The Washington Post
Geronimo famously eluded the United States Army during his lifetime, and he has been dodging historians since his death. Robert M. Utley, a distinguished chronicler of the West and author of a biography of Sitting Bull, is the latest to make the chase, and he has succeeded as well as anyone will.
—H. W. Brands
Publishers Weekly
Meticulous and finely researched, Utley’s (The Lance and the Shield) account of Geronimo’s life attempts to dismiss the legend of an “Apache daredevil fighting for his homeland.” Compiled from various firsthand accounts and military records, the book traces the life of the Chiricahua warrior from fearless raider to subdued reservation Indian. Living free of government control until 1876, Geronimo ravaged the area of the present-day Arizona/Sonora border for decades, focusing particular vehemence on the Mexican side as retribution for the (assumed) massacre of his first family when he was 28. Not until the late 1870s did Geronimo gain notoriety on the American side of the border, when “he came to personify all the Apache raiders, both in the minds of victims and in newspapers throughout the nation.” He lived most of his life highly suspicious of everyone, even his own people, always “coiled to stampede to Mexico,” where he could hide himself in the nearly impenetrable Sierra Madre. Multiple breakouts from reservations in Arizona and New Mexico cemented his fame as one of the last Apache war heroes. At times detail cluttered and distant, the book occasionally glosses over horrific events. However, Utley achieves his goal of humanizing Geronimo, fastidiously showing the transition from bloodthirsty raider to subservient prisoner of war, fair attraction and, eventually, entrepreneur. Agent: Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents. (Nov.)
Caspar [WY] Star-Tribune
“This biography by historian Robert Utley draws on new literature and historical sources, stripping away the rumors. It tells Geronimo’s story from both the white and Apache perspectives – what it was like to be an Apache fighter, how Geronimo stayed free and why he finally surrendered.”—Caspar [WY] Star-Tribune
Douglas Brinkley
"Robert Utley's Geronimo is a brilliantly researched and clearly written biography of the Chiricahua Apache leader whose legend never dies. Utley, the great historian of the American West, adeptly fleshes out the man from the myth. A stunning achievement!"—Douglas Brinkley, author of The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America
Howard Lamar
“The most complete, scholarly study of Geronimo’s life from birth to death I have ever read.”—Howard Lamar, Yale University
Walter Nugent
“Completely original and very well sourced. In this, Utley continues the high standard of his earlier books. . . . His careful weighing of evidence and ferreting out of story lines from far-flung and sometimes conflicting sources are impressive throughout.”—Walter Nugent, University of Notre Dame
Brian DeLay
"An unflinching and engrossing chronicle of Geronimo’s life and times. Drawing upon his mastery of western military history and his ear for good stories, Robert Utley brings a remarkable and bloody era to life."—Brian DeLay, author of War of a Thousand Deserts
Wild West Magazine
"[A] sure-to-be-a-classic book. . . . Fast-paced and engrossing.”—Wild West
The Daily Beast
“Utley is widely regarded as dean of Western American historians. . . . He has read virtually everything written about Geronimo and produced a highly factual, easy-to-read biography. . . . Geronimo shines a harsh, clear light that cuts through the legend to reveal who this fighting man really was and how American might ended his warrior ways.”—Marc Wortman, The Daily Beast
Booklist
“Given the merciless nature of warfare in the American Southwest, it has always been difficult to remain objective about the character and exploits of the Apache warrior Geronimo. Still, Utley, acclaimed biographer and chronicler of the Indian wars, has made a valiant effort. . . . Utley succeed[s] in describing the human being behind the violent, almost demonic, image.”—Jay Freeman, Booklist
Tulsa World
Utley “brings a lifetime of knowledge about the Indians of the American Southwest to a search for the ‘real’ Geronimo. . . . The Apache leader, he concludes, was a complex and contradictory man, by turns defiant and submissive.”—Glenn Altschuler, Tulsa World
New York Review of Books
“Robert Utley is an accomplished and meticulous historian, with a solid grasp of the history of the American West. . . . Utley has done a serviceable job of tracking Geronimo through his many raids [and] . . . has followed Geronimo skillfully through his various escapes from Union soldiers. . . . [Until], while remaining under guard as a prisoner of war, [Geronimo] ended up as a kind of American celebrity.”—Larry McMurtry, New York Review of Books
Washington Post
“Geronimo famously eluded the United States Army during his lifetime, and he has been dodging historians since his death. Robert M. Utley, a distinguished chronicler of the West and author of a biography of Sitting Bull, is the latest to make the chase, and he has succeeded as well as anyone will.”—H. W. Brands, Washington Post
National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum
Winner of the 2013 Wrangler Award in the Literary Nonfiction category, given by the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
Western Writers of America
Won the 2013 Spur Award for Best Western Nonfiction-Biography given by Western Writers of America.
Kirkus Reviews
In addition to a biography of the great Native-American warrior, Utley (Little Bighorn Battlefield and Custer's Last Stand, 2011) takes readers on a tour of southern Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico. The author examines the relevant geography, but he also provides a better understanding of how the legendary Geronimo became a brutal reservation Apache. The author's long career as a Western American historian, his association with the National Park Service and his close attention to the topographic detail of the Apache homeland guarantee a true picture of the man who was neither hero nor thug. Geronimo was never a chief, but he had a mysterious, surreal power that left his people in awe, and often in fear, of him. The Apache people were trained from birth to survive in the treacherous mountains of the Southwest, to live off the land and to plunder. It was a way of life Geronimo excelled at, with his shamanlike ability to foresee trouble for his small band of loyal followers. Raiding and plunder were an integral part of their culture, as was breaking out of the reservation on a regular basis. Geronimo's attacks in Mexico, where his first wife and children were massacred, were invariably brutal. The Apache nation had a number of true leaders, most of whom wished to live peacefully. Cochise is well-known to us, but the greatest of all chiefs and Geronimo's mentor, Mangas Coloradas, has been decidedly unfamiliar to most of us until now. This is no hagiography. Utley presents the culture, upbringing and external forces that made Geronimo the man he became, warts and all.
