The Comanche Empire

By: Pekka Hamalainen

Narrated by: Carla Mercer-Meyer

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, a Native American empire rose to dominate the fiercely contested lands of the American Southwest, the southern Great Plains, and northern Mexico. This powerful empire, built by the Comanche Indians, eclipsed its various European rivals in military prowess, political prestige, economic power, commercial reach, and cultural influence. Yet, until now, the Comanche empire has gone unrecognized in American history.

This compelling and original book uncovers the lost story of the Comanches. It is a story that challenges the idea of indigenous peoples as victims of European expansion and offers a new model for the history of colonial expansion, colonial frontiers, and Native-European relations in North America and elsewhere. Pekka Hämäläinen shows in vivid detail how the Comanches built their unique empire and resisted European colonization, and why they fell to defeat in 1875. With extensive knowledge and deep insight, the author brings into clear relief the Comanches' remarkable impact on the trajectory of history.

©2008 Yale University (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A fascinatingly informative volume." ( Booklist)

outstanding

simply brilliant. This will change your perspective on many subjects. it is well worth the read

wonderful

loved it,astonished by the information given. speaker sounded so elegant. I loved it will hope to pass to others.

Brilliant Scholarly Treatment…

Of Comancheria. The same level of information probably could have been done in less time. But I loved it anyway. The performance by Ms Mercer-Meyer was an A+

More nuanced than traditional portrayals

This book was clearly a monumental undertaking that required a LOT of research that the author synthesizes and sets into chronological order for this book. It's clear the author was attempting to avoid and subvert the depictions of indigenous people that sort them into perfect victim/brave warrior archetypes that always emphasize a lack of organization and mythologize the importance of settling into an agricultural lifestyle in order to be considered a worthwhile culture.
I do think the author improves greatly on previous writings about the Comanche Empire. However, much of the point of view of the story still feels rooted in settler narratives. It's disappointing because you can feel the author trying to resist, but much is done in this book that sanitizes and justified the violent expansion of European settlers into Comanche territory.

I'm confused by some reviews praising the reader's pronunciations of French/Spanish words. Although I think the reader does a remarkable job of trying to lend life to long sections of the book that are essentially dry recitations of dates and events, the Spanish language pronunciation in particular caused me to cringe with each word. Particularly the prominent pronunciation of the "H" in "hacienda," a word that appears not infrequently. I would think it would be possible to find someone who has at least a basic understanding of Spanish pronunciation to read a book that requires the reader to say a lot of Spanish words, but it seems not.
I only have minimal understanding of French and I'm willing to believe that language fares better in this reading, although it didn't hit my ear that way. It's possible I had already become biased by the first pronunciation of "hacienda" at that point.

Overall, if you're interested in learning more about the Comanche Empire this is probably worth a read. I found it to be very imperfect, but I also think I learned a lot. I would certainly not recommend it for anyone who doesn't enjoy academic texts though as this work is very academic and does not read like a pop history book.

An unknown Empire

The author does a great job at not only recounting the history of the Commanche Empire but what motivated its leaders, people, expansion and war. You will never look at a grass prairie again without envisioning how it looked to the Commanche.