Book: Empire of the Summer Moon

Since I (will) walk about 1 hour every day in 2020 (unless the company relocates), I am trying to put this time to good use and get back on track on my reading list, via audiobooks.

One of the first items, was this book, written by S. C. Gwynne. I have seen a lot of recommendations and praise for it on the internet, plus, Wild West has always fascinated me, so I decided to start with that one.

This is not a review, just a short reflection on the contents and the feelings it left me with after listening to the whole thing (which took me about 3 weeks).

One of the things that comes early on in the book is the general life of the Plains Indians. Their day-to-day survival, movements, wars & communications is very different to what I imagined in my previous absence of knowledge.

I could not easily overcome the way they treated enemies in battle, or prisoners after the battle, especially girls and women. Some things in the stories from the book are especially difficult to listen/read, however, they are certainly not unprecedented in history.

Moreover, I did not expect the story of the Parker family to turn out as it did, while I listened to the chapters go by. Every bit of it seems to need a book of its own, from the time before they settled, to their life in their settlement, and then everyone’s story after the settlement got destroyed.

Another thing that I found fascinating was the Texas Rangers. I have read many Wild West comic books and seen a lot of similar movies, and I have to say that my idea of the Rangers up until before listening to the book was close enough to their depiction in it.

I was pretty keen on listening about John Coffee Hays, and I plan to read more about him if I find a good book.

Finally, by the end of the book, there is a somewhat short depiction of life after the Indians surrendered. I listened to how broken they were and imagined how small and insignificant they must have been feeling. I think I will try to find a good book about this period, too, as it would be interesting to see how such a “nation” could go from being so free to being so enslaved.

Overall, I highly recommend the book to those keen on how US expanded over the Indian tribes and territories. The stories in the book are easy to follow and hard to forget. Each one of them is unique and all are very interesting, contributing to an intriguing greater picture. You can easily imagine what was happening in the background and how all of this would appear to common people at the time.