The Life of Ten Bears is a remarkable collection of nineteenth-century Comanche oral histories given by Francis Joseph "Joe A" Attocknie. Although various elements of Ten Bears's life (ca. 1790-1872) are widely known, including several versions of how the toddler Ten Bears survived the massacre of his family, other parts have not been as widely publicized, remaining instead in the collective memory of his descendants. Other narratives in this collection reference lesser-known family members. These narratives are about the historical episodes that Attocknie's family thought were worth remembering and add a unique perspective on Comanche society and tradition as experienced through several generations of his family. Kavanagh's introduction adds context to the personal narratives by discussing the process of transmission. These narratives serve multiple purposes for Comanche families and communities. Some autobiographical accounts, "recounting" brave deeds and war honors, function as validation of status claims, while others illustrate the giving of names; still others recall humorous situations, song-ridicules, slapstick, and tragedies. Such family oral histories quickly transcend specific people and events by restoring key voices to the larger historical narrative of the American West.

The Life of Ten Bears is a remarkable collection of nineteenth-century Comanche oral histories given by Francis Joseph “Joe A” Attocknie. Although various elements of Ten Bears’s life (ca. 1790–1872) are widely known, including several versions of how the toddler Ten Bears survived the massacre of his family, other parts have not been as widely publicized, remaining instead in the collective memory of his descendants. Other narratives in this collection reference lesser-known family members. These narratives are about the historical episodes that Attocknie’s family thought were worth remembering and add a unique perspective on Comanche society and tradition as experienced through several generations of his family. Kavanagh’s introduction adds context to the personal narratives by discussing the process of transmission. These narratives serve multiple purposes for Comanche families and communities. Some autobiographical accounts, “recounting” brave deeds and war honors, function as validation of status claims, while others illustrate the giving of names; still others recall humorous situations, song-ridicules, slapstick, and tragedies. Such family oral histories quickly transcend specific people and events by restoring key voices to the larger historical narrative of the American West.

In the summer of 1933 in Lawton, Oklahoma, a team of six anthropologists met with eighteen Comanche elders to record the latter?s reminiscences of traditional Comanche culture. The depth and breadth of what the elderly Comanches recalled provides an inestimable source of knowledge for generations to come, both within and beyond the Comanche community. This monumental volume makes available for the first time the largest archive of traditional cultural information on Comanches ever gathered by American anthropologists. Much of the Comanches? earlier world is presented here?religious stories, historical accounts, autobiographical remembrances, cosmology, the practice of war, everyday games, birth rituals, funerals, kinship relations, the organization of camps, material culture, and relations with other tribes. Thomas W. Kavanagh tracked down all known surviving notes from the Santa Fe Laboratory field party and collated and annotated the records, learning as much as possible about the Comanche elders who spoke with the anthropologists and, when possible, attributing pieces of information to the appropriate elders. In addition, this volume includes Robert H. Lowie?s notes from his short 1912 visit to the Comanches. The result stands as a legacy for both Comanches and those interested in learning more about them.

Ten Bears to Destiny is about two young couples that find love and friendship during the early days of the 1800s. A young boy named Josh Johnson, traveling with his parents to a new frontier in the west meets and falls in love with a young beautiful Indian girl, Golden Swan. But another young girl, Mary Lee McKenzie, traveling in the same wagon train with young Josh, falls in love with him. To this mixture, there is added a mythical Great Bear whom is regarded by the Indians, living near the place where the wagon train sojourned for a short period, as a protector of the forest. In this story the young Indian maiden, Golden Swan, seeks love and is drawn towards young Josh Johnson, but when a young brave from the tribe learns of her interest in him, he interferes and a contest ensues between the two boys, which is used to decide the fate of the four youths who are involved. As the story unfolds, the two girls, rival, fight, and become friends while the Indian village is attacked and destroyed by the Great Bear. This is the story of how the destiny of not just one person, but of many generations to come are changed by the bravery and strength of a single person. Then, as our story moves forward, we are lead into a modern day situation where another group of young people are set into a challenge of their own by their peer pressures. They too have the opportunity to change their futures, ....... and to learn a story of their past. This is a story of how two religions that are set next to each other, indirectly examined and ultimately leads the group of young people to follow the truth which is in Jesus Christ, and how a young Indian boy grows to become a mighty preacher among his people, leading many of them to Christianity. It is a story of destinies. The destiny that leads to the one true destiny of all who come to worship the one true God. Are you ready to ... Fulfill Your Destiny?

Nine bears fall out of bed one by one when the littlest bear says "Roll over!" Features pop-up and movable illustrations.

A sweeping, comparative analysis of the slaving regimes of Hispanic, Comanche, and Anglo American communities in the Texas borderlands during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

A natural history and celebration of the famous bears and salmon of Brooks River. On the Alaska Peninsula, where exceptional landscapes are commonplace, a small river attracts attention far beyond its scale. Each year, from summer to early fall, brown bears and salmon gather at Brooks River to create one of North America’s greatest wildlife spectacles. As the salmon leap from the cascade, dozens of bears are there to catch them (with as many as forty-three bears sighted in a single day), and thousands of people come to watch in person or on the National Park Service’s popular Brooks Falls Bearcam. The Bears of Brooks Falls tells the story of this region and the bears that made it famous in three parts. The first forms an ecological history of the region, from its dormancy 30,000 years ago to the volcanic events that transformed it into the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. The central and longest section is a deep dive into the lives of the wildlife along the Brooks River, especially the bears and salmon. Readers will learn about the bears’ winter hibernation, mating season, hunting rituals, migration patterns, and their relationship with Alaska’s changing environment. Finally, the book explores the human impact, both positive and negative, on this special region and its wild population.