Lords of the Plain : A Novel [Paperback]

Max Crawford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1997

In this historical novel by Max Crawford, the U.S. 2nd Cavalry rolls into Texas in the 1870s with orders to keep the peace and persuade the fierce Comanches to move quietly onto the reservation. Captain Philip Chapman tells a tale of high adventure: the hardships of a forced cavalry march, an ambush by the Comanches, an idyllic summer camp at the Caballo Ranch, the epic trek made by Chapman and his K Troop across the Ilano estacado, and defeat of Tehana Storm, legendary half-white Comanche chieftain, in the decisive battle at Palo Duro Canyon.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Max Crawford is the author of more than a dozen novels, including Waltz across Texas, Lords of the Plain, and Wamba, all three published by the University of Oklahoma Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press (March 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806129085
• ISBN-13: 978-0806129082
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,047,293 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute gem, September 21, 2000

By 

W. Price "poems&things" (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lords of the Plain : A Novel (Paperback)

Max Crawford's LORD OF THE PLAINS is one of American literature's hidden gems. It's a sweet, gorgeous, steady-all-the-way piece of work. It is as accurate a picture as we are ever likely to get of the 1870s in the Texas Panhandle. It is at once heartbreaking and inspiring. And it is a good read, to boot. You will like these people, even the ones who aren't nice.

Thanks to the Uof Oklahoma for this beautiful reprint. Congratulations to McMurtry for his wit in writing the preface. This is one of the few books about the American West that can stand on the same shelf with Lonesome Dove, Warlock, The Big Sky, and The Earthbreakers.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finest story of the Llano Estacado ever told!, November 24, 1998

By 

Robert Pratt (Lubbock, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lords of the Plain : A Novel (Paperback)

In describing the history of the last major area of the U.S. to be settled, Crawford gives the best sense of how dangerous and forbidding the great Southern High Plains was to men limited to horse and foot travel. Fransisco Coronado mapped the area as the Llano Estacado (Staked Plains) because it is so flat and, at the time, devoid of trees, hills and other landmarks. He was forced to drive tall stakes in the ground from which to navigate. (Much as oil barrels are used to navigate the Sahara by jeep today.) The struggle of Col. Mackenzie to defeat the last of the warrior Indian tribes, opening up this vast section of Texas for settlement, while battling the political bureaucracy of the U.S. Army, is truly captivating. Beautiful prose, rythmic, musical descriptions of oceans of grass and strong characters combine to make great historical fiction.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How Texas got that way, April 28, 2004

By 

Jon A. Jackson (Missoula, MT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lords of the Plain : A Novel (Paperback)

This novel is the most evocative and compelling tale of "Indian Removal" in Texas that I know of. In fact, it's a powerful story of the appalling commercial and political developement of that strange country. As such, it's rather dismaying, because the country is naturally beautiful, though awful as well as awesome, but what was done in it and to it is a tragedy. When you read Crawford's penetrating narrative, you get a sinking sense of the inevitable, merciless arc of history. Anyone who thinks that Cormac McCarthy has something to say, ought to read this author, who doesn't merely toy with the truth but explores it deeply and expands our understanding.