In the Days of Victorio; Recollections of a Warm Springs Apache by University of Arizona Press

	Title: In the Days of Victorio; Recollections of a Warm Springs Apache Purchase Item Manufacturer: University of Arizona Press List Price: $15.95 Our Price: $9.57
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In the Days of Victorio; Recollections of a Warm Springs Apache by University of Arizona Press Granlund...RELAX
This book is as good a read as any JFK biography that OMITS his multiple infidelities, and other 'bad' behavior. As the title states..."Recollections of a Warm Springs Apache" It is not assumed to be an 'unbiased' biography, therefore if we read this it is because we want to know what Kaywaykla has to say not someone named Cremony. This section is for a general review, not for writing our own novels....short and sweet!
In the Days of Victorio; Recollections of a Warm Springs Apache by University of Arizona Press Biased and therefore inaccurate as well as incomplete
This book is both good and bad. In some instances its quite good, but in others it is exceptionally bad and here's why. The narrative by the Apache, James Kaywaykla as given to Eve Ball, contains what must be considered as truthful facts concerning locations of camps, social customs, and SELECTIVE ASPECTS of the life the Apaches led while at war. I say "SELECTIVE ASPECTS" because the Apache narrator conveniently omits all details which would place his tribesmen in a negative light in the mind of non-Apache the reader. By this I mean details concerning how the Apaches delighted in torturing captives and how the Apaches would deliberately raid small settlements, mines, travel routes, etc. even while being offered support in terms of food, clothing, and shelter by the United States government, and much much more. This is a highly biased book in this respect. The Indians are portrayed here as simply people who had the misfortune of being besieged by larger, more technologically-advanced forces and Victorio is made into something of a tragic and heroic figure of frontier history. Yes it is certainly true that you can get good amount of detail connected to tribal ranges, camping spots, war trails, and how many Indians chose to follow any particular leader at any given time during Kaywaykla's early life, but that's all you're going to get. You won't get any detail whatsoever about the relentless, murderous conflict that Apache had with the Comanche. You won't get any detail as to why the Apache were highly aggressive toward ALL other peoples - Whites, Indians, Mestizos, and how this aggression was literally "built-in" to their culture of "perpetual war for perpetual plunder". You won't get any detail concerning the way the Apache butchered, tortured, mutilated, and slaughtered their captives, or how they kept their captives alive in a condition of the most abject misery until these captives were exchanged for Apaches being held by the US Army. You won't get any detail regarding the FACT that toward the end of his career as a leader, Victorio was considered as a mad man by a good many of his own tribesmen, who then left him...thereby shrinking his fighting force and in so doing, making him and his remaining followers easy prey for the Mexican Armed forces which finally exterminated them. No, all this was just not mentioned by Kaywaykla and Ball, and this is precisely what is wrong with this type of book. Without ALL the facts, the reader is left with what can only be described as a sort of fragmented "Sob Story" offered by a member of a defeated fighting force - a story entirely biased and therefore inaccruate in the extreme. By the way, I see there is a review here offered by an Apache woman who mentions this book is worth reading in order to see "what the Apache had to endure". Well, fair is fair. If this book shows "what the Apache had to endure", it should also explain ALL facts and provide all the details about WHY they had to endure it! Equally, a book like this should thoroughly explain ALL facts and details concerning what other people had to endure at the hands of the Apache and WHY the Apache made them endure it. But, of course, this book does not do that. Instead you get a simplistic and slanted piece of information which tells you that the Apache had their habitat and hunting areas invaded, and because of this the Apache went to war in an attempt to drive the intruders out, which is entirely FALSE in respect to the greater picture of Apache history and the region as a whole. The historic facts surrounding the White/Apache struggles mentioned in this book were rooted in a point in time BEFORE Whites from eastern American States began moving westward. This was a time when the majority of Apache tribes existed on the plains of what is now eastern New Mexico and most of Texas - almost as far north as what is now Oklahoma. It was a time when those very large Apache tribal groups preyed upon the more peaceful Indians of the region and upon the Spanish who were trying to establish settlements amd missions. Those large and numerous Apache tribal units were also making sport of the Mexican mestizo peons who worked for the Spanish. However, the Comanche eventually appeared after being driven south by the Blackfoot and Crow of what is now Montana, and these fierce Comanche groups literally destroyed the Apaches while driving them from the southern plains and into the mountains of northern Mexico and what is now western New Mexico and eastern Arizona. When settled in their new habitat, the Apache were far less in number than they had previously been while living on the southern plains thanks to being slaughtered by the Comanches, but this reduction in their numbers had no impact on their aggressiveness, and the Apache immediately began raiding Spanish settlements, Mestizo villages, and peaceful Indians, like the Zuni and others. Their predatory outrages against the little towns and missions got so bad that the Spanish authorities actually hired many Comanche tribes to enter Mexico and exterminate the Apaches (6 pesos were offered by the Spanish for an Apache scalp and this brought the Comanches a total of over 18,000 pesos in just one year of war on the Apaches in one province of Northern Mexico). Naturally, the Apache tribal populations dwindled even more in numbers, but they nevertheless kept up their "war for plunder and profit" culture regardless, and they also took up guerilla tactics in their warfare since their tribes no longer had sufficient amounts of warriors to offer head-on battle with opposing forces. It was during their "guerilla phase" that the northern-most goups of Apaches began encountering the Anglo-Euro settlers and the US Army. These are the kinds of details on the history and background of the Apaches and their life habits which Kaywaykla simply does not bother to mention and he, being an Apache, would know about such details and all aspects connected to them better than anyone! That's why I say this book certainly does NOT offer anywhere near a complete view of the Apache and their existance - it does not even offer a complete view of Victorio and his particular band (a splinter group of what was once a large and numerous tribe) and what brought this tribal fragment to their eventual end. But this book does contain enough material that would easily be considered as POLITICALLY CORRECT in today's nutty view of frontier history, so that's probably why people who are "Dances With Wolves" enthusiasts like it so much. It endulges their beloved ideal of the North American Indian as being a victimized, almost helpless soul who "endured" and suffered at the hands of unreasonable foreign invaders - an ideal which merely happens to be the exact opposite of the truth. For much better information on these particular Indians, read LIFE AMONG THE APACHES, by John Cremony. Its available right here at amazon.com and it is a first-hand, eye-witness narrative from someone who was present during the conflict between the sparse volunteer forces (the famed California Volunteers) and the Apaches under Mangas Coloradas, Cochise, and others (Victorio was not yet a recognized leader at this point in Apache history and only became one upon the deaths of Mangas Coloradas and other notables). Cremony was THERE and dealing with the Apache before Kaywaykla was even born, and Cremony certainly does not leave out details like Kaywakla has a habit of doing. Also, as an excellent antidote to the rampant and insane Political Correctness spread by such atrocities as the motion picture "Dances With Wolves" and Dee Brown's book, "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee", I recommend that you read THREE YEARS AMONG THE COMANCHES ( a first-hand narrative by a White Texas Ranger who was held captive and see what he HAD TO ENDURE!) and also read SCALP DANCE, which is the best book available on Indian warfare on the high plains. All three of these books are far superior to this one and available right here at amazon.com.
In the Days of Victorio; Recollections of a Warm Springs Apache by University of Arizona Press Superb book
Anyone interested in the Apache and the history of the American Southwest needs to read this book. You will likely consider the events and participants of this controversial period of history in a new light when you hear the "other side of the story" from one who was there. I wouldn't be surprised if you measure all other accounts of the "Apache Wars" period against Mr. Kaywaykla's testimony.
In the Days of Victorio; Recollections of a Warm Springs Apache by University of Arizona Press Victorio, A must.
As an apache woman, this is one book I would highly recommend. Not only does it tell of what The Warm Springs Apache had to endure, but of what they felt and of the internal conflicts amonst the apache people. In this book not only do they focus on Chief Victorio but all that surrounded him. I recommend all to read this book and see what it was like from the Apache point of veiw.