Warrior Woman

"The Apache are legendary for their fierce, uncompromising tactics in battle and their gorgeously complex, enigmatic mythologies and rituals. They are a People of pride, power, and spirit.". "One figure in Apache history embodied all these traits. She was a force to be reckoned with: a spiritual leader, a shaman, and a lethal adversary. Warrior Woman is the story of Lozen, a woman among male warriors in the nineteenth century. While most Native American women at the time remained in the villages to rear children and prepare food, Lozen fought alongside Geronimo, Cochise, and Victorio in some of the bloodiest incidents of the Apache Wars.". "Peter Aleshire combines folklore with historical facts and oral histories to re-create Lozen's remarkable life. With immaculate detail he tells of her childhood in the vast mountain settings of New Mexico and the Chiricahua legends and religions there that shaped her thoughts. He describes her intricate coming-of-age ceremony and the evolution of her role to become the equal of the staunchest male warrior as the Apache were forced in battle from one reservation to another by white men who slowly took over their land. Finally, Aleshire recounts Lozen's final days of freedom when the few remaining Apache warriors, under the leadership of Geronimo, rode like the wind through the mountainous regions in Mexico pursued by a huge force of the U.S. Army."--BOOK JACKET.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.