Ride the Wind
by Lucia St Clair Robson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Lucia St Clair RobsonEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1985-11-12
ISBN: 0345325222
Number of pages: 608
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of Ride the Wind
Book Review: Surprising ...
Summary: 4 Stars
This compelling, meticulously-researched novel is fascinating, thrilling and heartbreaking. I only demoted it to four stars (I would have given it four and a half if I'd had the option) because, like most mass-market paperbacks, it is first-rate story telling but only second-rate writing. That's OK with me, though, a novel doesn't have to be beautifully written to be worth reading.
I enjoyed this book very much but as a mother I feel I must warn anyone who's sensitive that it is very difficult to read in places. In this account of the last years of the Comanche, babies and children are regularly placed in peril, and many of them die. They die from disease and from the elements but most of them are brutally tortured and murdered. The atrocities are committed not just by whites (in fact the whites seem to commit fewer atrocities against women and children overall) but by the Comanche and the other tribes, who don't seem to have any moral rules against torturing and murdering children. I often wondered how much of what I was reading was based on fact and how much was exaggerated, and when researching the question discovered that many of these accounts were taken directly from history.
That is why I found this book so surprising. If you are looking for a romanticized version of Plains Indian life ala "Dances With Wolves," you will not find it here. The Comanche culture was beautiful in many ways, and it was far kinder to nature than European culture will ever be, but the Comanches were a culture of warfare. They did not believe in mercy. When they could, they tortured their enemies, and were not above burning women and children alive, mutilating and raping them. I was fascinated by the detail of the Comanche world but I found it hard to feel any sympathy for many of the characters in this book, on either side, since nearly everyone condoned that kind of warfare and it was difficult for me to relate to them. I can't imagine how anyone who exists in a society where murder and torture is no longer a part of our moral fabric could really feel much sympathy for someone who murdered a child.
Having said that, this is a wonderful book for students of American history, or for anyone who is interested in the Plains Indians. The author has meticulously detailed almost every aspect of Comanche life, from building a lodge to making pemmican. I particularly recommend this book as a balanced look at the conflict between the Plains Indians and white settlers. This was indeed a clash of two cultures who would never be able to peacefully co-exist, and like in any war, there were heroes and villains on both sides.
Summary of Ride the Wind
In 1836, when she was nine years old, Cynthia Ann Parker was kidnapped by Comanche Indians. This is the story of how she grew up with them, mastered their ways, married one of their leaders, and became, in every way, a Comanche woman. It is also the story of a proud and innocent people whose lives pulsed with the very heartbeat of the land. It is the story of a way of life that is gone forever....Action & Adventure Books
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