Apache Voices Their Stories of Survival as Told to Eve Ball - by Sherry Robinson (Paperback)

About the Book

These oral histories recounted by Apache elders to historian Eve Ball during the 1940s and 50s offer new versions of events previously known only through descriptions left by non-Indians.

Book Synopsis

In the 1940s and 1950s, long before historians fully accepted oral tradition as a source, Eve Ball (1890-1984) was taking down verbatim the accounts of Apache elders who had survived the army's campaigns against them in the last century. These oral histories offer new versions--from Warm Springs, Chiricahua, Mescalero, and Lipan Apache--of events previously known only through descriptions left by non-Indians.

A high school and college teacher, Ball moved to Ruidoso, New Mexico, in 1942. Her house on the edge of the Mescalero Apache Reservation was a stopping-off place for Apaches on the dusty walk into town. She quickly realized she was talking to the sons and daughters of Geronimo, Cochise, Victorio, and their warriors. After winning their confidence, Ball would ultimately interview sixty-seven people.

Here is the Apache side of the story as told to Eve Ball. Including accounts of Victorio's sister Lozen, a warrior and medicine woman who was the only unmarried woman allowed to ride with the men, as well as unflattering portrayals of Geronimo's actions while under attack, and Mescalero scorn for the horse thief Billy the Kid, this volume represents a significant new source on Apache history and lifeways.

Review Quotes

This is an exciting book to read. It contains short true adventure stories (frequently tragic). . . .

. . . this very readable book . . . adds to the body of knowledge available about the Apache people.

"Ball's original books were important for providing at least a portion of a more balanced account. Robinson has improved that balance even more with her additional research and corrections."

"Sherry Robinson's "Apache Voices" is a significant new source for Apache history. . . .Robinson masterfully arranges these untold Apache stories into four parts and provides illuminating chapter introductions."

"This collection provides a vivid, compelling portrait of Apache history and life as seen from the Apache perspective and is a valuable addition to the study of oral history."

Robinson has done some excellent homework and editing to make the accounts . . . live with thorough footnoting, explanation, anecdote and insight.

"Robinson has done some excellent homework and editing to make the accounts . . . live with thorough footnoting, explanation, anecdote and insight."