In the tradition of Empire of the Summer Moon, a stunningly vivid historical account of the manhunt for Geronimo and the 25-year Apache struggle for their homeland

They called him Mickey Free. His kidnapping started the longest war in American history, and both sides--the Apaches and the white invaders—blamed him for it. A mixed-blood warrior who moved uneasily between the worlds of the Apaches and the American soldiers, he was never trusted by either but desperately needed by both. He was the only man Geronimo ever feared. He played a pivotal role in this long war for the desert Southwest from its beginning in 1861 until its end in 1890 with his pursuit of the renegade scout, Apache Kid.

In this sprawling, monumental work, Paul Hutton unfolds over two decades of the last war for the West through the eyes of the men and women who lived it. This is Mickey Free's story, but also the story of his contemporaries: the great Apache leaders Mangas Coloradas, Cochise, and Victorio; the soldiers Kit Carson, O. O. Howard, George Crook, and Nelson Miles; the scouts and frontiersmen Al Sieber, Tom Horn, Tom Jeffords, and Texas John Slaughter; the great White Mountain scout Alchesay and the Apache female warrior Lozen; the fierce Apache warrior Geronimo; and the Apache Kid. These lives shaped the violent history of the deserts and mountains of the Southwestern borderlands--a bleak and unforgiving world where a people would make a final, bloody stand against an American war machine bent on their destruction

 

what did I think of it:

This is the first time I've ever read any Paul Andrew Hutton books and now that I have , I have to say that with this one The Apace Wars, he has written a gripping story that is fast past nonstop page turner and very emotional. He has a way that he brings to life and off the pages the history and struggle of the Apaches . If you love history then you will love The Apache War, because I did, with that said I would love to say thinks to Blogging for Books , as well as to the book publishers and Mr. Hutton for giving me a change to read this great book in a change for my honest opinion

They called him Mickey Free. His kidnapping started the longest war in American history, and both sides--the Apaches and the white invaders—blamed him for it. A mixed-blood warrior who moved uneasily between the worlds of the Apaches and the American soldiers, he was never trusted by either but desperately needed by both. He was the only man Geronimo ever feared. He played a pivotal role in this long war for the desert Southwest from its beginning in 1861 until its end in 1890 with his pursuit of the renegade scout, Apache Kid.

 

I was graciously given an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from Crown Publishing through the Goodreads' Giveaways for an honest review.  This is it:

 

When I got the e-mail that I was going to be getting an early copy of this book I was pretty excited about it. I knew a bit about the life of Geronimo and the wars he fought in, but I honestly didn't know any details about the Apache Wars.  Nothing more than a blurb from High School History.  So I was eager to crack open this one, especially since I've realized lately that I honestly don't know a lot about the history of my own country.   This book was the first in many non-fictions gracing my "To Be Read" pile to fix that problem.

 

Unfortunately, I've been trying to read The Apache Wars since I got in mid-April. 

 

To be honest this is my least favorite kind of review to write.  I had a really hard time getting through the first few chapters of this book.  There was a lot of information thrown into those few pages I did manage to get through.  I understood it was background information for what the author was leading up to the main part of the book.  There was just a lot of it take in.

 

Another problem I was having was when I would set the book down to go to work, or what have you, I would have trouble remember details when I picked the book back up.  Not big details, but because all that information was sort of shoved in forty to fifty pages I'd forget which Tribe was in what region.  Who this person was, or maybe why the important.  I spent a lot of time flipping back and forth once I came back to it.

 

I really tried to push through book.  In fact, I kept telling myself it's a nonfiction and I don't generally read a lot of them so maybe it's me.  I would read one more chapter hoping I'd start to get into history of it, but sadly it never happened.  Which stinks because Apache Wars does have really good, Four Star, reviews.  So for a bit I figured it was me.

 

The problem started when I would sit down to read, I'd find myself reading a couple of pages and then picking up my phone. Or, just flipping on my laptop to watch one episode.  I just haven't read in the last week, because despite wanting to read Apache Wars, I just end up turning myself around as a read.

 

So is it a bad book?

 

No, it's not.  Hutton has down an amazing amount of research into the Apache culture, their history, the history of the region, the war, and everyone involved.  Which is the reason I have given it Two Stars.  I applaud the amount of time and effort Hutton put into this book.

 

Did having an ARC hurt me?

 

I think it did.  If I had map to keep the regions straight maybe that would of helped me.  Maybe the first few chapters have been revised in the released editions. 

 

So, maybe it was me and not The Apache Wars.  This is the second non-fiction book I've picked up and that hasn't really pulled me in.  I'm really bummed to have to put it aside, but I don't want to put myself into a slump and I was given this book for an honest review. No matter how sad I am that I cannot join in the good reviews.

 

So, would I recommend this book?

 

Yeah, I would.  There were moments in this book where I was starting to enjoy it, and then there would a be a chapter that just left me stumped.  Still, it's well researched and I honestly think other people would enjoy it.  Especially those a little more well versed in history around the Apache Wars.

 

I might even pick this one up again at a later date.  Maybe grab a finalized copy from the library and give it another proper go.  It really wasn't a bad books, Apache Wars, but maybe it just wasn't for me.

The King of the Wild Frontier was no great writer, but he certainly lived through some interesting times. The prose style is conversational, with often fascinating outbreaks of nineteenth-century backwoods slang (Davy gets "plaguy thirsty" and knocks back "a leetle of the creater"), although the constant military campaigning of the first half can get a little repetetive.

The matter-of-fact way in which he writes about slaughtering Indians can be quite shocking, the more so for being described in this down-home laid-back style. At one point during the Creek War, his unit burns 46 Indians alive in a house; the next day, running short of food, they discover a stash of potatoes in the cellar of the house. Crockett remarks that

hunger compelled us to eat them, though I had a little rather not, if I could have helped it, for the oil of the Indians we had burned up on the day before had run down on them, and they looked like they had been stewed with fat meat.

Jesus, what a detail. There are a few times in the text where such things reach across the years and give you quite a shock. (Later he goes some way to redeeming himself by speaking out against the Indian Removal Act.)

When he wrote this, he was a Congressman with a not-unrealistic chance at the presidency. There are several passages of political grandstanding which haven't dated all that well, unless political history is your forte. But really the overriding feeling when you read these expressions of political ambition is one of pathos, knowing that soon after the autobiography was published, this man with all his big dreams lost his seat in Congress, and headed ultimately towards Texas – and the Alamo...