Customer Reviews

Quanah Parker: Warrior for Freedom, Ambassador for Peace

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I was particularly interested in this book about Quanah Parker, because I grew up in the town named after him, Quanah, Texas. I found this book in the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center in Marlow, Oklahoma. Hilts gives us a story-form report of the key events in the life of Quanah Parker, last chief of the Comanches.

He has written up this narrative from eye-witness accounts of participants. Hilts has gathered original documents and spoken with descendants to put this story-picture together.

Parker led his people from war to peace in a settlement of ongoing disputes with Texas and the United States, successfully transitioning from the traditional plains migratory living to settled farming and business, becoming an able advocate for his people against the further cultural and geographic hegemony of the US.

Parker became the first Native American to invest in a railroad, being one of the founder owners of the Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railway, still operating in our town in my childhood. This book is written up from eye-witness accounts of participants in the events recorded.

I also suggest another good book about Quanah Parker:
Dugan, Bill. Quanah Parker. NY: HarperPaperbacks (HarperCollins), 1993. 309p. This is a book in the War Chiefs series, good easy historical and biographical approach to great personages.

This book was out of print and I found this one for my 15 yo daughter on Amazon. She consumed the story and said it was one of the best ones ever.