Apache Wars: Hunt for Geronimo, Apache Kid, and the Captive Boy Life Among the Apaches: Classic History of Native American Life

Paul Hutton's sprawling historical account, Empire of the Summer Moon, vividly describes the manhunt for Geronimo and the 25-year struggle of the Apache people to defend their homeland. The catalyst for this prolonged conflict was the kidnapping of a man known as Mickey Free, which led to the longest war in American history as both the Apaches and the white settlers blamed him for the violence that ensued. Mickey Free, a mixed-blood warrior, existed uneasily between the world of the Apaches and the American soldiers, never fully trusted by either group but desperately needed by both. He held the distinction of being the only man whom Geronimo feared, and he played a crucial role in the war for the desert Southwest from 1861 to 1890, particularly in his pursuit of the renegade Apache scout known as Apache Kid.

In this monumental work, Paul Hutton recounts over two decades of the final war for the West through the perspectives of the individuals who experienced it. While the focus is on Mickey Free's story, it also encompasses the experiences of his contemporaries, including the great Apache leaders Mangas Coloradas, Cochise, and Victorio, as well as the soldiers Kit Carson, O. O. Howard, George Crook, and Nelson Miles. The scouts and frontiersmen Al Sieber, Tom Horn, Tom Jeffords, and Texas John Slaughter also play pivotal roles, alongside the great White Mountain scout Alchesay and the Apache female warrior Lozen. Notably, the fierce Apache warrior Geronimo and the Apache Kid are also central figures in this narrative. Their lives intersected in the violent history of the deserts and mountains of the Southwestern borderlands, a harsh and unforgiving world where a people made a final, bloody stand against an American war machine determined to destroy them.

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