Apache -- History, Apache -- Social life and customs, Apache, Chiricahua -- History, Chiricahua -- Social life and customs, Chiricahua 

"For a century Apache history has revolved around the figure of Geronimo. His valiant last stand was, however, only one tragic event in the life of a people who inhabited the Southwest long before Coronado's arrival. This book fills in the long foreground of Chiricahua traditions, combining the history of a people with a rare look at their most cherished beliefs and ceremonies.

D. C. Cole, who is himself Chiricahua Apache, gives particular attention to his people's view of the universe. He shows how the gift system surrounding the puberty ceremonies for girls and boys resulted in a constant need for raiding parties. As he notes, "A society based on war, raids, paganism, and polygyny could not be tolerated in the United States during the Victorian age. And American values and aspirations were no more likely to change than the Apache lifeway."

Cole's study of the Chiricahua is based not only upon oral traditions and written history, but incorporates many interviews with the Apache people. This book will prove indispensable to historians and anthropologists as well as general readers interested in a balanced view of Apache-white relations." -- Book jacket.