When Geronimo and his warriors surrendered to the US Army, General Miles made a number of promises for the surrender terms that were in fact false. Geronimo: Prisoner of Lies provides insights into how Chiricahua prisoners of war lived while held in captivity by the United States Army in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as seen through the eyes of their war leader Geronimo. The indignities and lies they suffered, and how they maintained their tribal culture in the face of great pressure to change or vanish entirely, are brought to life and provided new context through this book.
W. Michael Farmer is that rare author who can bring instant clarity to a complicated story. His sparse but crisp prose brings the past to life with grace and compassion in this telling of Geronimo's long years of imprisonment. Farmer's careful research and deft handling of this tragic episode from our history is an amazing story of the triumph of the human spirit.
