Overview

An Apache Iliad is a gripping, deeply researched account of Geronimo's final decade of war-told through the lens of one of history's greatest epics. Award-winning historian W. Michael Farmer reveals the striking parallels between the Apache's desperate fight for survival and Homer's Iliad, crafting a narrative as timeless as it is tragic. For nearly ten years, Geronimo and his warriors defied two nations, believing their mountain strongholds were as impregnable as Troy's great walls. Like Achilles and Hector, legendary figures emerged-Geronimo, the fierce and cunning warrior; Captain Emmett Crawford, the relentless American officer; and Colonel Joaquin Terrazas, Mexico's ruthless Apache hunter. Yet in the end, the war was not lost on the battlefield, but through deception. Just as the Trojans fell to a wooden horse filled with hidden enemies, the Apache surrendered to promises never kept, becoming prisoners of war for decades. Across deserts, mountains, and borderlands, the true scale of the conflict becomes staggering. Five thousand American troops, three thousand Mexican soldiers, and armed civilian posses scoured two nations in pursuit of a band so small it could vanish between canyon walls-yet they never broke them. What finally ended the last Apache war wasn't force but fraud: promises of protection, reunion, and a peaceful homeland that dissolved the moment Geronimo laid down his weapons. The result was decades of imprisonment, families scattered, and a people fighting to preserve their identity within the very system that claimed to save them. Told through vivid, true stories supported by historic photographs and rare accounts, An Apache Iliad sheds new light on Geronimo's fight for freedom. This is not just the story of a war-it is the story of betrayal, endurance, and the resilience of a people whose legacy still echoes through history.

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Reviews

""Drawing on Apache oral tradition and history, An Apache Iliad immerses readers in the rigorous training, spiritual Power, and cultural bonds that shaped Geronimo from his youth as Goyale to his rise as a feared war leader and medicine man. Vivid, unflinching, and deeply absorbing, W. Michael Farmer's narrative is a powerful and unforgettable read that reveals the man behind the legend during the turbulent years of conflict and reservation life, 1877-1886."" -Chris Enss, New York Times Bestselling co-Author of The Widowed Ones: Beyond the Battle of the Little Bighorn ""W. Michael Farmer's An Apache Iliad recounts the Chiricahua Apaches' struggle to maintain their freedom and way of life against American and Mexican forces dead set to bring it all to an end. Weaving together a cast of characters reminiscent of Homer's classic tale, Farmer brings to life the contenders on both sides of the Southwest's epic struggle."" -Bill Markley, Bestselling Author of The Life and Times of Jim Bridger

Author Information

W. Michael Farmer combines fifteen-plus years of research into nineteenth-century Apache history and culture with Southwest-living experience to fill his stories with a genuine sense of time and place. A retired PhD physicist, his scientific research has included measurement of atmospheric aerosols with laser-based instruments. He has published a two-volume reference book on atmospheric effects on remote sensing as well as fiction in anthologies and award-winning essays. His novels have won numerous awards, including three Will Rogers Gold and five Silver Medallions, New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards for Literary, Adventure, Historical Fiction, a Non-Fiction New Mexico Book of the Year, and a Spur Finalist Award for Best First Novel. His book series includes The Life and Times of Yellow Boy, Mescalero Apache, and Legends of the Desert. His nonfiction books include Apacheria, True Stories of Apache Culture 1860-1920, and Geronimo, Prisoner of Lies. Among his most recent books are the award-winning novels The Odyssey of Geronimo: Twenty-Three years a Prisoner of War, The Iliad of Geronimo: A Song of Blood and Fire, Trini! Come! Geronimo's Captivity of Trinidad Verdin, Chato: Desperate Warrior, and it's sequel, Chato: Proud Outcast.

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