Empire of the summer moon Quanah Parker and the rise and fall of the Comanche tribe

Empire of the Summer Moon Analysis

In a well-written and thoughtful essay, answer the following five questions concerning the monograph, Empire of the Summer Moon, by S.C. Gwynne.

To do well on this essay you must fully answer all of the questions in an essay form. Please do not simply write the questions number and the answer. Make it an essay.

Important: you must cite specific information in the book that corresponds to your points. A simple parenthesis with a page number is fine for citation, e.g. (175).

Finally, the only material you can reference is the book itself. Please do not use outside sources or summaries. That would do more harm than good since it would be plagiarism. Plagiarism is bad; like failing the class bad. Let’s not go down that road.

There is no min or max page limit to this essay, but I think a good essay would probably fall in the range of 3-5 pages. These are large questions, after all.

Please use the standard essay format: double-spaced, 11 or 12pt font, Times New Roman or Arial script (or any other professional script).

Reminder: the max score you can make on this essay is a 150. The remaining 50 points come from the chapter quizzes.

Questions to answer:

Why do you think Gwynne wrote this book? What was the main point he was trying to get across? Was he effective in convincing you about his point?
How did race and ethnicity factor into the realities of the Texas frontier? Can the story of the “West” be told in terms of race? Why or why not? Be sure to give specific examples from the book.
Compare and contrast white-Texan culture to the culture of the Comanche during the 19th Century. What major differences and/or similarities do you see? Be sure to use specific examples from the book.
In your opinion, was Quanah Parker a “preserver of the Comanche culture” or a “sell-out?” Is he a heroic figure of the Comanche or just a person that adopted the “American ways?” Be specific and give examples from the book that fit your argument.
Finally, in a concluding paragraph, briefly write what you thought of the book. Did you like or dislike it? What worked and what did not? Be honest here. I like to get feedback to decide if I will continue to use the book in the future.

ANSWER

Empire of the Summer Moon

Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C Gwynne offers an adequate amount of evidence concerning the argument he was attempting to provide. The book offers arguments to the readers which enable them to understand how the actions of the Americans greatly influenced the Native American Comanche tribe. In the book, the author attempts to make an argument concerning the freedom that people have and to a certain degree. Considerably, the author wanted the readers to understand the most powerful Indian Tribe that America had ever seen. Gwynne explained why the Comanche’s were the most powerful Indian tribe and gave full details about how the tribe was able to win over five states in the U.S between 1650’s and 1850s.

The main point that the author was trying to get through was explaining how the Comanche’s underwent each war against the Apaches, Spanish, Texans, and Mexicans. He wanted to get into details about the suffering, pain, victories, and losses that happened to win over each territory that the tribe gained. The Comanches were having wars for over two hundred years and had engaged in combat as a culture against highly mobile and lethal opponents (Dunn, 30). They had mastered and perfected how to utilize all kinds of weapons and mastered everything they could use to win battles no matter how challenged they were.

Ethnicity and race factored into the realities of Texas Frontier since Comanches were in away upholding certain standards. Ideally, anyone could not just become Comanche. One must have the Comanche bloodline within them. Over the years, the Comanche’s took female captives from France, India, Spain, America, and Mexico and nurtured children with them that were raised as Comanche. For instance, Quanah the child of Comanche’s chief was a half-breed. The people of the Texas frontier discovered this fact concerning the child since it was very extraordinary (Dunn, 30). Quanah was an exception and was the first half-breed Comanche. Thus, it is clear that ethnicity and race were a factor in the Texas Frontier.

The Comanches and the white Texan culture had a few things in common. They both enjoyed riding horses, hunting, and having weapons. The Texas Rangers could sleep with guns since war could erupt anytime. The Texas and Comanches loved horses so much that they even fought on horses through the entire battle. For instance, the horse was a major element in Comanche culture (Dunn, 30). Individuals mastered their skills in horse riding and benefited greatly in times of war. The only difference I felt about the two cultures was personalities. For instance, the Comanches were considered as emotionless and heartless. As compared to the Texas who never behaved in such a manner, Comanches gang-raped females and murdered infants. Comanche raided for horses, material goods, and captives that were sold as slaves to the Spanish and Mexican. As compared to White Texas, Comanches were more primitive, remote, and remarkably hostile.

Quanah Parker was neither a sell-out nor a preserver of the Comanche culture. This is because he was half-breed which means that he respected both cultures the white and Comanche side of life. However, he was more of a Comanche since he led the Comanches during the war. However, after all the fighting, he also realized that he should move to the white American culture. He wanted to be part of the white culture the same way he was part of the Comanche culture.

In summation, Gwynne has offered a great historical narrative of the Comanche with Quanah being the last and most powerful Comanche rules. Gwynne has relied on various sources to gather information about the culture which would not have been known if the author failed to put together this information in this book. The book has offered a lot about American history during that era and about the rise and fall of Comanche as the most powerful tribe in American history.

Works Cited

Dunn, Ken. “Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History.” Whispering Wind 43.1 (2014): 30.