Just finished it. Fascinating. I do have some issues with it however, namely the author's disdain for the military (how one can even come close to comparing what Comanches did to their victims (see page 41 for starters) to even the most egregious acts of violence committed by US forces in Vietnam is a stretch and while there is no doubt as to the Comanche's fighting and endurance prowess, they were not by any stretch the Wehrmacht or anything approaching that. They were consumate warriors to be sure,but by Stone Age standards and once we broke their code, the end came fairly fast. Lastly, the kooks( READ: TRH& DD and the rest of the crowd) among us should read what I consider one of the best descriptions of Manifest Destiny I've read in a while, namely our western expansion was nothing more that empire building pure and simple, with the Mexican War as the quintessential example of a trumped up war as an excuse to gain about a 66% increase in national territory. Love the book.
