
The Comanche Empire
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Narrated by:
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Carla Mercer-Meyer
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By:
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Pekka Hamalainen
In the 18th and early 19th centuries, a Native American empire rose to dominate the fiercely contested lands of the American Southwest, the southern Great Plains, and northern Mexico. This powerful empire, built by the Comanche Indians, eclipsed its various European rivals in military prowess, political prestige, economic power, commercial reach, and cultural influence. Yet, until now, the Comanche empire has gone unrecognized in American history.
This compelling and original book uncovers the lost story of the Comanches. It is a story that challenges the idea of indigenous peoples as victims of European expansion and offers a new model for the history of colonial expansion, colonial frontiers, and Native-European relations in North America and elsewhere. Pekka Hämäläinen shows in vivid detail how the Comanches built their unique empire and resisted European colonization, and why they fell to defeat in 1875. With extensive knowledge and deep insight, the author brings into clear relief the Comanches' remarkable impact on the trajectory of history.
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outstanding
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wonderful
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Brilliant Scholarly Treatment…
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I do think the author improves greatly on previous writings about the Comanche Empire. However, much of the point of view of the story still feels rooted in settler narratives. It's disappointing because you can feel the author trying to resist, but much is done in this book that sanitizes and justified the violent expansion of European settlers into Comanche territory.
I'm confused by some reviews praising the reader's pronunciations of French/Spanish words. Although I think the reader does a remarkable job of trying to lend life to long sections of the book that are essentially dry recitations of dates and events, the Spanish language pronunciation in particular caused me to cringe with each word. Particularly the prominent pronunciation of the "H" in "hacienda," a word that appears not infrequently. I would think it would be possible to find someone who has at least a basic understanding of Spanish pronunciation to read a book that requires the reader to say a lot of Spanish words, but it seems not.
I only have minimal understanding of French and I'm willing to believe that language fares better in this reading, although it didn't hit my ear that way. It's possible I had already become biased by the first pronunciation of "hacienda" at that point.
Overall, if you're interested in learning more about the Comanche Empire this is probably worth a read. I found it to be very imperfect, but I also think I learned a lot. I would certainly not recommend it for anyone who doesn't enjoy academic texts though as this work is very academic and does not read like a pop history book.
More nuanced than traditional portrayals
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An unknown Empire
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Mispronunciations & Fractured Sentences
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The work itself is an exciting scholarly contribution and valuable for anyone interested in Comanche history, colonial North America, imperiogenesis, and rapid cultural reinvention, so I am rather sorry for Pekka Hämäläinen.
Atrocious pronunciation
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A comprehensive evaluation
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The outcomes are interesting and broadening your views on the society and indigenous people and of course the American history and sociocultural issues.
The language and the style are overwhelming and boring for non-academic readers, might be because the native Finnish speakers have the very difficult own language and feel English as very simple even when they speak academically.
As to the narrator it seems to me excellent but I don’t have a lot of experience in this field. It’s just my honest opinion.
I think that it is worth to read and to listen this book, the pluses are weighing much more than minuses. At least I did it twice and I don’t think that I waisted my time for nothing, it was really good for me.
Thank you.
Very Finnish approach: detailed, nuanced, without traditional stereotypes but with own culture impacts
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marvelous history
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