BOOK REVIEW: “The Apache Wars” is both a captivating history and a gruesome tale …

Most people don’t know the longest war fought by the American government was the war against the Apache Indians.

What a gruesome tale it is!

Paul Andrew Hutton is an extraordinary historian and a master story-teller. Combining those talents and skills with remarkable, laborious research and you have the captivating new book, “The Apache Wars” (published by Crown).

This is a thick, hardback book that covers the grotesque realities of a war waged against the Apache Indians in the American Southwest from 1861 to 1886. If the story was just outlined, it could likely be told in just a page or two. But the depth of Hutton’s research, and the quality of his writing skills, unfold the telling of this period of conflict as if he was there and is sharing an eyewitness account to a bloody part of our history.

And it was very bloody.

The story begins with the act that sparked the Apache wars — the kidnapping of a boy who would become known as “Mickey Free.” While this is partly his story, it’s also the telling of his contemporaries as well. Hutton keeps you turning pages by taking you chronologically through this war by introducing you to a regular parade of characters who played key roles in the conflict. You’ll meet Mangas Coloradas, the great chief Cochise, and be perturbed by the great warrior Geronimo. And you’ll meet the generals, officers, and others who fought against the Apache chiefs, their warriors, and their people.

It’s a bloody story.

You’ll see that, while some white men gained some “respect” of certain Apache Indians they would get to know, the greater sentiment of the time was, “the only good Indian is a dead Indian.”

That was more than just a phrase during this time of history in Arizona and New Mexico; the American government sought out Apache Indians more with the intent to kill them than capture them.

At the same time, a life of robbing, stealing, and killing was common for the Apache Indian.

Hutton reveals how the Apache wars were a time where everyone, from the Indians, to the Army, to private citizens had little or no problem murdering their “enemies” or anyone who got in their way. As much as I wanted to find a “good guy” in this telling of a swath of our history, I couldn’t, the realities of the times and leading characters were that ugly.

I love reading or studying history, so this book quickly and easily became a compelling read for me. But I don’t think you have to be a student of history to be thoroughly captivated about what life really was like in the great Southwest from the 1860’s through the 1880’s. It’s a story of war, one most of us know very little about. But “The Apache Wars” will educate you in a way that will make putting the book down to be difficult, but worth your time to read.

Scotty

I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”