Warrior Woman: The Story of Lozen, Apache Warrior and Shaman Book

The Apaches 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, shaman, and lethal adversary. Warrior Woman is the story of Lozen, a woman among male warriors. While most of the 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 in the 19th-century. Hers is a life little discussed in Native American history books. Instead, much of what is known of her has been passed down through generations via stories and legends among her people. One story speaks of her supernatural powers, bestowed upon her by the god Ussen. She would lift her arms to the sky and place her palms against the wind, and through the warm sensations her open palms, could detect the direction and distance of her enemies. Other stories say that she was purported to have power to calm and tame horses with the mere laying of hands, and that she had the speed, dexterity, and skill at weaponry to match any man. Peter Aleshire combines such folklore with historical facts and oral histories to recreate Lozen's life. With immaculate detail he tells the story of her childhood in the mountains of New Mexico, surrounded by the vastness of nature and the Chiricahua legends and religions that shaped her thoughts. He describes her intricate coming-of-age ceremony, and the evolution of her role to match that of the staunchest warrior, as the white men slowly took over the land of her people and forced them from one reservation to another. 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 one-quarter of the U.S. Army.Warrior Woman brings Lozen to life. But more than that, it is also the story of her people, from the events leading up to the Apache Wars until their inevitable and unfortunate conclusion.Read More