HISTORY
Geronimo
pseudonymous writer on history of the German autonomist movement
On September 5, 1886, the great news from Fort Bowie, Arizona, flashed across the nation.
— from Geronimo
Most acclaimed
Geronimo
Renowned for ferocity in battle, legendary for an uncanny ability to elude capture, feared for the violence of his vengeful raids, the Apache fighter Geronimo captured the public imagination in his own time and remains a mythic figure today. This thoroughly researched biography by a renowned historian of the American West strips away the myths and rumors that have long obscured the real Geronimo and presents an authentic portrait of a man with unique strengths and weaknesses and a destiny that swept him into history. Utley unfolds the story through the alternating perspectives of whites and Apaches, and he arrives at a more nuanced understanding of Geronimo's character and motivation than ever before. What it was like to be an Apache fighter-in-training, why Indians as well as whites feared Geronimo, how Geronimo maintained his freedom, and why he finally surrendered--the answers to these questions and many more fill these pages.--From publisher description.
The Great West
1860
Gerónimo (Mescalero-Chiricahua: Goyaałé, lit. 'the one who yawns', [kòjàːɬɛ́]; June 16, 1829 – February 17, 1909) was a military leader and medicine man from the Bedonkohe band of the Ndendahe Apache people. From 1850 to 1886, Geronimo joined with members of three other Central Apache bands – the Tchihende, the Tsokanende (called Chiricahua by Americans) and the Nednhi – to carry out numerous raids, as well as fight against Mexican and U.S. military campaigns in the northern Mexico states of Chihuahua and Sonora and in the southwestern American territories of New Mexico and Arizona. Geronimo's raids and related combat actions were a part of the prolonged period of the Apache–United States conflict, which started with the Americans continuing to take land, including Apache lands, following the end of the war with Mexico in 1848. Reservation life was confining to the free-moving Apache people, and they resented restrictions on their customary way of life. Geronimo led breakouts from the reservations in attempts to return his people to their previous nomadic lifestyle.
Geronimo's story of his life
1906
In the early 1900s, when Geronimo was taken prisoner, Barrett commissioned an interpreter to interview the Native American warrior. Told in his own words, this is the story of his life and people.