Myth, Memory, and Massacre: The Pease River Capture of Cynthia Ann Parker (Grover E. Murray Studies in the American Southwest) Paperback – Import, 15 February 2012

This is an excellent book that documents the legends surrounding Cynthia Ann Parker- her recapture from the Comanche/Nermernuh whom she had been with for 25 years, the death of her husband, and the reports/testimonials related to the Pease River massacre which helped project Sul Ross into politics. It debunks most of the collective memories that have become historical Texas myths. It answered a lot of the questions that I formulated when reading manuscripts related to CAP. While we will never know all the true "facts," the information presented in this book has been carefully researched and presented in a modern concept that describes the myths, timelines how and why they became myths, and presents first hand accounts to counter those myth, but then leaves it up to the reader to decide for themselves what is true and what is false. Great read for anyone interested in the Parker history!

Like a lot of books written about Quanah Parker, his mother, and family - there is always inconsistencies in details. It's hard to know who is correct with their historical and who is not. This book, while very good, falls into that category. There are some things in this book that are different in other books written about the Parkers. Because of that - one is left wondering.......

This is the story of a little known fight in December 1860 in which Cynthia Ann Parker was captured by Texas Rangers and U.S. soldiers (no doubt against her will as by this time she was well entrenched in Comanche society and had several children with her Comanche husband). For those who don't know, Cynthia was the mother of Quanah Parker, a famous Comanche warrior and leader. The book details how false stories of the battle, which was really a massacre, became so entrenched in the collective memory of Texans (and history generally) that it is hard to unravel and find the truth. Additionally, even possessing more accurate facts as of this writing, it is still hard to overcome the years of false information. The truth is, much of what is in this book can be applied to religious texts. As a matter of fact, I would like to see these two authors (Carlson and Crum) write a book that puts religion under the microscope. Of course, I doubt they will. Anyhow, I highly recommend this book.

I saw this book in a gift shop in Texas and regretted not purchasing it there. I ordered from Amazon when I returned home and it's not quite the book I expected. If you love Texas history, it's probably great for you. It's just the same story re-told multiple times and analyzed (which is interesting, but I don't have an in-depth knowledge of who's who of Texas history).

true facts. Im amazed it was published as non-fiction and just so sad that people will & believe it as true. Needs to labeled ad fiction.