Reader recommendation: Empire of the Summer Moon

Monitor readers share their favorite book picks.

I have just finished reading Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne. This a history of the Comanche Indians that focuses on Quanah Parker and his mother, Cynthia Ann Parker. Gwynne shows how the Comanches were the most powerful tribe in North America for about 200 years. Their mastery of the horse made them into the greatest cavalry in the world and Quanah became probably their greatest and last chief. When he finally surrendered, he became very adept at leading in the new environment and as a businessman. The story is very bloody, but it shows the Indians as they were. This is a book for understanding the Westward movement of the white people and how the Indians tried to meet the challenge of invasion.