Books I Like #6

Plume (revised edition) 1996)

Here’s some history that was not told by the victors, though they did transcribe and edit it. It’s an amazing and enraging account.

Geronimo was not a chief, though he did become a war chief of the Mescalero Apaches. In this book he recounts for us the story of how his tribe ran afoul of the Tucson city fathers, who got tired of Apache raids and decided to have the Apaches removed, and how Geronimo led the fight to stay put. He was a brilliant leader, and managed to keep his small band of warriors and family together and on their land for years. Geronimo’s retelling made me hate those old Tusconans just as much as Woody Guthrie’s talking about their grandsons did in Bound For Glory.

This book is also notable for the archival photos of Geronimo and other Mescaleros. I got a lot out of them. They were all taken post-capture, so there’s an air of sadness to them, but I also loved that how Geronimo’s personality was captured in some of them. He was a very charismatic man, stylish and uniquely handsome, as well as being one of the fiercest warriors the world has yet seen.