Author, William R. Sanford presents a well-rounded mini biography of  Geronimo in nine short chapters.  Sanford describes the historical time and  events which shaped the man the world would come to know as Geronimo. For example, in Chapter 1 – Massacre in Mexico , Sanford states,

” For centuries the Mexicans had captured his [Geronimo] people and made them slaves. The Apache struck back… raiding became a normal way of life.” Geronimo’s mother, wife, and three small children were killed while he was away. “For the rest of his life, he would seek revenge.”

When the Apache homeland came under the United States control the Apache didn’t fare any better. The U.S. Army and the Apache had numerous encounters. Geronimo talked with various U. S. leaders, tried to live peacefully by white mans rules, but the white way of life never rested well with him. Geronimo surrendered four separate times, but fear of being hanged usually lead to his leaving the reservations.

Sanford uses footnotes to site his direct quotation, which are referenced in the back of the book.

The book is an easy read, with lithographs by Frederic Remington and  photos from the time, all of course, in black and white. But the lack of color in this book leaves it lack luster. This could be easily be relieved by using color around the title of each chapter, instead of  white text surrounded by black and gray.  The map on page 10 and the photo of Arizona on page 11 could be in color, instead of black and white. AND what about the gray smudges that run across the bottom of most of the pages? Add a little brown tint perhaps?

The book’s cover is in color, but is not appealing.

The same photo of Geronimo was used three times (p. 15, 32, and 37) in three different sizes and three different portions cropped out of the picture.

Finally, the word Apache is misspelled on page 47, the “h” was omitted.