The Apache Wars

The Hunt for Geronimo, the Apache Kid, and the Captive Boy Who Started the Longest War in American History

By: Paul Andrew Hutton

Narrated by: Jonathan Yen

Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

They called him Mickey Free. His kidnapping started the longest war in American history, and both sides - the Apaches and the white invaders - blamed him for it. A mixed-blood warrior who moved uneasily between the worlds of the Apaches and the American soldiers, he was never trusted by either but desperately needed by both. He was the only man Geronimo ever feared. He played a pivotal role in this long war for the desert Southwest from its beginning in 1861 until its end in 1890 with his pursuit of the renegade scout Apache Kid.

In this sprawling, monumental work, Paul Hutton unfolds over two decades of the last war for the West through the eyes of the men and women who lived it. This is Mickey Free's story but also the story of his contemporaries: the great Apache leaders Mangas Coloradas, Cochise, and Victorio; 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; the great White Mountain scout Alchesay and the Apache female warrior Lozen; the fierce Apache warrior Geronimo; and the Apache Kid. These lives shaped the violent history of the deserts and mountains of the Southwestern borderlands - a bleak and unforgiving world where a people would make a final, bloody stand against an American war machine bent on their destruction.

©2016 Paul Andrew Hutton. Recorded by arrangement with Crown, an imprint of Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. (P)2016 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

if only

narrator quoting made me cringe each time...and seriously, he couldn't have brushed up on "guadaloop" and " Rio grandy"...as a citizen of that area, I would have hoped this could have been done better. overall great story if not one sided.

really enjoyed the narrator

Often non-fiction can be dry but Jonathan Yen really held my interest. Excellent overall.

Very Good Read For Historic Prospective

The book started off slow but evidently turned a corner and became very interesting. History does not paint a favorable picture of the Apache, or the United States governments’ treatment of the Apache. The book is not intended to demean the Apache but to view the Indian tribe through the eyes perceived as truthful by a historian. At no point in this book did I consider that the author held any contempt of the Apache or any admiration for them either. The author depicts the Apache as a savage band of renegades who waged war on white eyes or the Europeans who settled in America and the Mexicans. Apache was a name that another tribe referred to the warriors as which meant ‘enemy’ in their native tongue. It was a name that depicted them well as they wagged war on anyone that was not Apache. They showed no mercy in their attacks killing European women and children as the men left to provide food for their families. They showed no mercy as they attacked the Mexicans killing in the same fashion. They show no mercy on other Indian tribes. The Apaches were merciless. The book was interesting and well worth the read. It was more than just a novelty to view Micky Free, Geronimo and the Apache Kid as more that just legendary warriors. It was suspenseful to try to visualize the Apache woman know as Beauty by the soldiers at Fort Apache and also the beauty that was the wife of The Apache Kid. It was heart wrenching to read about the girl, Apache May, and the fire that caused her death then to look up the photograph of her taken at Tombstone. And the books ended in such a fitting epilog as it fast tracked though the deaths of the characters on both sides of the Apache Wars until The Apache Kid faded away into the analogs of legendary status with only speculation of his death. With that the book faded away the words and concluded its pages.

Gripping detail

I’ve read Paul Hutton over the years and was looking forward to this work. I was not surprised or the least bit disappointed. The amazing amount of detail is mind boggling, all the way to the end when we find out what happens to these many folks on both sides of the conflict. Outstanding

Great! Hutton is a master narrator.

I had the joy of having Hutton as my professor at UNM. He always breathed life into history with his lectures. This book is no different. I loved it.

Violent Clash of Cultures

Hutton tells a gripping story of a succession of cultures attempting to occupy the same territory, Arizona and New Mexico. Each culture is willing to use the utmost violence to retain the land - with the ultimate winner prevailing only because of numbers and technology, not superoor will.

Great book about the struggle between two cultures

This is a great book and has a ton of historical data that is very informative, however there is enough color to keep you engaged and entertained. I would definitely recommend it to a friend that is interested in the plight of America's first people.

Interesting and enjoyable presentation of this history!

Well written, entertaining, and with enough detail to keep a history buff interested and engaged

Awesome!

Wow! what an incredible book. The best accounting of the Apaches struggle that I have read. Lots of tragedy and sadness.

One of my favorite books

I grew up in Tucson and this story takes place in many places I have visited. It is incredible to Hear some of the history of the native people of Arizona. I learned a lot listening to this book and would highly recommend it.