Sinclair Browning, in this book Enju, offers a critical perspective, an honest and sometimes painful look, and a delightfully readable bit of folklore in a too-seldom-told history of the Aravaipa Apache chief, Eskiminzin.

Deep on the shadow of Geronimo, Eskiminzin tirelessly labored for peace between his people and white men in the Arizona Territory’s volatile late 1800s.

Important events are chronicled. Some are infamously tragic, such as the Camp Grant massacre of Eskiminzin’s innocent children and tribespeople. The reader sees, through the eyes of Eskiminzin and the Apache tribes he has helped to unite, their first amazed look at their "new" nation as they travel to Washington, D.C., in 1876. Some are lessons in compassion…the courage and devotion of the white Indian Agent, John Clum, toward Eskiminzin, and their dedication to peace and dignity within the reservation system. Many are intriguingly educational – teaching customs, religious beliefs, philosophies – and present another view of Apache Indians that often is overlooked. And, yes, there are shameful revelations of how jealousy, prejudice, and misunderstanding led to the persecution and imprisonment of Eskiminzin, whose only quest was for peace.

I am pleased to introduce this book because I – as we all do in Arizona – have a deep and common bond with our American Indian brothers and sisters. It is important to learn and respect more about their heritage…more than the stories of great warriors…more about their peacemaking efforts, their orderly, civilized lifestyle, and the struggle to mesh that lifestyle with a strange, emerging, and often hostile nation governed by white men.

Ms. Browning’s history of Eskiminzin has a broader value. It has a moral. If the names and places were different, this story could be a lesson for nations and people everywhere trying to live together in peace, with their different cultures, religions, loves, hates, and individual personalities.

"Enju."