers the tone of some gruesome events is almost sociopathic. Seriously, I hesitate to assumed thy not even a mid-Atlantic newscaster would read a story, so tone-deaf to the content. Do not let this dissuade you from the book--this is merely my own critique--I recommend reading this one, as opposed to listening.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Very interesting and well written book about the relationship between Comanches and there adversaries.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Facts not stories shed light on both sides lots of facts

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Outstanding accounts of historical revenge battles over the Great Plains

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Great listen. Ignore the woke one star review that said it was too racist to keep reading. It gives an accurate account, both good and bad of whites and natives, taken directly from historical documents a lot of the time.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Outstanding work long overdue. Amazing story of a great Comanche chief and the final hurrah of America’s Plains Indians.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This account left me feeling like I had just watched a train wreck. I wanted to find a bad guy and a good guy and instead it was a tragedy of two completely incompatible cultures colliding with only victims left in the wake. I couldn't find much sympathy for either group.
    • 5/5
      It’s so good I seriously considered just starting it over as soon as it finished
    • 5/5
      INCREDIBLY insightful look into a little known period of America's history as it relates to the Plains Tribes of the Midwest and South.

      The author's research is superb and I loved how he interlaced personal biographical statements into the story to give this riveting tale full color!

      A must read for anyone interested in Native American history, culture, and social life from 1830-1900.
    • 5/5
      Fantastically written, easy to follow, couldn't stop listening. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      What a moving, detailed and rich account of a very particular moment in history. This book was riveting from beginning to end.
    • 5/5
      A book that woke culture could never understand....great book telling a story of a wild west so wild and savage its hard to put down.
    • 5/5
      Well written history is a delight. McKenzie dired with frontal lobe dementia due to sequels of his head injury.
    • 5/5
      Great. Book. Described. Role. Of. American. Indians. In. Formation of. Texas. And. The. American. West
    • 5/5
      This audiobook, while listening although myself of Aboriginal heritage This does shine some light on other Aboriginal groups outside of my very own First Nations the local history of where I now do live at…. It is good to also listen to other historians about various vanished peoples, typical history right across the board Around our world.
    • 5/5
      A rough life these people lived yet they seemed to enjoy it.
    • 5/5
      Wonderful story of life as a Comanche and the transition to captivity. Through it all Parker’s indomitable spirit shines through
    • 5/5
      This is a spectacular book. I have read a large amount of American history concerning the Plains Indians; there always seemed to be a vacuum in the area of Texas and Oklahoma. It was a desert, no one lived there, nothing to see. This book, through wonderful writing, provides the background for that “vacuum”, and also tells the story of the Colt revolver, and in the most striking manner, how it helped to change the balance of power on the Plains.S.C. Gwynn’s is great author.
    • 5/5
      A must read if you are interested in US history and the gaining of power of the federation.
    • 1/5
      it's a f****** documentary. boring as f*** who played s***
    • 4/5
      Well written and contains some great information about the land and the people.
    • 5/5
      Very interesting well researched story of the wars with the native American peoples, Cynthia Ann Parker and her son Quanah Parker who lived between the two worlds of settlers and the Comanche people.
    • 5/5
      My true belief is if this book would be mandatory in our schools our next generation could far more compassionate and much better informed than our current generation. The standard demagogue will be nothing but a copy of us.
    • 5/5
      Great ,realistic history of the best light cavalry Of North America( and probably The world). The horrors of war, murders, battles, geographic locations, and timelines of all continuants who took part in real American History. Blood, guts and all.( not some Hollywood, Romanized BS) A Very good read that has made an impact on my views of our Nation and how it came to be. S.C. Gwynne did an outstanding , balanced, unbiased, matter of fact presentation of telling it like it was. (at some points in his writing made me chuckle too) Good Read , Sir!
    • 3/5
      Don't particularly care for the narrator's style but the book isn't bad. Sometimes repetitive and rarely touching quanah himself until the last third of the book, it's still a good history of Texas Indian affairs .
    • 5/5
      Great insight and revelation of the minds and hearts of both sides fighting.
    • 5/5
      I found this story… I should say the facts presented in this story very disturbing. This is a cold and cruel story and the author makes this unpleasant …as it should be!
      I recommend this with one caveat… If you are of frail mental health(depression) this is NOT for you. NO ONE comes off looking good here. Both the White man AND the Red man appear capable of extreme cruelty. The book reads well and to my limited knowledge it does not appear to have a particular bias…except maybe women…(ALL color of women appear to not fare well during this time period)