“Empire of the Summer Moon” is quite an incredible experience, written in excellent taste by S.C. Gwynne, taking the reader on a very captivating trip back into a very tempestuous time involving the Comanche Indian tribe and its famous chieftain, Quanah Parker. Gwynne has painted a vivid picture of these peoples and their leader, his determination to hold on—even with his fingernails—against the onslaught of European settlers sweeping them away and the surely bound-to-clash civilizations.
It opens with a picture-laden description of the empty, severe, and cold places on the Great Plains—the ancestral home of the Comanches. Gwynne does a good job of setting the stage to detail the Comanches’ life, including their nomadic way of life combined with their mastery of horsemanship and the art of war. He outlines their fearsome title as “Lords of the Plains,” investigating the complex social and political structures reigning over the Comanches.
At the heart of it stands Quanah Parker, a white captive woman who mothered a son for a Comanche chief. Gwynne traces Quanah’s fabulous ascent from the young war leader he was to the statesman who tried hard to negotiate two diametrically opposite cultures through force of will. About him, Gwynne expounded on themes concerning identity, cultural hybridity, and the struggle for existence in a rapidly changing world.
One of the book’s strengths is its account of the convoluted relationship between the Comanches and incoming settlers. Brutality and violence on either side are things Gwynne must allow for, but his attention also goes to moments when mutual respect or understanding is possible. The moral ambiguity of the conflict is handled well, as it is not denied that any side in a war could be either good or evil. Besides, Gwynne describes the place and characters with many details through his lyrical and evocative writing. Be it Comanche raids or Indian hunts for buffalo by the Indians, Gwynne describes them in the best way possible, which brings the reader to the edge of their seat.
Though “Empire of the Summer Moon” is an excellent historical narrative, no flawless book exists. However, Gwynne’s work has some weaknesses in that it resorts to sensationalism and romanticism in some passages, particularly seen in his descriptions of Comanche warfare. For all its sharp-edged and even austere depictions of life on the plains, at times, it descends into caricature, which furthers rather than undercuts stereotypes.
The focus on Quanah Parker as a protagonist easily overshadows other key figures and events associated with the legacy of Comanche and even the Parker family. His is an enticing tale, but it is only one among many interwoven threads of the Comanche culture and resistance legacy. In closely centering his narrative on Parker, Gwynne risks flattening a multi-dimensional legacy (Gwynne, 2010).
Overall, “Empire of the Summer Moon” is a colorful and thought-provoking read, which unfolds to the reader’s eyes a little-known page in the history of America. Based on detailed research and crackling storytelling, S.C. Gwynne brings to life the world of the Comanche, letting readers vicariously experience an extinguished way of life and an exceptional leader who fought to ensure that his people did not go completely out with the light. The book, however, is not without its problems, yet it should be read and considered as a contribution to the growing corpus of literature regarding Native American history, and as such, for anyone interested in the often-confusing mosaic of the American identity, it belongs on the bookshelf.
Work Cited
Gwynne, Samuel C. Empire of the summer moon: Quanah Parker and the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. Simon and Schuster, 2010.
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