Proud Outcast

 

Days of War, Days of Peace

W. Michael Farmer

Defying betrayal and hardship, Chato fights to save his family and his people's rightful place in the West.

As the Apache Wars roar toward their conclusion in the summer of 1886, renowned Apache army scout and leader Chato joins a delegation of scouts to Washington, D.C., to meet President Grover Cleveland. Their mission? To plead their case for the Chiricahua scouts to remain at Fort Apache and cultivate their lands in peace.

For his unwavering loyalty and service, Chato is awarded a silver medal from Cleveland, along with the implied promise that the scouts can stay where they are. However, after Geronimo's surrender, Chato and his fellow scouts are instead transported to the harsh confines of Fort Marion, Florida, as prisoners of war. They, and the Chiricahua people as a whole, will be deprived of their freedom and their way of life for the next three decades.

Finally freed in the wake of Geronimo's death, the tribe returns to New Mexico to start over. But Geronimo's longstanding assertion that Chato is a liar and traitor casts a long shadow. Shunned by the very people he has spent his life fighting for, Chato nevertheless remains defiant, his resilient spirit never wavering despite the heavy toll of his life's trials.

Will Rogers Medallion-winning author W. Michael Farmer masterfully concludes Chato's epic tale, illuminating the resilience of a leader determined to preserve his people's heritage against overwhelming odds. Proud Outcast is a tale of honor, survival, and the relentless pursuit of a place to call home.

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Publisher: Hat Creek
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About the Author

W. Michael Farmer

W. Michael Farmer combines ten-plus years of research into nineteenth-century Apache history and culture with Southwest-living experience to fill his stories with a genuine sense of time and place. A retired Ph.D. physicist, his scientific research has included measurement of atmospheric aerosols with laser-based instruments, and he has published a two-volume reference book on atmospheric effects on remote sensing. He has also written short stories for anthologies and award-winning essays. His first novel, Hombrecito's War, won a Western Writers of America Spur Finalist Award for Best First Novel in 2006. His novels telling the story of the Mescalero Apaches  Killer of Witches, The Life and Times of Yellow Boy, Mescalero Apache, Book 1 and Blood of the Devil, Book 2 won Will Rogers Medallion Awards and were New Mexico–Arizona Book Awards Finalists in 2016 and 2018. Mariana’s Knight, The Revenge of Henry Fountain won the 2017 New Mexico–Arizona Book Award for Historical Fiction and Blood of the Devil, Book 2 was a finalist. Apacheria, True Stories of Apache Culture, 1860-1920 won the 2018 New Mexico–Arizona Book Award for History-Other and was recognized as the 2018 New Mexico Book of the Year and as a top twenty book about the southwest by the Pima County Library system. In 2019 Knight’s Odyssey, Knight of the Tiger, and Apacheria won Will Rogers Gold Medallion Awards.

Other Books By W. Michael Farmer

Stand-Alone Books

Series: Chato's Chiricahua Apache Legacy

Series: The Life and Times of Yellow Boy, Mescalero Apache

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