The Odyssey of Geronimo: Twenty Three Years a Prisoner of War

Book excerpt: The Odyssey of Geronimo, based on history and Apache culture but told through his eyes using the truth from fiction, is a revealing epic of Geronimo's strengths, weaknesses, and character. As a prisoner of war for twenty-three years, Geronimo escaped being hanged by civil authorities in Arizona, rose to become a national "superstar," and became an astute businessman. He was invited to three world's fair expositions, numerous parades and fairs in Oklahoma, and rode with five other famous old warriors in Theodore Roosevelt's 1905 Inaugural Parade. During his time in captivity, Geronimo became a justice of the peace at Mount Vernon Barracks, Alabama, and a village chief at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, earning pay as an army scout for his leadership. At the 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, in front of a great crowd, Geronimo debated General Nelson Miles about the lies Miles told to get him and his warriors to surrender. During the debate, Geronimo, Apache warrior and shaman of great power, showed that General Nelson Appleton Miles, the American general, commander of the army, lacked integrity in his dealings with the Apaches. W. Michael Farmer's Odyssey of Geronimo gives the good and the bad of this strong Apache man.