What do you think?
Rate this book
Coyote's People
Arizona Territory, the 1870s. Savage war rages between the white man and the Apache. And three people are caught in the middle: Coyote, an Apache chief seeking peace, trying to find a refuge for his small band of wanderers; Lieutenant Austin Hamilton, commander of remote Camp Walsh, a man sympathetic to the Indians' plight; and Calvin Taylor (nicknamed Choctaw), a 17-year old white boy. Choctaw has been taught to hate Apaches, something reinforced by his own bloody experiences. But his loyalties are torn when he unexpectedly falls in love with an Apache girl. Each finds himself at the center of this bitter conflict, enmeshed in treachery and violence, with their own lives, and the peace they're striving for, threatened by enemies on all sides…
- GenresWesterns
282 pages, Hardcover
Published April 22, 2020
2 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Andrew McBride
8 books18 followersANDREW McBRIDE has written 9 critically-acclaimed western novels set in Arizona and New Mexico in the 1870s and 1880s, with the same central character CALVIN TAYLOR. They are CANYON OF THE DEAD, DEATH WEARS A STAR, DEATH SONG, THE ARIZONA KID, SHADOW MAN, THE PEACEMAKER, COYOTE’S PEOPLE, CIMARRÓN and MEXICAN SUNSET. All but CIMARRÓN are available as kindles. MEXICAN SUNSET is available as a kindle and a paperbck, CIMARRÓN was a finalist in the 2023 NEW MEXICO-ARIZONA BOOK AWARDS . Historical figures - the Apache chief COCHISE and BILLY THE KID and WYATT EARP in fictionalised form - feature.
McBride’s work has been praised by acclaimed, award-winning novelists. W. MICHAEL FARMER calls CIMARRÓN ‘Superlative… a classic western.’ LUCIA ROBSON called COYOTE’S PEOPLE an 'outstanding novel.' Other reviewers have called his work 'western fiction at its best!' 'superb' and 'quietly remarkable.' RALPH COTTON calls Andrew McBride ‘among the top Old West storytellers.'
ABOUT ANDREW McBRIDE:
Andrew McBride lives in Brighton, England.
Find Andrew McBride on FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/Andrew-McBri...
On TWITTER:
https://twitter.com/andrewmcbride21
Read his blogs here: ANDREW McBRIDE AUTHOR BLOG:
http://andrewmcbrideauthor.blogspot.
McBride’s work has been praised by acclaimed, award-winning novelists. W. MICHAEL FARMER calls CIMARRÓN ‘Superlative… a classic western.’ LUCIA ROBSON called COYOTE’S PEOPLE an 'outstanding novel.' Other reviewers have called his work 'western fiction at its best!' 'superb' and 'quietly remarkable.' RALPH COTTON calls Andrew McBride ‘among the top Old West storytellers.'
ABOUT ANDREW McBRIDE:
Andrew McBride lives in Brighton, England.
Find Andrew McBride on FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/Andrew-McBri...
On TWITTER:
https://twitter.com/andrewmcbride21
Read his blogs here: ANDREW McBRIDE AUTHOR BLOG:
http://andrewmcbrideauthor.blogspot.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 25, 2020
Calvin 'Choctaw' Taylor, a 17-year-old boy, is on a quest to find himself. Engaged as a mule herder for a freight outfit, the young man is in awe of John Shadler, the wagon master, who reminds him of a heroic character out of a dime novel.
En route to Tucson, the freighters are attacked by Chiricahua Apache. Choctaw, Shadler and some others are injured in the skirmish. The injured take refuge for treatment at Camp Walsh, a remote Army post.
Several times--partially based on his nickname--Taylor is mistaken for an Indian. He explains his father was an army contractor on the Choctaw reserve in Indian Territory.
Tired of war and its impact on his people, Coyote, leader of a band of Aravaipa Apache, seeks sanctuary on the fringe of an Army outpost. Lieutenant Austin Hamilton, post commander, is sympathetic and grants approval, a move destined to have tragic consequences.
At first, Choctaw is leery of Coyote and his people. But through his friendship with Angus Robertson, an Army scout, and gets to know Coyote and his people, his attitude changes. His opinion of the Apache is even more altered as he meets and falls in love with Alope, Coyote's young sister-in-law. It also makes him see his former hero Shadler in a new light.
Continuing raids in the area of Tucson are blamed on Coyote and the Arizona Volunteers, a vigilante group, is unwilling to recognize differences between the various bands of Apache. The treachery and violence which follows is the inevitable outcome.
Self-knowledge is the ultimate reason for every quest. Choctaw's experiences in this novel make him the man found in The Peacemaker and other novels in the series.
Andrew McBride has crafted another gripping saga in his continuing series on the adventures of Calvin "Choctaw" Taylor. The story combines sympathetic characters, a suspenseful plot and a secure sense of time and place. This is a well researched, gripping tale of the old west. Recommended to all who enjoy a good story.
En route to Tucson, the freighters are attacked by Chiricahua Apache. Choctaw, Shadler and some others are injured in the skirmish. The injured take refuge for treatment at Camp Walsh, a remote Army post.
Several times--partially based on his nickname--Taylor is mistaken for an Indian. He explains his father was an army contractor on the Choctaw reserve in Indian Territory.
Tired of war and its impact on his people, Coyote, leader of a band of Aravaipa Apache, seeks sanctuary on the fringe of an Army outpost. Lieutenant Austin Hamilton, post commander, is sympathetic and grants approval, a move destined to have tragic consequences.
At first, Choctaw is leery of Coyote and his people. But through his friendship with Angus Robertson, an Army scout, and gets to know Coyote and his people, his attitude changes. His opinion of the Apache is even more altered as he meets and falls in love with Alope, Coyote's young sister-in-law. It also makes him see his former hero Shadler in a new light.
Continuing raids in the area of Tucson are blamed on Coyote and the Arizona Volunteers, a vigilante group, is unwilling to recognize differences between the various bands of Apache. The treachery and violence which follows is the inevitable outcome.
Self-knowledge is the ultimate reason for every quest. Choctaw's experiences in this novel make him the man found in The Peacemaker and other novels in the series.
Andrew McBride has crafted another gripping saga in his continuing series on the adventures of Calvin "Choctaw" Taylor. The story combines sympathetic characters, a suspenseful plot and a secure sense of time and place. This is a well researched, gripping tale of the old west. Recommended to all who enjoy a good story.
February 19, 2020
Choctaw’s real name was Calvin Taylor, but he was so universally called Choctaw, or just “Choc” that he could almost forget his Anglo name. At first glance one might think the young teamster was an Indian, or perhaps a Mexican, because of his name, and the sun-toned bronze of his skin, though both of his parents are white. Calvin Taylor was born at Ft. Towson where his father was a civilian contractor for the army. Ft. Towson is in the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory and is from there, that he got his name.
All good books must be interesting enough to grab the reader from the very beginning. COYOTE’S PEOPLE does so from the very first chapter as Choc and his friends find themselves under attack by a band of Chiricahua Apache Indians. Choc is a seventeen-year-old mule herder for a freight wagon outfit under the leadership of Choc’s personal hero, wagon master John Shadler. This is a story of the Indian wars in Arizona, and there is enough action to satisfy anyone’s taste for adventure, but there is much than that to the story. In the book, COYOTE’S PEOPLE, Andrew McBride’s skillful words take the reader onto the grand vista of Arizona desert, the White mountains, and a remote army fort where the soldiers are looking out for Coyote, from who the book gets its name, and his people, who are in a settlement of friendly Indians, just outside the army camp. Coyote has a beautiful young siste-in-law, Alope, who catches Choc’s eye.
Although this is a book of war, romance, moments of fear, cowardice, and acts of courage, perhaps the most fascinating aspect of McBride’s wonderful book, is its character development. Everyone evolves from the way we first see them, perhaps Choc, most of all. He matures beyond his years and learns to see redeeming qualities in men for whom he once had nothing but contempt, as well as the crumbling pedestals of some of the men he had most revered.
All good books must be interesting enough to grab the reader from the very beginning. COYOTE’S PEOPLE does so from the very first chapter as Choc and his friends find themselves under attack by a band of Chiricahua Apache Indians. Choc is a seventeen-year-old mule herder for a freight wagon outfit under the leadership of Choc’s personal hero, wagon master John Shadler. This is a story of the Indian wars in Arizona, and there is enough action to satisfy anyone’s taste for adventure, but there is much than that to the story. In the book, COYOTE’S PEOPLE, Andrew McBride’s skillful words take the reader onto the grand vista of Arizona desert, the White mountains, and a remote army fort where the soldiers are looking out for Coyote, from who the book gets its name, and his people, who are in a settlement of friendly Indians, just outside the army camp. Coyote has a beautiful young siste-in-law, Alope, who catches Choc’s eye.
Although this is a book of war, romance, moments of fear, cowardice, and acts of courage, perhaps the most fascinating aspect of McBride’s wonderful book, is its character development. Everyone evolves from the way we first see them, perhaps Choc, most of all. He matures beyond his years and learns to see redeeming qualities in men for whom he once had nothing but contempt, as well as the crumbling pedestals of some of the men he had most revered.
February 17, 2020
Southern Arizona Territory in the early 1870s – a harsh, unforgiving desert terrain of stark and desolate beauty, where White American, Mexican, and Indian cultures clash in relentless, tragic violence, and a few courageous men risk their lives to hold on to a fragile hope of peace.
17-year-old Calvin Taylor, nicknamed “Choctaw” for his childhood in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma’s Indian Territory where his father was an army contractor, has signed on as a teamster with a freight company en route to Tucson. Though cautious by nature, Choctaw is new to this territory and has much more to learn than he realizes. Despite his independence, he is still a boy, hero-worshiping the wagon master and longing for nothing more than a Starr double-action pistol, a brass-faced Yellow Boy Winchester rifle, and a pair of Chiricahua Apache moccasins, all like those the heroic wagon master sports. In the course of a few desperate months, however, Choctaw will face vicious battles, bitter treachery from all sides, and life-changing challenges to his heart, mind, and soul. Caught up in desperate battles and ambushes, struggling to reconcile his conflicting loyalties and to protect the native girl he loves, Choctaw will become a man. That is, if he can somehow stay alive.
In these desperate months, Choctaw’s understanding of true heroism changes and matures. He cannot help but admire Coyote, the steadfast leader of the Aravaipa Apache, and the cavalry officer to whom Coyote turns in hopes of saving his people, US Army Lieutenant Austin Hamilton, the conscientious commanding officer of beleaguered, undermanned Camp Walsh. Though Choctaw’s upbringing and experiences have given him cause to hate the Apaches, he finds his loyalties shifting as enemies become friends and friends become enemies, all the while with certain death closing in on all sides.
Author Andrew McBride has written a breath-taking, page-turning, wrenchingly heartbreaking tale of the Apache Wars, one of the last terrible conflicts of the American western frontier. Within 20 years, many traditional native ways of life would disappear by destruction or assimilation, and the Wild West would finally come to an end. McBride chronicles this land and these tragic events with both compassion and unflinching honesty. His vivid writing all but stings your eyes with red dust and burns your skin with the blazing desert sun. His ability to evoke time and place is absolutely compelling. The reader is kept on knife’s edge as danger, uncertainty, betrayal, violence, and even brief, stolen moments of passion and desperate hope move at a gallop through the pages. It’s nearly impossible to stop reading.
The author’s impeccable historical research, including vivid details gleaned from newspapers, letters, and official reports, lends immediacy and truth to the story. Historical events and individuals are woven seamlessly into the story which is, first and foremost, a story of people in crisis – their hopes, fears, loves, hatreds, grief, courage or cravenness, and their determination to survive. McBride’s writing is vivid and fluid, his language completely evocative of the 19th century while compelling to modern readers. COYOTE’S PEOPLE is a rip-roaring adventure that gets to the heart of the human tragedies and triumphs of the last years on the Western frontier.
17-year-old Calvin Taylor, nicknamed “Choctaw” for his childhood in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma’s Indian Territory where his father was an army contractor, has signed on as a teamster with a freight company en route to Tucson. Though cautious by nature, Choctaw is new to this territory and has much more to learn than he realizes. Despite his independence, he is still a boy, hero-worshiping the wagon master and longing for nothing more than a Starr double-action pistol, a brass-faced Yellow Boy Winchester rifle, and a pair of Chiricahua Apache moccasins, all like those the heroic wagon master sports. In the course of a few desperate months, however, Choctaw will face vicious battles, bitter treachery from all sides, and life-changing challenges to his heart, mind, and soul. Caught up in desperate battles and ambushes, struggling to reconcile his conflicting loyalties and to protect the native girl he loves, Choctaw will become a man. That is, if he can somehow stay alive.
In these desperate months, Choctaw’s understanding of true heroism changes and matures. He cannot help but admire Coyote, the steadfast leader of the Aravaipa Apache, and the cavalry officer to whom Coyote turns in hopes of saving his people, US Army Lieutenant Austin Hamilton, the conscientious commanding officer of beleaguered, undermanned Camp Walsh. Though Choctaw’s upbringing and experiences have given him cause to hate the Apaches, he finds his loyalties shifting as enemies become friends and friends become enemies, all the while with certain death closing in on all sides.
Author Andrew McBride has written a breath-taking, page-turning, wrenchingly heartbreaking tale of the Apache Wars, one of the last terrible conflicts of the American western frontier. Within 20 years, many traditional native ways of life would disappear by destruction or assimilation, and the Wild West would finally come to an end. McBride chronicles this land and these tragic events with both compassion and unflinching honesty. His vivid writing all but stings your eyes with red dust and burns your skin with the blazing desert sun. His ability to evoke time and place is absolutely compelling. The reader is kept on knife’s edge as danger, uncertainty, betrayal, violence, and even brief, stolen moments of passion and desperate hope move at a gallop through the pages. It’s nearly impossible to stop reading.
The author’s impeccable historical research, including vivid details gleaned from newspapers, letters, and official reports, lends immediacy and truth to the story. Historical events and individuals are woven seamlessly into the story which is, first and foremost, a story of people in crisis – their hopes, fears, loves, hatreds, grief, courage or cravenness, and their determination to survive. McBride’s writing is vivid and fluid, his language completely evocative of the 19th century while compelling to modern readers. COYOTE’S PEOPLE is a rip-roaring adventure that gets to the heart of the human tragedies and triumphs of the last years on the Western frontier.
August 27, 2020
Andrew McBride has given us a realistic window into 1871 Arizona, through the eyes of Choctaw Taylor, a rootless 17-year-old who finds himself a job with a supply train headed to Tucson. Choctaw has a lot to learn about just about everything, but he adapts quickly, a necessary trait because this is dangerous territory. The threat of renegade Apache attack is an everyday concern. While Choctaw’s learning the ropes of staying alive, he’s also given quite a tutelage from his rough colleagues about the depravities and evils of Indians in general, and Apaches in particular. The hard men he’s riding with hold no compassion nor regard for them and follow the general theme of the times: the only good Indian is a dead Indian. This ultimatum follows into a large percentage of the civilian population in Tucson, and most of the Army.
A band of Aravaipa Apaches arrives at Camp Walsh, under the command of Lt. Hamilton, who is not as opposed to conciliation as most of his ilk. He gives them permission to stay nearby, and their leader, one Coyote, swears to Hamilton his people are done with war and want nothing but a safe haven in which to live. Choctaw Taylor, meanwhile finds work as a post hunter for the fort, and comes to know and respect Coyote and many of his people, in particular an Aravaipa girl, Alope. Indoctrinated by the hatred of most of his fellow white men, Choctaw finds that prejudice is a poison that need not be swallowed by reasonable people, and causes nothing but damage. He learns to judge people, red and white, by their actions and his own experiences with them and as he rapidly matures, to appreciate those he previously only feared, and to fear those he thought he could trust.
As the story builds to its climax, McBride does a masterful job of delineating the arguments on both sides, and illustrating that justice and truth make uneasy bedfellows with blind hatred, bloodlust and revenge. His depictions of the differing groups – Americans, Mexicans and the different tribes – and the needs and actions that drive each of them, is the solid glue that holds the story together. Very well done.
A band of Aravaipa Apaches arrives at Camp Walsh, under the command of Lt. Hamilton, who is not as opposed to conciliation as most of his ilk. He gives them permission to stay nearby, and their leader, one Coyote, swears to Hamilton his people are done with war and want nothing but a safe haven in which to live. Choctaw Taylor, meanwhile finds work as a post hunter for the fort, and comes to know and respect Coyote and many of his people, in particular an Aravaipa girl, Alope. Indoctrinated by the hatred of most of his fellow white men, Choctaw finds that prejudice is a poison that need not be swallowed by reasonable people, and causes nothing but damage. He learns to judge people, red and white, by their actions and his own experiences with them and as he rapidly matures, to appreciate those he previously only feared, and to fear those he thought he could trust.
As the story builds to its climax, McBride does a masterful job of delineating the arguments on both sides, and illustrating that justice and truth make uneasy bedfellows with blind hatred, bloodlust and revenge. His depictions of the differing groups – Americans, Mexicans and the different tribes – and the needs and actions that drive each of them, is the solid glue that holds the story together. Very well done.
April 27, 2020
This is a stunning book. I won't go into the plot, or provide a general overview here, as other reviewers have already done that. What I will talk about is the attention to detail, the writing, the characters and their development, the history... because all of that is in Coyote's People, and much more beside.
We're clearly in the hands of a master here. The writing is great - there are moments (many of them) when a simple line, just a few words, conjures up great images. Only really good writers can do this so often and so consistently. The attention to detail is second to none, I mean that literally. How does Andrew know all this stuff? Where did he find it all out? As you read the book you have absolute faith that all the detail is true and (aside from all the wonderful learning you're getting as a by-product of the story) it really draws you in. The setting, too, the heat and the dust and the relentless sun... It really is super stuff.
The characters are equally brilliant - Choctaw, our hero, is wonderfully drawn, and his development as the story progresses is marvellous. The rest of the cast, too. Cowards and humanists, haters and lovers, soldiers and scouts, people just trying to get by out on the wild frontier - and the native Americans... all drawn beautifully, all on their own journeys.
It's a sad and tragic tale, and there's a certain historical inevitability to it all, but it still keeps you entranced and hooked.
I can't recommend Coyote's People highly enough. I would go so far as to say that if Andrew had written this book fifty or sixty years ago in the heyday of western fiction it would be an acknowledged classic. And hopefully, if there's any justice in the world, it will still achieve that status.
We're clearly in the hands of a master here. The writing is great - there are moments (many of them) when a simple line, just a few words, conjures up great images. Only really good writers can do this so often and so consistently. The attention to detail is second to none, I mean that literally. How does Andrew know all this stuff? Where did he find it all out? As you read the book you have absolute faith that all the detail is true and (aside from all the wonderful learning you're getting as a by-product of the story) it really draws you in. The setting, too, the heat and the dust and the relentless sun... It really is super stuff.
The characters are equally brilliant - Choctaw, our hero, is wonderfully drawn, and his development as the story progresses is marvellous. The rest of the cast, too. Cowards and humanists, haters and lovers, soldiers and scouts, people just trying to get by out on the wild frontier - and the native Americans... all drawn beautifully, all on their own journeys.
It's a sad and tragic tale, and there's a certain historical inevitability to it all, but it still keeps you entranced and hooked.
I can't recommend Coyote's People highly enough. I would go so far as to say that if Andrew had written this book fifty or sixty years ago in the heyday of western fiction it would be an acknowledged classic. And hopefully, if there's any justice in the world, it will still achieve that status.
May 29, 2020
Western novels seem to be few and far between, these days and great western novels are an even rarer beast: so the release of a new book by Andrew McBride is always something to celebrate. Coyote’s People is set in Arizona Territory, some time in the 1870s and once again, features Calvin ‘Choctaw’ Taylor, a brash seventeen year old trying to make his way in an unforgiving world. We are soon introduced to new characters. Lieutenant Austin Hamilton is the commander of Camp Walsh, a seasoned veteran who is sympathetic to the plight of the local Apache tribes whose way of life is systematically being destroyed - and to Coyote, an aging chief desperately trying to forge a truce between his tribe and the white settlers.
McBride brings all of his weapons to bear on this poignant tale - his almost cinematic descriptions of the landscape, a flair for hard-bitten dialogue and an uncanny gift for depicting action scenes that plunge the reader right into the thick of it. Characterisation is also a crucial part of his storytelling. These are believable characters who talk and act like living, breathing people and who linger in the mind, long after the final page has been turned. If you’ve already discovered Andrew McBride this new novel will not disappoint. If you’re new to him, here’s an excellent place to start.
Philip Caveney
McBride brings all of his weapons to bear on this poignant tale - his almost cinematic descriptions of the landscape, a flair for hard-bitten dialogue and an uncanny gift for depicting action scenes that plunge the reader right into the thick of it. Characterisation is also a crucial part of his storytelling. These are believable characters who talk and act like living, breathing people and who linger in the mind, long after the final page has been turned. If you’ve already discovered Andrew McBride this new novel will not disappoint. If you’re new to him, here’s an excellent place to start.
Philip Caveney
July 28, 2020
Andrew McBride is that rare author who can capture the essence of history, the times, places, and people, with a fictional story filled with complex, believable characters, and pulse pounding events. Arizona territory in the early 1870s was a hard land filled with hard men–– angry Apaches, expatriate Mexicans, and land-hungry Americans–– who struggled to survive fiery deserts, barren mountains, rugged llanos, and fights and wars with each other. McBride’s Coyote’s People, a tale of seventeen-year-old Calvin Taylor, aka “Choctaw”, becoming a man and a survivor during the Aravaipa Apache wars, is a time machine that carries its reader through the dust and heat, sweat, labor and danger, and the courage needed to cross the country or to stay in army camps facing the Apaches in their homeland. Through Calvin Taylor’s eyes we see an accurate portrayal of the good, the bad, and an overdose of ugly in southern Arizona. An army camp commander stretches his limits to provide Aravaipa Apaches, under a chief named Coyote, sanctuary. Choctaw experiences first love with a young Apache woman and betrayal from those he trusted and admired. Power and land-hungry Americans are unable to distinguish between peaceful and warring Apaches. Apaches Coyote’s People is a page-turner, entertaining and insightful, filled with the truth only fiction can provide. Highly recommended.
March 17, 2020
A terrific Western tale! Set in Arizona Territory circa 1870s, COYOTE’S PEOPLE finds young Calvin Taylor, nicknamed Choctaw, caught in the middle of a fight between an Apache leader named Coyote, tough wagon master John Shadler who hates the Apache, and U.S. Army Lieutenant Hamilton who’s trying to keep the peace. Author Andrew McBride’s novel is filled with characters well drawn and believable. There are good men and bad, cowards and drunks, ferocious fighters and deplorable killers. You can taste the gritty dust and feel the searing heat. The writing is visual, almost cinematic. This one is hard to put down because you’re in the thick of things from the start and McBride never lets up.
March 12, 2020
McBride captures the gritty feel of the late 1860s. The Civil War is over but another war is in full swing and brave men are fighting and dying on both sides. Apaches were formidable warriors but their chief ardently sought peace. Apache anger focused on those who attacked them especially those who slew their women and children for scalps. Against this background a young man comes of age seeking a role model who is both wise and tough enough to withstand the rigors of a harsh Arizona frontier.
June 30, 2022
I gave Coyote’s People five stars because it elicited strong emotions regarding the treatment of the native Americans.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews