"Geronimo: His Own Story: The Autobiography of a Great Patriot Warrior" by S. M. Barrett (editor)

The book, an extraordinary revelation of a complex, perceptive mind, wipes out the shallow popular image of Geronimo as only a crafty, fanatically blood-thirsty fighter.

Geronimo begins his autobiography with an account of the Apache creation story and cosmology, then moves on to tell his own story, from his birth near the headwaters of the Gila River in 1829 to the final surrender to army troops in 1886.

His story is by no means wholly one of violent action. He relates out of vivid memory and with wonderful descriptive powers the origins and customs of the Apache people, his relatively happy early life, his family and his life as a prisoner, the unwritten laws of the Apaches, his religion, and finally, of his vision of the future for his people.

"An heroic story, eloquently told. It is also a reminder of the conscienceless sweep of American 'manifest destiny' which has left in its wake the continuing plight of the land's aborigines." -- San Francisco Examiner