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Quanah – The Last Comanche Chief
Dr. Orville Boyd Jenkins
A review of the book by Len Hilts
Quanah Parker (San Diego:  Odyssey (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich), 1987.  168p.)

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I was particularly interested in this book about Quanah Parker, because I grew up in the town named after him, Quanah, Texas.  I found this book in the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center in Marlow, Oklahoma.  Hilts gives us a story-form report of the key events in the life of Quanah Parker, last chief of the Comanches.

He has written up this narrative from eye-witness accounts of participants.  Hilts has gathered original documents and spoken with descendants to put this story-picture together.

Parker led his people from war to peace in a settlement of ongoing disputes with Texas and the United States, successfully transitioning from the traditional plains migratory living to settled farming and business, becoming an able advocate for his people against the further cultural and geographic hegemony of the US.

Parker became the first Native American to invest in a railroad, being one of the founder owners of the Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railway, still operating in our town in my childhood.  This book is written up from eye-witness accounts of participants in the events recorded.

I also read another good book about Quanah Parker:
Dugan, Bill.  Quanah Parker.  NY:  HarperPaperbacks (HarperCollins), 1993.  309p.  This is a book in the War Chiefs series, good easy historical and biographical approach to great personages.

See related reviews and articles on this site:
[TXT] Quanah, Texas — History in My Memories

For more on Quanah Parker and Quanah, Texas, on the Internet:
Quanah, Texas
QuanahNet
Quanah Parker

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OBJ

First review posted on Amazon 29 July 2005
Edited and posted on OJTR 10 November 2007
Last edited 2 January 2014

Orville Boyd Jenkins, EdD, PhD
Copyright © 2007 Orville Boyd Jenkins
Permission granted for free download and transmission for personal or educational use.  Please give credit and link back.  Other rights reserved.

Email:  orville@jenkins.nu
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