Many of the social concerns of Lonesome Dove (1985; see separate entry) reoccur in Comanche Moon. There is the sometimes nagging, sometimes explosive clashes between people of different cultures, and the terror occasioned by the Indian attacks on white settlements and vice versa; the great Comanche raid on Austin is a striking example. Indian culture is revealed much more in Comanche Moon (and Dead Man's Walk, 1995) than in Lonesome Dove. Here we see the Indian culture in its own terms, and we see the growing fear of the Indians that their culture will soon be gone. It is also more apparent that what at first seems wanton cruelty— torture, for example—is actually a part of the Comanche way of life.

Relationships between men and women are far different; there are no independent Indian women in the novel, as opposed to Inez Scull; independence in...