Quanah Parker, Comanche Chief

by William T Hagan

The son of white captive Cynthia Ann Parker, Quanah Parker rose from able warrior to tribal leader on the Comanche reservation. Between 1875 and his death in 1911, Quanah dealt with local Indian agents and presidents and other high officials in Washington, facing the classic dilemma of a leader caught between the dictates of an occupying power and the wrenching physical and spiritual need of his people.

"The best biography of Quanah Parker in print. Hagan does much to separate the man from the myth and put this Comanche leader in a proper historical perspective"-R. David Edmunds, Indiana University.

"Carefully researched, well presented, and eminently fair, the biography shows how Quanah and, by extension, many Plains Indian leaders of the period sought to maintain their cultural identity on reservations even as they adapted to a white-dominated world."-Journal of Southern History.

"By clearing away many myths and misunderstandings, Quanah Parker, Comanche Chief gives valuable insight into the ’survival strategies’ of Native Americans. General readers and scholars will relish this interpretation."-Panhandle-Plains Historical Review.

— ©1995