Western/Texas History Books

[Crockett]

I just finished reading Empire of the
Summer Moon having become curious about the Comanches while reading Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West, which centered on my native New Mexico.

I'm embarrassed that I've made dozens of trips to the Rockies with so little appreciation of the amazing struggle and strife it took to "civilize" the lands through which I traveled. Both books were well written and entertaining.

 

[huisache]

try The Conquest of Texas about the ethnic cleansing of our promised land

 

[LongJohn]

As a 7th generation Texan I am very into reading about the frontier days of Texas and the people who settled the land. I read "Empire" also and found it fascinating. Two other books I recommend are:

Texas Rangers: A Century of Frontier Defense, by Walter Webb. (written in 1935 this book contains material from interviews with original Texas Rangers)

Evolution of a State or Recollections of Old Texas Days by Noah Smithwick. (this is a first-hand account of one man's experience during the birth and early days of Texas. Came to Texas in 1829 and recounted his memories to his daughter when he was 90 years old. No fluff, just factual events and commentary from a first-hand perspective).

 

[Crockett]

Huis: Sounds pretty sad. The destruction of the Comanche and the Navajo is tough to contemplate, but in those cases you were talking about tribes with a history of violence who gave as good as they got at least up until the last.

Reading about the treatment of the "civilized" tribes and the betrayal, subjugation and atrocities they absorbed may be just too hard to read.

 

[CedarParkFan]

No pity for the Comanche. They were raiding and committing atrocities before Europeans set foot in North America.