An Apache Princess

by Charles King

""An Apache Princess"" is a historical novel by Captain Charles King, first published in 1903. The story is set in the late 19th century and follows the life of Nita, an Apache princess who is captured by the US Army and taken to a reservation in Arizona. The novel explores the conflicts and tensions between the Apaches and the US Army, as well as the cultural differences between the two groups. Nita is portrayed as a strong and intelligent woman who struggles to adapt to her new life on the reservation. She is torn between her loyalty to her people and her growing affection for a young army officer named Lieutenant Gatewood. As the story unfolds, Nita becomes more and more involved in the political and social struggles of her people, and she must make difficult choices that will determine the course of her life.The novel is notable for its sympathetic portrayal of the Apache people, who are often depicted as savage and uncivilized in popular culture. King's writing is vivid and engaging, and he provides a rich and detailed portrait of life on the reservation. The novel also explores themes of love, loyalty, and identity, making it a compelling read for anyone interested in historical fiction or Native American history.1903. Illustrations by Frederic Remington and Edwin Willard Deming. The literary novels of Charles King are ones of Victorian ideals, morals and views played out on western frontiers, the Civil War, and the Spanish Philippines. His often melodramatic stories are based on personal adventures and experiences with detailed observations and opinions arising from specific times and places. Publishing over 60 novels and numerous short stories, King was a popular author in his day, yet today is known mostly for one title, Campaigning With Crook. An Apache Princess Under the willows at the edge of the pool a young girl sat daydreaming, though the day was nearly done. All in the valley was wrapped in shadow, though the cliffs and turrets across the stream were resplendent in a radiance of slanting sunshine. Not a cloud tempered the fierce glare of the arching heavens or softened the sharp outline of neighboring peak or distant mountain chain. Not a whisper of breeze stirred the drooping foliage along the sandy shores or ruffled the liquid mirror surface. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Genres: Classics

344 pages, Paperback

First published February 12, 1903

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Charles King was a United States soldier and a distinguished writer. He graduated from West Point in 1866 and served in the Army during the Indian Wars under George Crook. He was wounded in the arm forcing his retirement from the regular army. During this time he became acquainted with Buffalo Bill Cody. King would later write scripts for several of Cody's silents films. In 1898, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers and sailed to the Philippines during the Spanish-American War; he also led a brigade during the ensuing Philippine-American War. He returned to the United States and was active in the Wisconsin National Guard and in training troops for World War I. He wrote and edited over 60 books and novels.

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good story. However, the writing was choppy and confusing in places; the characters were good, but the mechanics of the plot underdeveloped. It held my interest very well, and yet the details had a way of getting scrambled, so I had to backtrack numerous times to decipher what happened in what order. There was an interesting mystery, but I got the feeling that the author was much more used to writing about the ways of the frontier than of spinning out a properly paced mystery, which led to the confusion.

[Ted Duke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange book. Interesting story-line, if you can keep up with the numerous characters and the timeline. The wording is very unusual, almost at times like a dialect.

I'm a romanticist, so I stuck with it to see if it developed the way I thought it should, but must admit I was sorely tempted to lay my Kindle down or perhaps to even throw it across the room.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like historical fiction and stories about Native Americans, you'll love An Apache Princess. With reminiscent descriptions of the Arizona topography, this story of soldier's life at camp there is richly evocative and transports the reader, almost to the sand and horseback.

[Rachel]

DNF at 38% (ebook)

For such a short book (just over 200 pages), I found this book to be incredibly long.

The book starts off with a young girl outside the fort who happens upon a native american girl. What will happen? Will the become friends? Will they get caught? This seems like it's going to be an good story! Well, who knows what happens to these two because then it switches to other characters and life at the fort. We're given some backstory on fort life, the landscape, army rotations (were they considered army then? There's a corporal so I assume so). The descriptions were excellent. I was instantly whisked away into Arizona fort living in the 1800s. For that I give it 5 stars.

So why the DNF?
Simply, the story jumped around too much. Yes, I was instantly transported to that time period, but the story was too jumbled. I had a hard time following the timeline and what was happening. I felt like I had experienced fort life by the 20% mark and wouldn't get too much more out of it by continuing the book.